Jason Ruder

Jason Ruder’s got his fingerprints all over some of the biggest movies from the past decade, even if you didn’t catch his name in giant letters on the poster. He’s one of those behind-the-scenes folks who helps make the music hit just right—the guy who helps a scene go from “meh” to “whoa, I felt that.” If you’ve ever caught yourself humming along to “Shallow” from A Star Is Born or got totally pulled in by the wild, pulsing soundtrack of Joker, you’ve heard his mojo at work. He’s not just some random in the credits, either. With La La Land, for example, the whole vibe of the movie hangs on the music, and Ruder’s expertise helped make it into this dreamy, bittersweet ride through old-school Hollywood and jazz. A Star Is Born? Forget it—the music’s basically its own character, and he helped bring that raw, live energy to every performance. And Joker, with its haunting, off-kilter score, needed someone who could walk the line between beautiful and totally unsettling. That’s Ruder for you—he’s got an ear for what grabs people, and he knows exactly how to make you feel things, often without you even realizing it. Honestly, a lot of the emotional punch in these movies comes down to his work. The guy’s clearly got a knack for knowing what a story needs, musically speaking. It kind of makes you want to rewatch those films just to listen for his magic all over again.