---
name: "Warren Ellis"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/warren-ellis"
fi1m_id: "warren-ellis"
imdb_id: "nm0255145"
tmdb_id: 39517
wikidata_id: "Q383784"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "14 February 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_fi1m_score: 72
average_over: 12
updated: "2026-10-22T02:26:39.873594+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Warren Ellis

## Identity

Warren Ellis

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/warren-ellis
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** warren-ellis
- **IMDb ID:** nm0255145
- **TMDB ID:** 39517
- **Wikidata ID:** Q383784
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Ellis_(musician), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q383784, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255145/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39517

Composer. Born 14 February 1965 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 14 February 1965, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
- **Active:** 2005–present
- **Frequently works with:** [Andrew Dominik](https://film.one/person/andrew-dominik.md), [Brad Pitt](https://film.one/person/brad-pitt.md), [Gil Birmingham](https://film.one/person/gil-birmingham.md), [Guy Pearce](https://film.one/person/guy-pearce.md), [Jeremy Renner](https://film.one/person/jeremy-renner.md), [John Hillcoat](https://film.one/person/john-hillcoat.md), [Nick Cave](https://film.one/person/nick-cave.md), [Taylor Sheridan](https://film.one/person/taylor-sheridan.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 80 (3), 2010s 80 (5), 2020s 55 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 72 to 68 across 12 titles
- **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 3 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 1 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 10, Crime 3, Western 3, Documentary 2, History 2, Music 2
- **Screen time:** 23 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $223m across 9 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Ellis_(musician), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q383784, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255145/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39517

## Coming up

- *And Now It's Over* (2027-03-24), Original Music Composer

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Mustang*](https://film.one/film/mustang.md) (84), [*The Proposition*](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md) (79), [*The Road*](https://film.one/film/the-road-2009.md) (78), [*West of Memphis*](https://film.one/film/west-of-memphis.md) (77)
- **Netflix:** [*I'm Still Here*](https://film.one/film/im-still-here.md) (80), [*Wind River*](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md) (76), [*DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story*](https://film.one/tv/dahmer-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story.md) (51), [*Blonde*](https://film.one/film/blonde.md) (40)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford*](https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford.md) (84), [*20,000 Days on Earth*](https://film.one/film/20-000-days-on-earth.md) (80)
- **HBO Max:** [*Hell or High Water*](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Warren Ellis

> Warren Ellis can keep a quiet scene tense or let tenderness register without softening the hardship around it. We rate him highly, with one reservation: he sometimes presses for feelings the actors have already supplied.

In *Back to Black* (2024), a woman and her granddaughter sit at a kitchen table with a pot of tea, while Nick Cave and Warren Ellis supply a single line of strings. We were moved by Cynthia's watchful pride in her granddaughter; the music leaves room for the worry beneath it. The film is too soft on its subjects, but that passage earns its tenderness. Ellis can be worth listening for even when the film around him disappoints.

His film-scoring partnership with Cave began with *The Proposition* (2005). Working from a rock and improvisational background, he often makes complete pieces to be placed against the images later, rather than composing to each cue. In Andrew Dominik's *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford* (2007), their mournful score gives the long waits a sadness that makes Ford's hunger for approval painful rather than merely ridiculous. Their score for *The Road* (2009) similarly supports the tenderness between father and son without making their surroundings seem any less desolate.

David Mackenzie's *Hell or High Water* (2016) makes especially good use of the partnership. Jake Roberts's editing keeps the pursuit moving while leaving room for conversation; Cave and Ellis make the quieter stretches lonely and uneasy, so the tension survives without another incident. In *Wind River* (2017), their mournfulness presses harder, but it keeps the grief present while the characters get on with examining evidence.

Solo work brings a useful change of emphasis. His first solo feature score, for Deniz Gamze Ergüven's *Mustang* (2015), encourages belief in the sisters' resourcefulness, though it sometimes insists on feelings the performers have already supplied. In Walter Salles's *I'm Still Here* (2024), a low held tone is used sparingly, leaving most of the music to the family's record player. We prefer that discretion: the songs belong to the household, and Ellis does not need to tell us how to feel about it.

There are passages where Cave and Ellis would do better to leave a scene alone. In *DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story* (2022), they add unease to a series already prolonged and uncomfortable. More discomfort is seldom what those scenes need, and the music cannot correct the repetition. Start with *Hell or High Water*, where they keep us anxious even when nobody is doing much.

## Biography

Warren Ellis is an Australian musician and composer. Born in Ballarat, Victoria, he studied classical violin at university in Melbourne before forming the instrumental group Dirty Three in 1992. He has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994 and was also part of Grinderman.

