Chris Cornell vowed to give "The Promise" his 'absolute best'

PanARMENIAN.Net - For the end-title song of the Armenian Genocide drama “The Promise,” the production turned to perhaps an unexpected choice: former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, Los Angeles Times.

“Chris was at the first reading of the script,” said director Terry George by phone. “It was April 24, 2015; the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.”

The late Cornell was brought on by his friend, “The Promise” producer Eric Esrailian.

“Chris could envision the film before we even started writing a single word, and he was part of every draft of the script, every major casting conversation, dailies and every major cut,” said Esrailian by email.

“He wrote me the following: ‘I want to tell you that I am honored and that I am devoted to this film and I will give it my absolute best and I feel like my 30 years of discovery and development as a songwriter have led me to this...’ ”

The title song is a tender orchestral ballad that expresses the story’s central themes of survival – and beyond.

“Promise to survive / persevere and thrive / as we’ve always done,” Cornell sings. “If I had nothing to my name / But photographs of you / Rescued from the flame / That is all I would ever need …”

Esrailian says Cornell’s focus on current refugee crises is reflected in the song’s video. George says, “Normally, an end-credits song, the video for that would be clips from the film with the singer. This is a very proactive video about refugees today, the situation in the Middle East, where we’re at.”

George says, “I watched him perform it on ‘Jimmy Fallon’ [on television] – the power, the passion of the song made me choke up. … I never did get to see him do it live. I was looking forward to that experience.”