Laura Karpman On Scoring for Rock Hudson’s Gentle Humanity for ‘All That Heaven Allowed’

I will always consider the end of Rock Hudson’s life to be an American tragedy. Next October will be the fortieth anniversary of Hudson’s death from AIDS, and HBO’s Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed condemns a time when such an amiable, fun-loving, and talented young man was not able to live the life he was able to. Stephen Kijak’s film showcases how queer individuals lived largely in the space that they were given, and Laura Karpman’s jazzy, luscious score truly taps into what was living inside so many of us as we are continually told no. Karpman’s music is undeniably alive and robust, and she deserves serious consideration for Outstanding Music Composition For a Documentary Series or Special.

Karpman, who was recently nominated for Film Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards, has scored projects where its lead characters or subjects have to live a double life in some way. For her Oscar-nominated work for American Fiction, Jeffrey Wright’s author hides his identity and ends up becoming a success. Ms. Marvel carries the superhero tradition of hiding one’s true self. All That Heaven Allowed turns the camera on a gay man whose personal life cannot be displayed in public. Karpman acknowledges the importance of scoring queer content, but it asks the question: does she seek these lead characters out, or is it coincidence?

“That’s an astute connection,” Karpman ponders. “I think it’s both, honestly. All of those projects have music that reveals a secret before the subject knows or appreciates the secret. Scoring, at its best, is about interiors and the things that can’t be spoken or physically enacted. Rock Hudson never spoke about who he was, even if it became obvious, because he had AIDS. I think I am drawn to it, but I don’t think I go looking for it. I love scoring queer content, and Stephen Kijak’s films are excellent since they talk about various closets. It’s important that we tell these stories because a lot of younger people are exploring cool stuff with gender identity. The closet is pervasive, and it exists in places that are unexpected. To look at it and to try to understand how it comes to be is something that really interests me.”

The opening track of All That Heaven Allowed‘s soundtrack begins with a vigorous bang. In the track titled, “Showbiz,” Karpman sets the tone by yanking us back in time. It made me feel like I was sitting in a darkened, smoke-filled club ready for a show. Karpman revels in composing jazz scores.

“I’ve done a lot of them,” she says. “I think the Rock Hudson score and American Fiction’s scores have been recognized as jazz having a place in scoring. That is really cool for me.”

Early on in the film, we hear someone describe a dream that Rock Hudson admitting to having. He saw his entire career laid out in front of him, and “Adonis” prickles at our senses with Karpman’s romantic, hopeful tones.

“It’s a kind of a version of the “Dreamweaver” cue,” Karpman says. “It takes that theme and putting it in the context of a really score-y, dreamy world of looking at what could be. It’s also about what wasn’t. This also goes forward as he gets sick as other things happen to him. It’s wistful and it’s suspended in time. The real MVP of this score and American Fiction‘s is Elena Pinderhughes who is this incredible flute player, and she is such a good musician.  I cannot wait to see what she does as a film composer. Her playing has fragility, breath, and power all in it, so she is a voice, figuratively and literally, in these scores of mine.”

That fragility and strength dance together beautifully through Karpman’s score. We are always thinking of how the world saw him while Kijak’s takes us behind intimate closed doors.

“I think that was him,” she says plainly. “He was this strong, all-American guy but there was such fragility in his humanity and in every part of who he was as a person.”

The longest track of Karpman’s score comes in the form of “Death of a Hero.” I loved how the foreboding reinforces our own sadness, but then, about halfway through, the piano section strips itself away for a peaceful sounding instrument. It helps us say goodbye to this gentle giant of a man.

“[That’s] an electric violin, and when it’s plugged in, it has this almost ghostly sound to it. With these scores, American Fiction is a jazz score that leads towards scoring and Rock Hudson leans more towards jazz. With both of them, there are undeniable scoring cues. They are complemented by what happens in the movie, but they are true underscores. That last section required that as we paid respect to the end of his life.”

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed is available to stream on Max. You can listen to Karpman’s score on Spotify.