Malcolm and Marie did find time to take breaks from their heated exchanges and one of the standouts is when they kiss passionately as Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" plays.
The scene is cut to focus on two things: an intimate encounter between the two and Marie playfully suggesting that Malcolm is going to sell out and make a Lego movie. It's a rare time in the movie where it doesn't feel like things are happening in real-time.
"It was a scene that Sam was searching for," Perez said. "He shot it on part of a day and didn't quite get it, so he shot it again and he sent the footage and said, 'Julio, get your eyes on this as soon as you can and tell me if we have it or if we don't.' So I did. I talked to Sam and I told him, 'I think I have an idea for the scene.' We needed to transition from the flow of real-time to a dreamlike quality. But how do we do that where the audience accepts it?"
Feeling a jazz piece would fit the tone, Perez and music supervisor, Jen Malone, went through song ideas. Then Perez recalled the Ellington song featured in another movie.
"I remember the song being used in 'Love Jones,'" Perez said, referring to the 1997 movie starring Larenz Tate and Nia Long. "He plays the song to her on the record player."
Perez felt the song, which Ellington performed with fellow jazz legend John Coltrane in the 1962 album "Duke Ellington & John Coltrane," would work thanks to its "melancholy atmosphere that doesn't fully fall into that."
"Sending it to Sam I was nervous because if he didn't like it I didn't know what else to do with the scene," Perez admitted. "Quietly as an editor, you make these bold choices sometimes, thankfully Sam was into it."
Listen to the song.
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