Before we begin with the questions, we would like to thank you for your participation; it's a honour for us to be interviewing you.
What’s your musical background Alex? What influenced you into dealing with film music composition in the first place – do you have any particular musical references that match certain composers in or outside the film music area?
I grew up in a musical family, in Chicago. I played piano very early. My father had a recording studio and a relationship with Robert Moog - he had the Modular System, serial number 2. Walter Carlos had serial number 1-. They were getting parts as they were being built! With my father's classical training, he did amazing recordings - he had a record deal with RCA. He was reading scores like “Nutcracker” and Chopin’s works, and executing them perfectly on this Moog - reading all the dynamics and tempos. He was very conscious of creating music that had the same depth as orchestral music, but using a synthesizer- the first synthesizer - to do it. He was an accomplished pianist and accompanist, and my brother (a very good cellist who studied with Jacqueline duPre) and he were playing wonderful music in the house- everything from the Shostakovich cello sonata, to the Cesar Franck violin sonata. I studied French horn for eight years, but I headed off into the world of contemporary jazz music, as a pianist. I played a lot of funk and blues in the ghettos of Chicago, during High School. In my later 20s and 30s, I've headed back to my classical influences. I'm still going in that direction.
Well, after I studied a bit in Chicago, I was making a career in advertising. I did some spots, and was really into syncing up and working to picture. I knew that was in my future because my father had done a bit of that as well - he had done small industrial-type things. Back then, industrials were cool! Motorola made some great industrials... I saw “Star Wars” 100 times when I was a kid and I didn't realize it, but inevitably I would see that film scoring is what I really wanted to do, for a whole host of reasons. For instance, I'm much better when there's a deadline, and if I were in the record world, I don't know if I'd ever finish anything!
It’s also known that some time ago you worked with Hans Zimmer. Did you work closely with him or were their studios (ex-Media Ventures) and the composers working there, your ground for composing?
I had a relationship with Hans Zimmer that began before he did “The Lion King”. He was in his old studio called Wilder Bros. on Santa Monica Blvd. It was small and cool. It was through exchanging motions. He would do all the film scoring stuff and I would give whatever I could offer, which I guess tickled his fancy in some way. It was more of a friendship, really. We went into working together on some things. I learned a lot and then I went out on my own.
Is there a specific style of composing that you believe matches your personality in a best possible way or do you prefer experimenting?
Spontaneous. I’m really into romantic, melodic music; not necessarily romantic in the traditional sense, but things that are melodic and compassionate and heartfelt. Those are really the things that I like. Sometimes I am moved, for one reason or another, to put that into a very contemporary context which is one that might have the feeling of being estranged, repressed, discrete, indirect. Those are all qualities that of late have been used in film scoring. Those are the things I’m doing.
About your recent work for "March of the Penguins", what’s your opinion on the movie and its look? We hear that great visuals accompany a strong and touching story of love, in an overall outstanding result that got audiences by surprise.
They are stunning visuals and there’s a story. My opinion of it is that the movie’s look is wonderful because it’s very real and very well done. The place they are shooting these visuals and the creatures they are shooting are exceptionally interesting. The fact is that Luc Jacquet came up with this brilliant idea and I’m glad to have been a part of it.
What’s different as far as music is concerned, between the American and the French version? Which one would you advice people to watch first and why?
That’s a good question. I think you should watch whichever one comes your way first. The French version is very much more pop-driven. The American version is a little more classic.
We take that you’re very satisfied with the result yourself. Is there a specific moment in the score you’re the proudest for?
Actually, it’s an over all quality of the score that I’m proud of. That is that there is a certain waiting and pay off in the style of the score. The place in the movie that exemplifies it is when the mothers finally return. The piece of music begins when the mothers are walking through darkness. Then the sun starts to come out and then we learn about the fathers and how they can feed their chicks one time before the mothers come home. And then finally the mothers come home. That’s about a 9-minute sequence. What I like is that, at the end of that sequence, the pay off is really given. That’s probably my proudest moment.
Did you work for a major documentary before or was "March of the Penguins" the first?
I worked with Percy Adlon on a wonderful documentary he made in 1996 called “The Hotel Adlon”, which documented the story of the Hotel Adlon in Berlin. When the wall went up, it was just on the East side, near the Brandenburg Gate. But before it went up, Hitler and Mussolini and all those bad cats were over there, conspiring in the lobby and rooms of this modern and lavish hotel. It has a fantastic story. So that was a feature-length documentary, but it didn't get a theatrical release here.
How did you become involved in the project? Did you worked directly with the director and crew or was it more like studio collaboration.
There’s no such thing as studio collaboration. There’s an interaction between the director and the composer most of the time. Not in this case. In this case, it was a studio collaboration.
Because there was no director and there were several people involved in what was a very quick turnaround, we all basically got together and tried to decide what we were going to do. Those people happened to be Mark Gill, who hired me for the project; Jordan Roberts, the author of the narration who was working at the same time as I was working; and Adam Leipzig from National Geographic who had a very romantic take on the film.
Did you have much creative freedom on the project or were you instructed into a specific musical direction? How did you decide to move to a romantic approach for the score, which admittedly surprised everyone in a very positive way?
I had an unprecedented amount of freedom. There was no temp score. I didn’t have to listen to the old score. In fact, the idea was to go do something different. I had a whole lot of freedom there. I had the freedom to effect change to the extent that most composers don’t have because we were working film editing at the same time. I was able to be a part of that and also with the sound effects at the end. I could have an influence there.
Using a romantic approach was an idea I got from the original version.
