What if John Wick met The Hangover?
To get into the heads of my main characters, I immersed into all things Italian, from food to music, and just about everything in between. That’s the danger of being a serious rabbit hole explorer. My gain is yours too. Here’s some playlist insights for you.
Listen to the playlist here:
Let’s start where the story starts, assassins in Las Vegas.
First, I picked two songs, first was a Viva Las Vegas rendition, but it got removed. But Elvis’s “A Little Less Conversation” is still there. That’s courtesy of Ocean’s 11. I remember seeing that movie a long time ago and thinking that I may have misjudged the King because that song is kind of fun. As the playlist grew, I searched for “fight scene” music. Of course that led me into the rabbit hole of Assassin’s Creed soundtracks. Who knew video games had such complexity? I didn’t. Now I do.
A Phantom
Because there is a Vegas theme wedding (see: https://www.funvegasweddings.com/phantom for the package options) I listened to the ENTIRE movie soundtrack. Then ditched it. (sorry, folks) I ended up grabbing some alternate versions for those scenes.
From there, our characters whisk away to Italy and the music changes drastically. I was discussing this book with a friend (thank you, Dolores!) and she mentioned “Cinema Paradisio” which was technically set in Sicily (I think) but it had some wonderful soundtrack music laid down by the incomparable Yo Yo Ma.
Following that lovely piece, there are several love songs that hit my heart, hard. I especially love Meravigliosa Creatura performed by Il Volo. Second favorite is Sempre Sempre. I couldn’t let the couple be happy in love because, remember there is a price on Mario’s head, a jilted fiancée, and his hitman best friend on their tails, so the music picks up, including a few choices from the original inspiration, John Wick.
