From the set of the macabre cult hit Zombieland, director Ruben Fleisher pulled not only the lead character Jesse Eisenberg but brought along music supervisor Isac Walter to find explosive songs for the 30 Minutes or Less Soundtrack for his dark comedy bank heist gone bust movie.
The crime caper flick based on a true life story kicks off with Nick delivering pizza to “Tick Tick Boom” by Swedish band, The Hives. If the song sounds familar, it’s because it’s also been used in the movies Taken, MacGruber and Friday the 13th. The second song played in Nick’s Mustang is “Sure Shot” from the Beastie Boys from their 1994 album Ill Communication.
For Aziz Ansari’s infamous car scene, the bouncy sweet sounding indie rock of the Generationals singing “I Promise” from their album Actor-Caster accompanies his fine acting job. The song from the Generationals you may also know is “When They Fight They Fight” used in the movie Hall Pass.
For Jesse Eisenberg’s scene as Nick meets Kate (Dilsahd Vadaria) for dinner are the songs “Where I’m Going” from the album Zonoscope by Australian electro band Cut Copy and “Laredo” by Seattle’s Band of Horses.
For Danny McBride’s scene as Dwayne at the strip club with Juicy (Bianca Kajlich) is the r & b classic “Ignition (Remix)” from R Kelly’s 2003 Chocolate Factory album.
For the first scene where Jesse Eisenberg (Nick), Danny McBride (Dwayne) & Nick Swardson (Travis) appear together on screen, it’s at the junk yard when Nick delivers a pizza. How perfect a song choice is this? Kid Cudi singing “Is There Any Love? from Man on the Moon: The End of the Day.
From the 80s music back vaults, it’s great to hear Billy Squier’s anthemic “Stroke” which is playing in the scene when Nick quits his pizza delivery job. But they could have just closed up the vault and have been done with this decade and left well enough alone. But no, despite being sooooo overplayed in the 80s, music supervisor Isac Walter just had to haul out Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On” from 1984’s action comedy, Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack for a whole new generation to be tortured by.
Other songs for the 30 Minutes or Less O.S.T. include “No Hay Manera (Jason Roberts Remix)” from Proyecto Akwid by Akwid, Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper” and “Ante Up” by M.O.P.
For the end credits, it’s Wu Tang Clan’s ODB with “Got Your Money” then stick around till after the end credits for Danny McBride (Dwayne) and Nick Swardson’s (Travis) tanning salon ad set to “Me So Horny” by 2 Live Crew.
The music score for the Soundtrack to 30 Minutes or Less is by Ludwig Göransson however it doesn’t seem like there will be an official soundtrack release of the movie’s music or score but individual song downloads are available on Amazon.com or iTunes. The movie 30 Minutes or Less was released August 12, 2011. You can also see Nick Swardson in the movie Bucky Larson.