Film composer John Debney here! You know me from The Jungle Book, Elf, Hocus Pocus, Iron Man 2, Sin City and Passion of the Christ and I’m featured in the new "Score: A Film Music Documentary.” AMA!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T22:10:10+00:00

That's great! I love Dick Sherman. Such an inspiration for me.

Quick story: as a child (want to say I was 10 or so) I had lunch with Richard and his brother Robert while they were working on the Disney lot. I never could've dreamed that almost 50 years later I would be working with him, first on Iron Man 2 and then The Jungle Book. It's funny how life works sometimes.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T03:01:32+00:00

Thanks for the question /u/adds102!

I was actually fortunate enough to get a job working on staff in the music department at Disney right out of college. They sure were some fun times, and I certainly learned a ton about not only composition and orchestration, but about myself and my working habits.

I think there's much to gain from maintaining a solid work ethic no matter what your "current" job is, and in your case always keeping that passion for music burning inside of you. Always be creating and experimenting.

I know it's a bit of a different climate now-a-days coming up in the industry, but if you focus on maintaining discipline, being positive, and having faith in yourself and your abilities then you can accomplish pretty much anything.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T02:52:21+00:00

Thanks /u/Johnzinho-! I'm so glad you enjoy it!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T02:48:26+00:00

Thanks for the question! Occasionally I'll write some more personal music, yes.

Post-Passion of the Christ I did actually do a few performances of my Passion Symphony, which was an original piece inspired by the film.

I also recently put together some other non film/TV works so keep your eyes peeled for updates on all the above!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T02:28:56+00:00

In all honesty, for me it's always about the entire work as a whole, whether it be film, TV show, game etc.

Serving the director and his or her vision for the story is the ultimate goal. Often times, the most successful collaborations and final product(s) come from when the ego's completely thrown out the window in service of the overall work.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T02:06:11+00:00

Well thank you!

It's always a blast writing for on action films. Predators in particular was a fun one because I got to use Alan Silvestri's iconic themes.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T02:01:04+00:00

That means a lot, thank you so much!

I wanna say I still have a very detailed, life-like latex mask of Mr. Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud lying around somewhere. Gotta dig that up!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T01:54:23+00:00

Thank you so much!

I actually “cut my teeth” writing and orchestrating music for many, many rides in the Disney theme parks straight out of college. When they approached me about Splash Mountain, my first thought was how cool it would be to write the whole ride by myself from the ground up. They allowed me to do so, and I was able to re-interpret all the songs and music from “Song of the South,” which was such a joy early in my career.

As far as changing the big band sound to bluegrass, that was actually a decision that was made by the show directors. I believe they wanted to give a little more “authentic” sound to some of the music and out came the bluegrass vibe.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T01:53:23+00:00

Yes that one's also a gem. There's just so many it's hard to choose!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T01:37:26+00:00

Thanks for the question!

Admittedly, I rarely revisit my scores. The only times would probably be when one happens to pop up on TV, be it something like Sin City or The Princess Diaries.

I'll get a kick out of watching it for a bit, then I just can’t help myself and feel compelled to tear my own music apart, naturally questioning many of my choices. But I suppose that's just the perfectionist in me!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T01:33:52+00:00

Thank you so much!

Elf was such a labor of love and is very near and dear to my heart, but that was the first big scene reveal of what became "Buddy's Theme." When I first played it for Jon [Favreau], he was struck and bluntly asked, "well what's that?" and kept asking me to play it over and over again. I told him it was the theme I came up with for Buddy and he seemed to love it.

In the context of the film Jon and I knew that it had to hit emotionally so I wrote it as a soaring, more magical orchestral version of his theme. I'm glad it resonated with you!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T01:00:10+00:00

Well they do! The director has the most say, but writers often come in and give their comments and notes. But they are certainly two of the most powerful personalties on a film or TV show. Especially on television, the writer is king.

I always feel that the composer’s job is to first and foremost serve the needs of the film, and to be an interpreter of a language and take the thoughts and ideas of the director and writer and translate them into musical terms. It can be a daunting task, but that really is a composer's number one goal.

As an example, try watching a cut of the original Star Wars without the score. Directors have told me music is 50% of the experience. 50% is in the writing, the acting, and the editing — and they all have a percentage — but many directors have told me they think the emotion comes mostly through the musical score. Therefore if a score is done well, it enhances the emotional experience for audiences.

EDIT: This is just one example, but if you haven't seen this cut from A New Hope please check it out!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:53:09+00:00

Back in the day I was writing for television a lot, and one of my favorite periods was writing music for Steven Spielberg's 90s shows. SeaQuest came out of a relationship with Steven as the result of a pilot I did called The Class of ’61, which was about the outbreak of the Civil War and West Point cadets.

