Welcome to Right on Cue, a weekly podcast where The Spool Editor-in-chief Clint Worthington talks to composers about the origins and challenges of their latest film, TV, and video game scores.

In the Grand Theft Auto-like world of Free City, Free Guy‘s Guy (Ryan Reynolds) gets to while away the days as an NPC in his hyper-violent video game world with a host of licensed music, courtesy of Mariah Carey, Digital Underground, Frankie Valli, and more. But the incidental score to Shawn Levy’s surprisingly charming adventure film comes courtesy of this week’s guest, frequent Levy collaborator Christophe Beck.

The Emmy-winning composer of Ant-Man, Frozen, WandaVision and more, Beck worked with Levy to flesh out the more emotional character beats of Free Guy, while the licensed music did the work of building the game’s sonic world. The results are sprightly and charming, Beck’s full orchestral sound blending Guy’s more innocent, hapless joie de vivre with the hard-hitting action that comes when he finally breaks free of his shackles and joins the game’s world.

For the podcast, Beck sits down with us to talk about the unique joys and processes of composing Free Guy‘s score, how he blended the real and video game worlds, and the challenges of trying to record orchestra sessions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Free Guy is in theaters now.

You can find Christophe Beck at his official website.

Free Guy‘s original score is currently available on Spotify and other music streaming services.