What’s your opinion on this kind of movies and how is it to write a score for such a project? Some people suggest that documentaries shouldn’t get original scores because there’s always the risk of ‘guiding’ and polarizing the audience in an emotional way and into a certain direction / take on events presented before them, perhaps one that the director and composer specifically wanted for them, thus not letting the audience to neutrally decide for themselves on the story.
This is a special film. I love movies like this because they are based on reality and they are good-natured. They are not destructive.
It was very inspiring writing for it because I’m taking my inspiration from something that is beautiful in terms of purity. It is an honor because I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to help represent in a musical way the feelings that we are afforded the opportunity to have.
I once asked Spike Lee if documentaries were objective and you know the answer I got there. They are not objective, but you cannot criticize somebody for doing something that glorifies in a positive way. So we are making a take on something and we are guiding in some ways, hopefully in a subtle way.
Another entry in your credits’ list is the high-profile "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". How did you get in involved in the project and at what stage? We would really love to hear about how was your collaboration with them and if you recall any notable events off that experience.
I got involved in that project because they were having problems with their original composer. My friend was in the position to give me the opportunity to solve the problem, which I did. That was after they had wrapped production and they were experimenting with music.
There were several events. Some great musical notable events were that each piece of music had a different set of musicians on it. That was interesting. I loved working with Sam Rockwell because I think he’s really up there on the list of great actors.
The most notable event was when George Clooney came over to my house on his Indian motorcycle. He called me from about four blocks away. He was lost and asking for directions. I swear I could hear him start up his motorcycle and ride over to my house from four blocks away.
Your works’ list also includes Hollywood Homicide which moved into a broad and dense action music approach. What do you remember of that collaboration? Where they any specific influences for this one?
My influences on that score were Stravinsky, Shostakovich and some Gershwin. There was a pop side to it too, like a watered-down, not-so-funky kind of funk in that score. The collaboration with Ron Shelton was great. He’s a wonderful guy and my champion in that film. He gave me a great opportunity. It was a pretty fun music.
There’s also Anchorman. How did you get involved on this one? What are your memories on the scoring process and your view on the final result?
Anchorman was being made. I heard about it and really wanted to do it. Before we had a chance to do anything about it, Hal Willner, who was the music supervisor, had seen “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”, suggested me to director Adam McKay. I met Adam and he hired me.
What I remember most about that scoring process was that I was laughing constantly. Even when there were 85 musicians playing the orchestral segments, I was laughing. It was fun from beginning to end. My view on the final results is that I did what the movie needed and I made some really good friends in the process.
13 Conversations About One Thing. A very atmospheric, dark and moody score mainly based on the piano and completed by other instruments like the music box, xylophones, glockenspiel, harps and woodwinds if my memory serves me right. And the movie was a primarily dialogue-driven project…
It was dialogue-driven, yes, but each time the music would start, it was giving you a sense that the story line was making a shift from one place to another that was somehow related to where we were before. So the music was the glue. The director and I sometimes described the score as taking the perspective of God. God would enter the scenario and have his influence and that was causing the story to go from one segment to the next in the form of a twist or a turn or a chance encounter between two unrelated people.
Your recent credits also include "A Lot Like Love", directed by Nigel Cole and written by Colin Patrick Lynch. What can you tell us about the movie and your score for it? Is there going to be an official cd release for it? From what we know, no such thing is announced yet.
I am clueless about a CD release, though certainly not for the score.
I enjoyed working with Nigel very much. We are both of English heritage with a dour sense of humor. He was extremely respectful towards me. We delicately crafted the role of the score together and enjoyed working together very much. We’re going to work together again.
Is there a specific movie genre or a single dream project you would love to work on one day? Collaborating with a director whose work you admire the most perhaps?
There’s no single project. I have shades of imagery in my mind that are musical notions I would like to be able to put on a project. So I’d like to find a project that would support those musical ideas.
What I would hope to be involved with in the near future would be something of the romantic/dramatic ilk so that I could use some real cool modern harmonies to really invoke some tension but with investment. Not just tension for intension’s sake, but invested tension.
Are there any specific scores from other composers or movies you enjoyed lately? What kind of music do you like listening to yourself?
I do enjoy “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. I like Jon Brion a lot. Anytime someone asks me for my favorite scores, I basically have two admissions: “The Mission” by Ennio Morricone and “Unstrung Heroes” by Thomas Newman. It’s hard to match those.
What kind of music do I like listening to myself? I do have one favorite piece of music that I like listening to and that’s Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem”.
<What can you tell us about the rest of your works? Something like a small and descriptive guidance list for anyone who´s getting in touch with your work for the first time.
Part of the strategy that I´ve been applying while developing my career is to protect myself from being pigeonholed so that I´d be in the exact situation I´m in. People are comfortable hiring me to do things they´ve never heard me do before and I get a chance to do things that I´ve never done before. That is why I´m just about to do a bluegrass orchestral score for “High, Wide and Handsome”.
What I´ve heard from my friends who seem to know my music the best is that they can detect my style in the scores even though none of them are like the other. I don´t know what they mean. It must be very simple like harmony and rhythm and melody tendencies.
My only advise there is, if you want to get to know my style, you kind of have to listen to all of it.
What can you tell us about your future projects? Anything confirmed yet?
I do have “High, Wide and Handsome”, which is a NASCAR movie starring Will Ferrell. It´s very, very funny. You can rest assured that I´m going try and stick in some indie drama music.
Thanks for your time and input, greatly appreciated and we wish you all the best for the future.
Special Thanks to Tom Kidd (Costa Communications)
Translation: Pablo Nieto
24-august-2005
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