Ellis has composed numerous film scores, often in collaboration with Nick Cave. Their work includes *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford* (2007), *The Road* (2009), *Hell or High Water* (2016), *Wind River* (2017) and *Back to Black* (2024). He plays violin, piano, accordion, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin and viola.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, bfi.org.uk, filmmusicreporter.com.*

## On Fi1m (12)

- *Back to Black* (2024), Fi1m 48, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/back-to-black.md)
- *I'm Still Here* (2024), Fi1m 80, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/im-still-here.md)
- *Blonde* (2022), Fi1m 40, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/blonde.md)
- *DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story* (2022), Fi1m 51, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/tv/dahmer-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story.md)
- *Wind River* (2017), Fi1m 76, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md)
- *Hell or High Water* (2016), Fi1m 84, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md)
- *Mustang* (2015), Fi1m 84, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/mustang.md)
- *20,000 Days on Earth* (2014), Fi1m 80, as Self — [page](https://film.one/film/20-000-days-on-earth.md)
- *West of Memphis* (2012), Fi1m 77, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/west-of-memphis.md)
- *The Road* (2009), Fi1m 78, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-road-2009.md)
- *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford* (2007), Fi1m 84, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford.md)
- *The Proposition* (2005), Fi1m 79, Musician, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md)

## Complete filmography (46)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *And Now It's Over* (2027), Original Music Composer
- *Reza Scottish* (2026), Music
- *Whispers in the Woods* (2025), Original Music Composer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/whispers-in-the-woods.md)
- *The Death of Bunny Munro* (2025), series, Original Music Composer
- *Ellis Park* (2025), Music
- *I'm Still Here* (2024), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/im-still-here.md)
- *Back to Black* (2024), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 48, [page](https://film.one/film/back-to-black.md)
- *DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story* (2022), series, Original Music Composer — Fi1m 51, [page](https://film.one/tv/dahmer-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story.md)
- *Blonde* (2022), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 40, [page](https://film.one/film/blonde.md)
- *Not Dark Yet* (2022), Music
- *Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Live in Montreux 2022* (2022), Actor
- *Earwig* (2022), Original Music Composer
- *This Much I Know to Be True* (2022), Original Music Composer
- *Mnemosyne* (2022), Music
- *The Velvet Queen* (2021), Original Music Composer
- *ARTIFICIALIS* (2021), Music
- *Mystify: Michael Hutchence* (2019), Original Music Composer
- *Shelley's Blaze* (2018), as Docteur Polidori / Echos (voice) · Music
- *Kings* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *Wind River* (2017), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/wind-river.md)
- *War Machine* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *Django* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *Mars* (2016), series, Music
- *One More Time with Feeling* (2016), Original Music Composer, Music, Conductor
- *Hell or High Water* (2016), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/hell-or-high-water.md)
- *Bad Girl* (2016), Original Music Composer
- *Prophet's Prey* (2015), Music
- *Paradise Lost?* (2015), Original Music Composer
- *Mustang* (2015), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/mustang.md)
- *Pitchoune* (2015), Original Music Composer
- *Far from Men* (2015), Original Music Composer
- *20,000 Days on Earth* (2014), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/20-000-days-on-earth.md)
- *Tender* (2014), Original Music Composer
- *West of Memphis* (2012), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/west-of-memphis.md)
- *A Few Hours of Spring* (2012), Original Music Composer
- *Lawless* (2012), Original Music Composer
- *Submission* (2011), Music
- *Medea Miracle* (2011), as Violiniste
- *The Road* (2009), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-road-2009.md)
- *The Assassination of Jesse James: Death of an Outlaw* (2008), Original Music Composer
- *The English Surgeon* (2007), Music
- *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford* (2007), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford.md)
- *The Proposition* (2005), Original Music Composer, Musician — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md)
- *Praise* (1999), Original Music Composer
- *Woyzeck*, Music

## Gallery

- ![Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three performing at WOMADelaide 2012](https://film.one/media/person/11716/gallery-adc99df3cdf5.jpg) Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three performing at WOMADelaide 2012 — Nichollas Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Warren_Ellis_of_the_Dirty_Three.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Warren Ellis, musician (2006)](https://film.one/media/person/11716/gallery-057b6913d561.jpg) Warren Ellis, musician (2006) — Wallywanoo (talk)warren ellis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Warren_Ellis%2C_musician_%282006%29.JPG/1280px-Warren_Ellis%2C_musician_%282006%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- César Award for Best Music Written for a Film 2017: César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (won), for *Mustang*
- César Award for Best Music Written for a Film 2016: César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (won), for *Mustang*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/warren-ellis