Starz's original drama Dangerous Liaisons premiered on Sunday, giving fans a new angle on the classic Pierre Choderlos de Laclos story by telling the steamy origin of Valmont and Merteuil. With the prequel series underway, Collider can exclusively reveal a behind-the-scenes look at how the soundtrack for the show was created. Composer Anne Nikitin takes viewers along during a recording session in the new video, describing her mindset behind her creative choices while showcasing the work that went in from everyone involved.
Nikitin, who previously composed Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga and Hulu's The Dropout, was immediately on board with joining the Starz series as a fan of the original novel and film. Despite the classical setting, she wanted to do something a bit more to separate it from traditional scores, going for a more avant-garde approach to supplement the series' larger-than-life characters. It wasn't all limited to the recording booth for Nikitin, however. She describes going to the film set in Prague to pen an opera for the film, one of the more unique challenges of her career to this point. It led to one of the most satisfying moments of her career, however, when she sat and watched all the actors come together to perform the opera in one massive scene. Throughout it all, she emphasizes the importance of the team around her that really made everything possible.
Nikitin's star has slowly risen over the years with her first major project being the BAFTA-winning The Imposter from director Bart Layton in 2012. She's since had steady work as a composer on television and in film, notably scoring The Pale Horse for Prime Video and re-teaming with Layton for his award-winning film American Animals. More recently, she also composed the music for Netflix's The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes documentary.
Dangerous Liaisons follows the devilish lovers Camille (Alice Englert) and Valmont (Nicholas Denton) as they use seduction to further their own lot in life. For Camille, that means clawing her way up the social hierarchy to become a major player all wall engaging in love and warfare with the scheming Valmont. The series aims to show just how these two classic characters became the master manipulators many know them as. Starz is already betting big on the premise, renewing the series for a second season before its premiere.
Cast and Crew for Dangerous Liaisons
Englert and Denton lead a star-studded cast that also features Lesley Manville, Kosar Ali, and Clarice Van Houten in major roles. Rounding out the bunch are Paloma Faith, Michael McElhatton, Nathanael Saleh, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Hilton Pelser, Mia Therapleton, Colette Dalal Tchantcho, Lucy Cohu, Fisayo Akinade, Maria Friedman, and Clare Higgins.
Dangerous Liaisons airs every Sunday on Starz. Check out the exclusive video of Nikitin walking through her creative process below.