More of this Feature Additional Interviews • Hugh Jackman • Breckin Meyer • Sting • Director James Mangold • Photos from the LA Premiere of "Kate and Leopold"

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Rolfe Kent is the composer behind such scores as "Legally Blonde," "Nurse Betty" and "Election." He's also worked on "Citizen Ruth" and "Someone Like You," and has recently completed the score for Miramax Films' "40 Days and 40 Nights," starring Josh Hartnett. Kent is currently working on the score for director Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt," starring Jack Nicholson.

ROLFE KENT - Composer

How did you end up scoring "Kate and Leopold?"
They called me and I said yes (laughing). I had worked with the producer before, so we knew each other. This was a great opportunity for us to reunite and work together again.

Did you do much research into the 19th century?
No, not at all. It’s more – the story isn’t true so it was more a question of making the story really work. The period music isn’t really there – it’s not authentic period music. But it has a really strong flavor of the past. The present day music has a very different pace.

Do you work differently when scoring for a romantic movie?
It’s different because I get taken over by whatever emotions I’m writing music for. So if it’s a thriller, I spend days getting really tense, and I have to really wind down at the end of the day. With a romantic film, I end up in a daze, my eyes all sort of dewy, just gazing out the window. I’ve had days just drift by in that sort of whimsical state. It’s true! The music does kind of take you away with it. Because I try and find the relevant emotions and the emotional state inside of me in order to write the music, in order to find a way of expressing it.

How long does it typically take you to score a film?
It takes exactly as long as I’ve got (laughing). They normally give me between three months and a month. This was more toward the one month (time frame).

Was there anything you had to overcome with this one because of the different time periods involved?
Not really. Romantic in the sense of music, is an era in music. Which is up towards the end of the 19th century. This was a great opportunity to play with romantic classical music, big orchestral sweeping music. And then, switch gears completely in a contemporary sense and have more jazz and rhythm-oriented soundtrack for the present day stuff.