On a very special episode of Collider Connected, we are thrilled to be joined by one of the best film composers working today: James Newton Howard. The man has been working as a film composer for over three decades now, but even before that had an accomplished career as a musician who toured with the likes of Elton John. He’s since gone on to earn eight Oscar nominations for his work in the film world on movies ranging from Pretty Woman to Michael Clayton, and his filmography is as diverse as it is impressive.
To say Howard is one of the best composers around is a bit of an understatement, so when I got the chance to spend nearly an hour talking with him about his career and his brilliant score for Paul Greengrass’ Western drama News of the World, I was thrilled.
During the course of our conversation, we talked about how he came to be touring with Elton John, what spurred him to try his hand at writing film music, and if earning an Oscar nomination for The Prince of Tides early on changed his career. Howard got candid about having a really small year after earning the Oscar nod, and how writing an action score for The Fugitive really changed the game. He also talked about writing the theme for ER in 15 minutes and seeing that blossom into one of the most recognizable TV themes in history, and how collaborating with M. Night Shyamalan changed the way he writes music (and why he originally wrote an entirely different score for The Village).
We also got into Howard’s experience on Peter Jackson’s King Kong, on which he replaced Howard Shore at the last minute and had a very short period of time to write a full score. And he spoke extensively about how his collaboration with Hans Zimmer on Batman Begins came about and how they worked together on that film and The Dark Knight – and why Howard decided not to work on The Dark Knight Rises.
Howard also pulled back the curtain on his process, speaking openly about the experience of writing music that satisfies the director and studios’ visions even when those visions are in contrast to what he might prefer, and how sometimes he’s had to rewrite cues over and over and over again until he found the right one. He also talked about uses of temp score, and if he feels it sets up an unfair expectation for a director before he starts writing music, and I asked him if he feels like he has a distinct “sound” as a composer.
And of course we discussed Howard’s collaboration with Greengrass on News of the World, as the composer spoke candidly about the difficulty in finding the right tone for the music and having to finish the score completely remotely.
It’s a wide-ranging and refreshingly honest conversation with a composer who’s done incredible work on a variety of films, for a variety of filmmakers, in a variety of genres over the years and who just churned out one of his best scores ever for News of the World.
Check out the full interview above, and below is a list of what we discussed. News of the World is currently available to rent on VOD.
- When did he first become aware that writing music for movies was someone’s job?
- How did he come to be touring with Elton John?
- His reaction to getting his first Oscar nomination for The Prince of Tides.
- The experience of writing the score for The Fugitive and how it changed his career.
- Does he mind if a composer uses temp score?
- Writing the theme for ER in 15 minutes.
- Working on The Sixth Sense, and his many collaborations with M. Night Shyamalan.
- How does he navigate writing music that satisfies the director and studios’ visions but is also something he feels is good?
- Writing 40 versions of the theme for Fantastic Beasts before he hit upon something that was distinct from John Williams’ iconic “Hedwig’s Theme.”
- Replacing Howard Shore on King Kong and working remotely with Peter Jackson. Also relays a story about getting stuck on one cue for far too long, and working through that with Jackson.
- Working with Hans Zimmer on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and how their process on each film differed.
- His experience writing music for big franchises like Fantastic Beasts and The Hunger Games. Talks about why action music is the hardest to do well.
- News of the World and collaborating with Paul Greengrass on a Western drama. Talks about Greengrass’ notes on his initial cues, and why he couldn’t seem to get the main title right.
- Does he feel like he has a particular “sound” as a composer?