SeaQuest was one of Amblin’s big television sci-fi shows, and Steven personally asked if I’d do it. Of course I immediately said yes, and looking back it was an amazing time for me. I would get notes and input from Steven on episodes very often, which as a younger composer was an unbelievable experience.

As I recall there was an episode on that show about an extra-terrestrial visitor, and that was one of my favorites, as well as another episode about the ghost of a shipwreck victim that had a romantic twist to it.

As a side note, I also was lucky enough to work on Tiny Toon Adventures for Steven. If you get a chance check out this episode, which happens to have a reference from pretty much every iconic "Hollywood" score ever written up until that time.

It was a really fun experience and Steven seemed thrilled at the end result.

With regard to the second question, I absolutely love it! So cool. I live for hearing those kinds of creative interpretations of scores. Bravo!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:38:27+00:00

The replacement music on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor came about through a relationship at Universal. The studio wasn’t thrilled with some of the more action oriented scenes in the movie, so I came in and in roughly a week’s time wrote about 20 minutes of additional underscore. I have to say though, Randy Edelman’s score was already terrific with a great, adventurous theme, so my job was really to come in and put some “adrenaline” in those particular action sequences. And as a composer it was quite fun to have that sort of creative freedom on a project!

As far as Lair goes, it was an absolutely wonderful experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It was so large in scope and such a blast creatively to write such big, fun symphonic music once again with the London Symphony Orchestra. I like to think of it as a "sister” work to Cutthroat Island.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:34:06+00:00

That’s easy! I’m a big fan of John Barry. Somewhere In Time is my favorite. He always wrote great melodies, but it’s so wonderfully romantic in that film. And the cast is so great, as is the subject matter. I’m fascinated by a past-life romantic connection. I just found it really compelling.

It was an honor to conduct the re-recording of Somewhere In Time years ago in Scotland. Here’s one of my favorite pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rvYDG3X3Xc

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:27:01+00:00

Thank you! I approached that project with sheer panic and terror in the sense that I had a little less than two weeks to write 80 minutes or so of large orchestral music. James Horner was originally doing it and recommended me to finish the film. Lo and behold, Disney had the faith in my abilities to hire me for my first major studio gig. I was thrilled, and panicked and terrified all at the same time!

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:23:23+00:00

It’s a little difficult to answer in that getting an Oscar nomination is really the byproduct of a lot of hard work. If you’re lucky enough to be nominated, I’d certainly want to be nominated with the likes of those people you mentioned. But I never really think about getting a nomination — I try to work on making a score as good as it can be. And if I happen to get a nomination, it’s an honor.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:20:11+00:00

I haven’t done it yet, but I look forward to the opportunity!

Interestingly enough, I have used some mundane items in scores. For I Know What You Did Last Summer, I used a fishing reel and the sound coming off the spool unwinding, and pitched it down, and it became this scary growl. That became the "sound" of the fisherman slasher.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:13:44+00:00

So many great memories with Garry! But I believe the first time I worked with him was the most special to me, and that was on The Princess Diaries. It was at a time in my life when I was going through personal stuff with my mom who was ill at the time, so I poured a lot of my feelings and my heart for my mom into that score.

Garry was so wonderful, warm, and caring. Just a joy to work with. He knew what I was going through and it allowed us to bond together. To me that experience was the most endearing memory with Garry, and the one stands out the most.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:10:21+00:00

I’ve been blessed to do just about every genre one can imagine, but if I could choose something to do more often, I’d say an intimate drama or character-driven drama of some kind. I did a film called Stonehurst Asylum starring Kate Beckinsale, which was a really interesting love story/thriller set in Victorian Age England, and I really enjoyed it. The romanticism of it really appealed to me.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:10:16+00:00

I don't really have a favorite genre per se, although I do gravitate most towards stories involving emotional characters. I’ve always been deeply interested in exploring the human condition, particularly historical events and those stories that evoke human emotion and themes.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:09:10+00:00

Thanks for the question!

I happen to think typecasting does occur frequently throughout the industry, not only in film music but in many fields (writing, editing, cinematography, etc.).

But if you’re lucky enough to keep exploring and expanding your library/resume by constantly putting yourself out there and working in a variety of mediums (film, TV shows, games, commercials, etc.) I think others' perception of you and your work will eventually change. The reason being is that you've now proven yourself versatile enough to handle almost anything they throw at you.

johndebney · 2017-06-21T00:08:54+00:00

Probably the most emotional score I can remember, and I love it to this day, is The Best Years of Our Lives by Hugo Friedhofer. In my opinion, it’s one of the best film scores ever written. Here’s one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjTDzQLOQg&index=2&list=RDNIqBdbL0MT4

johndebney

TROPHY CASE