Working on a score like Patriot Games took me back to my high school years, and my memories of when I first saw the film .I remember being disappointed that Basil Poledouris and Alec Baldwin didn’t return to the Jack Ryan sequel to The Hunt for Red October, but found Horner’s Irish-infused score enjoyable in its own right. There was only about 45-minutes of score released originally, and this new expanded album doubles that (including bonus tracks) to 90-minutes. Highlights include the …
Today is Black Friday, and La-La Land Records has announced their “final four” releases of the year. It’s quite a grand-slam: Jade (James Horner), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Jerry Goldsmith), Batman Returns (Danny Elfman) and Home Alone (John Williams). I produced Jade and co-produced Batman Returns, and both were fun projects to work on. The tricky thing with Jade was that at any time, supposedly Horner could have pulled the plug or taken over the project – thankfully, …
After a nice Spanish breakfast at the hotel, I walked to the Hospital de Santiago, where most of the festivities would be taking place. 10am saw the Jamie Christopherson panel, after which a press conference was held with the mayor of Ubeda, as well as the festival organizers, to kick off the start of the festival. Spanish composer Zacarías M. de la Riva held his panel, and then it was time for mine. My panel was about the work I’ve …
A military man in a far-off land forges a relationship with the natives, falls in love with one of them, sympathizes with them, and ends up leading an uprising against his own people who seek to exploit the natural resources of the land. No, I’m not talking about Pocahontas or Dances with Wolves. I’m talking about Avatar, the first feature film in 13 years from Oscar-winning director James Cameron, following 1997’s Titanic. Set in 2154, humans have colonized space, and …
Woohoo! I won this at the RMA silent auction tonight. The photo is not the best quality, since the damn reflections in the frame made it hard to get a good angle. But you can see what I’m excited about!
The concert this evening was a double-header. The first half was a celebration of music from the Alien film series, and the second was a tribute to Jerry Goldsmith in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday. Conducted by Diego Navarro, music from Alien was preformed, as imagery was projected on screen (it was not meant to be live-to-picture sync, however). Goldsmith’s score to Alien is iconic, creepy and brilliant – and hearing it performed live was bone-chillingly …
I just got a bunch of my favorite James Horner soundtracks signed, which was very gracious of James to do for me. You’ll note that Titanic is not among these, but Aliens is. This should be no surprise to those who know me.
Tonight I went to go see Mel Gibson’s latest film, Apocalypto. The movie is about the decline of the Maya as a result of the Global Zionist Conspiracy™. Actually, no. The story is rather simple, and is set against the backdrop of the crumbling remnants of Maya civilization. Jaguar Paw (Rusty Youngblood) is a young hunter, living with his tribe deep in the jungle. He has a very pregnant wife and young son, and the village is a tight-knit community. …
One drawback to scoring sessions is that I sometimes see the climax and endings of many films, including the big “Oscar contenders”. Such was the case with All the King’s Men, the new adaptation of the 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. This new version features Sean Penn as populist politician Willie Stark, and his rise (and fall) through the corrupt landscape of Louisiana politics, as seen through the eyes of ex-reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law). I found the film …
Went to the Arclight with Matt tonight for a screening of what will probably be one of the first big summer blockbusters (sorry Van Helsing!): Troy. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the film is loosely inspired by Homer’s “The Iliyad”, and takes a lot from other sources as well. The film is well cast, but mainly in the supporting roles. (Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O’Toole, and newcomer Siri Sveglar as Polydora, most notably.) Diane Kruger is striking as Helen (after …