Unsurprisingly, a lot of songs proved too expensive, or weren’t green-lit by the artists, though Lane cautiously declines to divulge any specifics. (“It was just other similar artists within the same timeframe,” she says.) But she’s happy to pull back the curtain on how they got some of the existing song cues over the line, requiring — beyond money — sign-off from the artists based on expansive scene descriptions. “If you’re using a copyrighted song, they’re completely within their rights to know exactly how it’s going to be used. They might not be too keen on somebody shagging a grave [to their song], for example,” Lane explains. “So you’ve got to be honest and upfront about how it’s going to be used.”
Did any of the artists whose songs are in Saltburn take special convincing — Ellis-Bextor, for example? “No, clearing Sophie was relatively straightforward, I would say,” she says. (Ellis-Bextor performed “Murder at the Dancefloor” at the LA premiere of Saltburn, and told Vulture that she thought the film was “flipping brilliant.”)
“I did clear ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ very early on,” Lane recalls. “And the film had a slightly different ending. That wasn’t the ending from the script that I’d read initially. But that scene was there. I think I cleared a couple of different options, just to be in that scene, and then also for it to be over the end credits. [But Fennell] initially had something else [for the ending]. Because this happens all the time, scripts change. Even when they’re actually shooting.”
Trickier were the karaoke scenes following a pissed-up dinner, in which Oliver, Farleigh (Archie Madekwe) and messy posho Henry (a cameo from Brit TV fave Joshua McGuire) perform, to put it generously, the Pet Shop Boys’ “Rent” and “Low” by Flo Rida. “Because obviously, you’re not using the artists’ own versions. [The actors] could absolutely butcher it, or be completely derogatory towards the artist, in the way that they’re doing it,” she says.
As some pop heads have pointed out online, Saltburn‘s soundtrack does contain a handful of minor anachronisms. “Low,” for example, was released in October 2007, some months after the karaoke scene takes place. “I mean, it’s as close as possible, really, just to put you back in that space,” Lane says. “If it had been a couple of years later, that would have been an absolute no.”
Nevertheless, it must be a bit frustrating when people point out relatively insignificant inaccuracies — like song cues months out of place. “I don’t think it matters to that extent,” Lane says. “For the sake of a few months, I don’t think it’s too big a deal.”
As long as it’s evocative of the period. “Yeah, exactly. When we were looking for Christmas tracks, I reached out to loads of the record labels and publishers, just for some ideas of some cheesy Christmas tracks that we could clear relatively cheaply,” Lane continues.
“It’s surprising how few people actually read your brief when you say, ‘It can’t be any later than 2006.’ Then they’ll send you something from two years ago. And you’re like, No, that’s really not helpful. This is a period film!”
Saltburn is now in UK cinemas.
