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Before anything else, the Scoremagacine crew want to thank your kindness when giving us this interview.
Let's start talking about "Thunderbirds", how did you become involved in this project?
- Hans approached me after we had finished "Pirates". It was roughly 4 months before we actually started working on the score. We sat down together and started gathering ideas and came up with the thematic material.
You are used to work in team, how was the experience with Hans Zimmer and Jim Dooley?
- Fantastic. This project wasn’t the first one where we worked together, so we didn’t have to get used to each other. Composing can be a lonely job, so working in a team can be very encouraging. It was a comforting feeling to be able to walk into Hans’ room if I ever got stuck. In addition it’s fun to walk into the other composers’ room to check out how much he has done.
Let's talk about the music in "Thunderbirds". The first thing you notice is the coexistence of the popular Barry Gray tune for the original series with a new and catchy motif specially composed for the movie version. Did you think in some moment about take just the Gray's theme and don't compose a new one?
- No. Hans’ idea was to use the original theme for special moments. The movie needed a separate new theme for the "Thunderbirds" so that it could fit in with the rest of the score. But whenever we did decide to use the original theme, those moments were truly magical.
Another point is the fusion of the techno sound with the classical use of the orchestra, keeping the typical Media Ventures compositive spirit. How would you describe your work for "Thunderbirds"?
- We talked about quite some different approaches for the score. At some point we thought about doing a guitar score, very band rock oriented. But it turned out that we needed a lot more orchestra. So what we ended up with now is a great mixture of different styles. There is techno and a lot of retro elements blended with traditional orchestra. It was a lot fun, because a movie like this gave us a lot of room to experiment and incorporate many different styles.
How was the partnership with the director Jonathan Frakes? Was there creative freedom or did he set some musical paths to follow?
- We discussed basic ideas in the beginning and then he gave us full freedom and wanted to see what we would come up with. Jonathan, who is a trombone player, particularly liked our "The Hood" theme because it was mainly performed on trombones.
Did you worked in a specifical part of the music, or your work had no limitations?
- There were no limitations. I like to keep the variety. One day I would work on some dark “Hood” material and the next day I would work on the quirky “Lady P” cues. In addition, the movie has so many fast cuts that in one cue we had to segue many times from heavy action to light romance or comedy.
From which part of the music you are proudest?
- I think the “Lady Penelope” theme and all it’s variations. Her theme was the hardest because it needed a sexy James Bond vibe with a modern and retro style.
We would like to get to know you better as a composer, so we must ask: what did you got you interested to become a film music composer?
- Classic movies like “The Magnificent Seven”. Watching these movies, as a kid, I noticed what a big role a dramatic underscore had in a film. I was also always more fascinated by the instrumental side of music as opposed to the lyrical part. So film music seemed the obvious choice.
How did you get into Media Ventures?
- How it always happens: by coincidence. A friend knew somebody that knew somebody at Media Ventures. And all of a sudden things just fell into place.
You use to work with the composer Klaus Badelt, remembering works as beloved by the fans as "Ned Kelly"," The Time Machine" or "K-19". Do you have some special remembrances about this partnership?
- Klaus is a wonderful composer who taught me a lot. He has a great gift of approaching a musical score. Musically, it was always very easy to work with him, because we were always on the same page. We always had very hectic schedules, but the atmosphere always stayed very positive.
To talk about "Pirates of the Caribbean" is to talk about one of the most controversial scores in the last years. There is people supporting this score, but there is also many people who is against the kind of music used in this film. What can you explain us about your work in this score? how was the experience?
- "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of the hardest project I have worked on so far. We had less than four weeks to write more than hundred minutes of music. We knew that this movie wasn't a typical Pirate movie, so the idea was to go into a different direction with the score. What we ended up with is a "rock 'n roll" orchestral score. I never had as little sleep as in those four weeks. It was very challenging.
A question that is always fresh is the firing of a composer, something normal inside the Hollywood rules, but the last year has reached a top with the loud voice complain of Gabriel Yared after his firing in "Troy". You have worked in two scores that were previously given to another composer, "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Something's Gotta Give", both with Alan Silvestri as first composer. What is your opinion about this? do you see it as something normal, a natural risk that every film composer takes?
