Phoenix scores upcoming Sofia Coppola film

(AFP/GUILLAUME BAPTISTE)

Fresh off a Grammy win, French alternative rock band Phoenix has announced it has recorded the soundtrack for Somewhere, a forthcoming film by director Sofia Coppola. Lead singer Thomas Mars talked about the project to BBC Radio 1, which reported the news on February 8.

Formed a decade ago, Phoenix earned widespread recognition for its fourth studio album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which topped critics' "best of 2009" lists and earned a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Somewhere, due out in 2010, is said to be a dramatic comedy set in Hollywood's legendary Chateau Marmont hotel and starring Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning. In describing the experience of scoring the film, Mars told BBC Radio 1, "It wasn't like writing songs, it was more about trying to make a sound that fits with a Ferrari and the city of Los Angeles's theme. It was more of an engineer work than a composer."

Sofia Coppola has directed films including Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, and The Virgin Suicides, and she has collaborated with Mars on the soundtracks for all three.
Coppola and Mars are currently expecting their second child together.