On February 9th, the film and music world lost a talented composer on the rise in Jóhann Jóhannsson. His manager claims that Jóhannsson was found dead in his Berlin apartment due to as-yet unspecified causes.
Born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland, Jóhannsson started his career as a guitarist in indie rock bands. To date, he has released nine solo albums not including his film scores. His work in film started in 2000 with The Icelandic Dream. From there, he has been credited as a composer on a number of other projects including short films and documentaries from his native Iceland.
Jóhannsson’s first break in Hollywood came with Denis Villeneuve’s 2013 film, Prisoners. He also worked on two more of Villeneuve’s films in Sicario and Arrival with the former netting Jóhannsson his second consecutive nomination for Best Original Score at the Oscars. His first came from The Theory of Everything, a biopic based on Stephen Hawking. Jóhannsson most recently worked on Darren Aronofsky’s mother! as a sound consultant. He originally composed an entire score for the film. Though, Aronofsky and Jóhannsson agreed that a more minimalist approach should be taken and the score was scrapped. His work on mother! won’t be the last we hear from Jóhannsson as he provides the scores for three more films, Mandy, The Mercy, and Mary Magdalene, scheduled for release this year.
All respects go to the friends and family of Jóhann Jóhannsson.
