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The upcoming film was directed by BJ McDonnell and stars Foo Fighters’ band members Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jafee. McDonnell has prior experience working with rock bands, having directed multiple music videos for the heavy metal band Slayer, and is also known for his work on the 2013 horror film Hatchet III. The forthcoming musical horror film’s cast also features Whitney Cummings, Will Forte, Jenna Ortega, Jeff Garlin and American Horror Story star Leslie Grossman.

The plot centres around the band’s efforts to record their hotly anticipated tenth studio album, which entails them moving into an Encino mansion to produce their record. The house proves to be overrun with history, both gruesome and musical. The recording space turns into a haunted mansion and supernatural forces take it upon themselves to disrupt the band’s work. A trailer has been released ahead of the movie’s general release.

Speaking on Studio 666, Grohl has given the following statement expressing his passion for the project, “Yep…we actually went and made a big, loud, bloody horror movie. Because…why the hell not?” After keeping Studio 666 our dirty little secret for years, we’re so fucking excited to bring it to you guys for a full-on theatrical release. This thing was MEANT for the big screen. We hope you have as much fun watching it as we did making it.”

Director McDonnell has also spoken on the upcoming feature,  “STUDIO 666 is a perfect combination of all things I love. Rock, horror, and comedy all tied together in a very thrilling motion picture. I am so excited to have teamed up with the Foo Fighters to create an old school “Band” movie. It’s been years since we’ve seen something like the Beatles “Help!”, The Monkees “Head”, or “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park”. Take that 60’s / 70’s old school band film fun, mix it with horror and STUDIO 666 is born! I am so ecstatic for audiences of film and music to come together and enjoy our film.”

Studio 666 is not Grohl’s first forayer into film; the founding member and frontman released What Drives Us in 2021. The documentary aims to explore the lives of musicians on the road and the van life in which these artists experience, the feature was the second documentary released in 2021 to be directed by the grunge icon. Grohl also directed and starred in a six-part docu-series entitled From Cradle to Stage, which explored the relationships between artists and their mothers and the influence which the maternal bond held within their lives and art. The series also featured Pharrell Williams, Miranda Lambert and Rage Against the Machine member Tom Morello.

Tickets are on sale now for Studio 666, click here to purchase tickets and see the schedule for your local cinema.

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I spoke with The New York Times about composing the score for Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are”. Series premiere is tonight on @HBO Interview by @coralie.kraft

A post shared by Blood Orange (@devhynes) on Sep 14, 2020 at 11:25am PDT

The soundtrack will feature 12 tracks from the show’s original score composed by Hynes. In a New York Times interview, Hynes said that while he was in Italy Guadagnino and he had ‘got talking about music and composers [they] like.’ Hynes is a big fan of classical composer John Adams, who has written music for Guadagnino’s I Am Love and was also working on We Are Who We Are. Luca then asked Hynes if he wanted to have a go composing some more classical style music, and Hynes went back to New York and started working.

Interestingly, Hynes is actually ‘a classically trained musician who has performed alongside Philip Glass at Carnegie Hall’. In his score for We Are Who We Are, Hynes has blended classical influences with his avant-garde R&B style as Blood Orange. Previously, Hynes has done the scoring for Palo Alto, as well as this years big hit Queen and Slim.

In Palo Alto, his dreamy use of synthesisers and smooth vocals were perfectly matched to the films backdrop of a Californian summer. There is also something heady and distinctively teenage about Hynes’ score for that film. The lyrics of title track Palo Alto, ‘waiting til I know who you are// Waiting for a shot in the dark’ evoking that teenage feeling of waiting for something to happen.

His score for Queen and Slim was described as demonstrating ‘to the fullest Hynes’ ability to subtly evoke a range of emotional colour’. Luca Guadagnino said that he chose Hynes for the score because he appreciated the ‘eclec-ticity’ of his work, adding that he feels ‘seen‘ by the prolific musician.

Hynes reportedly wrote the score before quarantine, but did some last minute adjustments during lockdown. He described his process as a natural one, stating that he would watch a scene and immediately know ‘what landscape [he] wanted the score to exist in’. Sometimes he would even ‘start improv[ising] on the piano while watching the scene’. His 12-track score for Guadagnino’s miniseries will be sure to impress.