- Unfortunately this could happen to any of us. In Hollywood, there are many different reasons why a composer could get laid off: a personality issue, a stylistic issue, a delivery issue, ... and not necessarily the quality of the music. Many times the reasons remain unknown. This could happens to anybody, but that doesn't make somebody a bad composer. It's a difficult subject.
What references has your music? Do you feel influenced by some author or you prefer to build your stuff beginning from zero?
- I get my inspiration from many different sources, but often it's simply watching my current project without any temp music.
How did you get the proyect "Blade Trinity"?
- It came out of nowhere. I just received a call one day to meet with the director. I know Terence Blanchard was on the project, but I really don't know what happens with him.
How was it work with David S. Goyer? "Blade Trinity" is his second movie as a director, but the Blade character is not strange for him, due to he wrote the scripts for the previous twos parts.
- It was a wonderful experience to work with David. He had a very specific vision on how he wanted to portray the Blade Character. He wanted to make sure that Blade's split situation became clear. On the one hand he is a hero, on the other he is half vampire himself. The music has a lot of heroic action moments, but at the same time also many tragic moments. Together we pushed the music into a very interesting direction.
Tell us about the music of the film, how is it?
- The one thing I really liked was that David pushed me away from a techno score which certainly could have been one direction to pick. We ended up with a nice hybrid of orchestral and electronica elements. It was very challenging to find cool modern organic sounds. I used a lot of guitar and bass sounds modified with a lot of effects. I always enjoy writing scores that incorporate guitars because that used to be my main instrument. So I still get very excited when I get to jam a little.
In which scenes did you like more do the music? Which is your favourite sequence?
- I really enjoyed writing the entire score from beginning to end because there was such a variety of events: very action cues followed dramatic emotional scenes. Blade's rescue scene was one of my favorites though. I rewrote part of it even before playing it for David. I was very hard on myself because I liked this scene so much, so I wanted the music to be just right. Another favorite is the big ending scene. The orchestra is really featured in this one.
Did you find inspiration in Mark Isham and Marco Beltrami`s works for the previous movies?
- Both composers wrote fantastic scores for the previous movies, so it was quite encouraging and challenging to write a good score for the 3rd one. There are no thematic relations between the 3 movies though.
Have you ever read the comics in which the characters are based on?
- Actually I haven't. I had seen the previous Blade movies and was always a big fan. In general, I love movies based on comic characters.
RZA appears on the end credits and he has recently taken part in Kill Bill. In relation with this, did you participate together in the music?
- One of the cues that really highlights our collaboration is the "Blade chasing Drake" scene. RZA had written already some really cool hip-hop parts with great vocals. He then handed it over to me to do my thing with it. We exchanged files back and forth until we were satisfied. It was great working with him because he comes from a completely different music background. He also came up with us to the scoring sessions in Seattle. We had a lot of fun.
How is your work in "Batman Begins"? How is the score?
- I feel very lucky to have been involved with this movie. I´ve always been a huge Batman fan. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard collaborating on a score made it even more interesting. The score turned out really nice. It´s very different, and definitely not what people are expecting. The movie is very dark and so is the score.
There are a new thematic material?
- Yes, all the themes are new. The fact that the whole look and feel of the movie is so different than the previous ones asked for a completely different approach on the score.
What could you say us about Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard unique collaboration?
- It was great to see how such well established composers work together. Everything went so smoothly that it seemed like that this wasn´t the first time that they were working together. You can hear the results in the score. Their styles are well combined. I had a lot of fun being in the middle of it.
Are you working with the reference of his works and themes?
- Yes, for the most part of it. In order to keep a well structured score I worked with the thematic material as close as possible. The two also left me a lot of room to do my own thing a bit.
What are your future projects?
- I just finished a wonderful project while I was still in London. It´s a short movie called "Jonathan" that´s part of the "Take 7" movie. A benefit project for UNICEF that was written and directed by Jordan Scott. It was a lot of fun, because this score as opposed to the huge "Batman Begins" score was done with 8 cellos only. I just enjoy having these contrasts, to do a small score without action music after such a blockbuster movie. There is some future projects in the works, but I usually don´t mention them until I´m signed on.
Thank you very much for your time, and best wishes for the future.
- Thank you.
Special thanks: Sandrine Pecher (Ramin´s Assistant).
18-june-2008
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