‘Drive’ director pays tribute to late composer Kavinsky: “An icon of French pop”

Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn has paid tribute to French composer Kavinsky, who recently died, aged 50. The pioneering DJ and electronic music star, real name Vincent ‌Belorgey, was found in his home in Paris by authorities at around 10:30pm local time on July 28. Newspaper reports have said that the cause of death is thought to be a stroke. His death has brought in tributes from fans of the 2011 film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. Kavinsky’s song ‘Nightcall’ played over the famous opening to the film, becoming a highlight of the cult classic and setting the tone for the movie. Refn, the film’s director, paid tribute to Kavinsky on Wednesday (August 5) in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter. “To many people in America, Kavinsky will always be the artist behind the unforgettable opening of Drive,” he said. “In France, he was much more than that. He was an icon of French pop music, a cultural figure whose influence reached far beyond any one song.” Recalling the process of search for the right song for the movie’s opening, he explained: “The moment we laid “Nightcall” over the opening sequence, everything clicked. It gave the film exactly what it had been missing.” He sa...