www.JohnBraheny.com - Writing for Film and TV

HOME - JOHN BRAHENY - JOHN'S BOOK - SONGWRITING CRAFT - SONGWRITING BUSINESS - MARKETING YOUR SONGS
WRITING FOR FILM & TV - SONGWRITER RESOURCES - INTERVIEWS WITH SUCCESSFUL SONGWRITERS
THE LOS ANGELES SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE - SITE MAP

	Interview: Danny Elfman
	Writing for Film and TV SONGS FOR FILM & TV MUSIC SUPERVISION 101 PRODUCTION MUSIC LIBRARIES SONGWRITING DEALS FOR FILMS RESOURCES INTERVIEW: DANNY ELFMAN INTERVIEW: ALAN SILVESTRI			< last page \| 1, 2, 3 JB: You've scored a variety of styles of film, so you've been able to explore a lot of different musical areas. DE: Yeah, I've been pretty lucky in that sense, especially the last couple of years where I've worked more away from comedy and into fantasy, which is where I always wanted to be. I still like doing comedies, but fantasy and darker films lend themselves to more imaginative music than a straight-ahead comedy where you really just have to worry about staying out of the way. You just can't get as imaginative and it can get you frustrated. So I'm lucky to be in a genre now where I can use my imagination. JB: How was Dick Tracy for you? DE: I just finished it last night and it was really good, very difficult but very good. Warren Beatty is the kind of director who is very difficult to please, is very particular, has a very good ear, and there's just no getting around it. You either hit it on the nail for him or you don't, and I went through the whole process of starting out very enthusiastic, thinking I had it nailed, then reaching what seemed like horrible impasses and feeling like I couldn't possibly find what I needed to give him what he wanted, and then finally coming around to it. It's like the mystery solved. You find the clues and the clues lead to other clues. It's like Sherlock Holmes, and all of a sudden I had it, I found it, and our last session last night worked just great because I knew I found what he was looking for, and his being very pleased makes me feel like I solved the mystery. JB: You get the clues from feedback from him? DE: Yeah, I mean generally, most directors can usually tell you what they don't like about something. JB: Do they have the language to say why? DE: Nobody really has the language to tell you what they want. It's all abstract, no matter how musically versed or unversed the director is, they still can't. And, even if they start expressing themselves in detailed musical terminology, it still doesn't mean anything, but still, it either is or it isn't. JB: So, the best shot they have is choosing you to do it because they have a feel for what you might come up with? DE: Right, exactly. And, sometimes in a difficult project like this, coming through the adversity of starting really high and encountering what seem to be impassable musical road blocks and then finally, in the 11th hour, breaking through them under pressure, could actually make it even a better experience than just easy sailing-type of projects. So now, in retrospect, I could say, "It was real tough, but very rewarding." JB: How do Steve and you work on the scores? DE: Well, he orchestrates. I write the stuff out as detailed as I can and depending on how detailed the piece is, depends on how detailed I'll get. Then I'll turn it over to him and he'll orchestrate it and then it goes to the copyists. So it kind of becomes an assembly line. JB: Do you conduct it? DE: No, I'll never conduct. For two reasons: one is that I don't think I would be a good conductor; and, the stuff I'm doing is difficult. And on these big difficult scores, I need a really, really good conductor. We need somebody there who can read every line of all the instruments simultaneously, instantly, which is a whole other skill, and to answer 120 questions which happen every time the orchestra stops, instantaneously, pass on information to them instantaneously, and who can go on and off clicks, and to the clock. Shirley Walker has been conducting for us and she's just wonderful. I mean last night she had these really difficult pieces, which originally I started writing for a click and then I realized it was just not going to work. The piece had to breathe. We're talking big, old-style romantic composition, but yet they had to be caught...all the moments right exactly at the certain points, and so it was really going back to Newman-style conducting on the clock with streamers. And she did just such an amazing, wonderful, skillful job with it. I never could have done it. I also like watching the screen. I don't want to watch the music. I'm not concerned with what's on the music at that point. I'm more concerned with the screen and so my eyes have to be glued to the screen. And I want the director sitting right next to me and I want to be looking at his expression, so I don't think I'll ever be a conductor. I bet Steve will someday. He certainly has the talent for it. At the moment, our goal is to have a really versatile, really even-tempered and very experienced conductor. JB: So you get together with her earlier and go over all this stuff? DE: She'll look at all the charts before she gets there and usually at a certain point, if its a big score, she'll start doing some of the orchestrations as well...because Steve starts getting swamped. It's always the same thing, the first couple of weeks everything's fine, everything's fine. Then we get into the last two weeks of a score and I'm throwing stuff too fast and Steve starts getting frazzled and then he'll start working without sleep and I'll say, "Steve, you've got to give some of these pieces up...." JB: Cause there's a point of diminishing returns? DE: Exactly. So Shirley will end up, on all the scores we've done, doing anywhere between minimum five or ten percent and maybe up to 20-to-25 percent of the orchestrations. JB: That sounds like a good team. DE: Yeah, we do work well. And, Bob Badami the music editor, Big Bad Bob, we really do function as a team. Bob, Steve and I have been together since Pee Wee's Big Adventure, so the three of us have been a team from way back, all the way back to the beginning. Shirley has been since Scrooged, with us for the last two years, but I would say at this point, she's no less a part of our team because the conducting and then pressure valve for Steve...has become very invaluable for us. JB: Do you ever get a little depressed after a project is over? DE: Well, I used to more, but now that I have no time between projects, I have no time to dwell on the post-project depression which, you know on especially big projects, can happen. That happened after Batman. I took a little time off, but I went into Nightbreed, then into Dick Tracy. Now, I'm on Darkman, which I do in and around touring, then on to Edward Scissors Hands, so I don't have a lot of time to dwell on anything. JB: So you don't have the luxury of depression? DE: Yeah, precisely. JB: How do you keep your energy level? DE: I don't. JB: Don't you wear out? DE: Whatever, I don't really think about it. I do what I have to do. In the middle of the tour I'll be going, "Oh yeah, gee, I wish I would have exercised for the last six months, but I forgot. Whoooops! Next year." And it's just like that. I'll have to get in shape while I'm out on the road because I sure don't get in shape doing film scores, hunched over a piano 12 hours a day. JB: You seem like you're going all the time. How do you relax, or do you? DE: No, not this year, maybe next year. < last page \| 1, 2, 3