THE TOP FORTY COUNTDOWN 2004: PART FOUR

By Scott Bettencourt

Before I present the utterly obvious and predictable Top Ten, here is a recap of the questionable and arbitrarily chosen Lower Thirty, as detailed in Parts One, Two and Three of this series:

11. Elliot Goldenthal
12. David Newman
13. Jerry Goldsmith
14. Carter Burwell
15. David Arnold
16. John Powell
17. Rachel Portman
18. Rolfe Kent
19. Graeme Revell
20. John Ottman
21. Mark Isham
22. Gabriel Yared
23. Marco Beltrami
24. Klaus Badelt
25. Mychael Danna
26. Don Davis
27. Craig Armstrong
28. Christophe Beck
29. Philip Glass
30. Patrick Doyle
31. Edward Shearmur
32. Christopher Young
33. Trevor Rabin
34. Marc Shaiman
35. Theodore Shapiro
36. George Fenton
37. Harry Gregson-Williams
38. Trevor Jones
39. Brian Tyler
40. Stephen Warbeck

And now the top dogs, the head honchos, the big cheeses:

2003 RANKING: 15
AGE: 45
REPRESENTATION: Kraft-Engel
ONGOING FILMMAKER RELATIONSHIPS: Tom Shadyac, Robert Rodriguez, Garry Marshall
BACKGROUND: Orchestrator, TV composer
FAN FAVORITE: Cutthroat Island
TYPECAST IN: Comedy, adventure, kids movies
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Passion of the Christ--354 (as of 4/11/04)
2. Bruce Almighty--242
3. Liar, Liar--181
4. Elf--173
5. Spy Kids--112
6. The Princess Diaries--108
7. Inspector Gadget--97
8. Cats & Dogs--93
9. The Scorpion King--90
10. The Emperor's New Groove--87

Already typecast as a comedy composer, Debney semed likely to be permanently stuck in the genre when he scored two of 2003's biggest comedy hits, Elf and Bruce Almighty. His scores for these films eerily reflected their respective qualities -- his Elf was a charming pastiche, while Bruce was bland and obvious -- and 2004 seemed to promise more of the same, with his projects including a Ray Romano vehicle, two Garry Marshall films, and a remarkably unnecessary sequel to The Whole Nine Yards. In the last few months, however, his future has changed dramatically, as he was the 11th hour composer for The Passion of the Christ, and his score, a mix of synth, world music and more traditional scoring, has become a Gold Record soundtrack album (the fact that the film is becoming one of the all-time top grossers didn't hurt). Passion's success is likely to inspire a trend of epics that combine Biblical stories with Gladiator/Troy-style spectacle, and Debney should expect to find himself first in line for these assignments.

WHAT'S NEXT: Raising Helen, The Princess Diaries 2

2003 RANKING: 8
AGE: 54
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
RELATIONSHIPS: Robert Zemeckis, Charles Shyer, Stephen Sommers
BACKGROUND: Berklee College of Music, pop arranger, TV composer (ChiPs)
FAN FAVORITES: Predator, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Mummy Returns
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Forrest Gump--329
2. Cast Away--233
3. Back to the Future--208
4. The Mummy Returns--202
5. What Women Want--182
6. What Lies Beneath--155
7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit--154
8. Lilo & Stitch--145
9. Stuart Little--140
10. The Bodyguard--121

After a several year stretch involving multple blockbusters, Silvestri had a frustrating 2003. He left the enormously successful Pirates of the Caribbean because its producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, felt his film's music needed "the Jerry Bruckheimer sound." Even more unexpectedly, regular collaborator Nancy Meyers replaced his Something's Gotta Give score with one by Hans Zimmer, who had produced the Pirates replacement score (I imagine there were some awkward moments at the Gorfaine/Schwartz Christmas party last year). His remaining projects of the year were boxoffice disappointments, Identity and Tomb Raider 2. Still, 2004 promises two spectacular scoring opportunities -- the multi-monster extravaganza Van Helsing and Robert Zemeckis' CGI feature The Polar Express.

WHAT'S NEXT: Van Helsing, The Polar Express

2003 RANKING: 9
AGE: 60
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR, 16 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Pixar, Jay Roach, Barry Levinson, Gary Ross
BACKGROUND: Nephew of Alfred Newman, popular singer-songwriter-pianist
FAN FAVORITE: The Natural
TYPECAST IN: Americana, comedy, computer animation
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Monsters Inc.--252
2. Toy Story 2--245
3. Toy Story--191
4. Meet the Parents--166
5. A Bug's Life--162
6. Seabiscuit--120
7. Maverick--101
8. Parenthood--100
9. Michael--95
10. Awakenings--51

Following years of scoring mostly comedies and animated features, Randy Newman returned to the Americana milieu of his most beloved (at least by film music fans) work, The Natural, with his score for 2003's Seabiscuit. His music was admirably restrained though it was panned by many mainstream film critics who tend to flinch the moment they hear an orchestra playing, like kids taken against their will to their first ballet. The scoring experience was similarly ambivalent for Newman, as he reportedly disagreed with director Gary Ross (who had collaborated with Newman on Pleasantville) on how closely to emulate the temp track, and Ross brought in another composer for certain cues. Though his score was a surefire Oscar nominee, Newman declined to submit it for consideration, not wanting to take the credit for another's work -- if nothing else, Randy Newman is apparently the last honest man in Hollywood. The film managed to become one of Newman's highest grossing live action projects and was even a Best Picture nominee, and for his next assignment he is returning to familiar territory for the long promised Meet the Parents sequel.

WHAT'S NEXT: Meet the Fockers

2003 RANKING: 4
AGE: 52
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
5 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: M. Night Shyamalan, Garry Marshall, P.J. Hogan, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Hoffman
BACKGROUND: U.S.C., Music Academy of the West, pop keyboardist, song arranger
FAN FAVORITE: Signs
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, thrillers, Julia Roberts comedy
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Sixth Sense--293
2. Signs--227
3. The Fugitive--183
4. Pretty Woman--178
5. Runaway Bride--152
6. Dinosaur--137
7. My Best Friend's Wedding--126
8. Unbreakable--95
9. America's Sweethearts--93
10. Space Jam--90

Howard's score for 2002's summer sci-fi blockbuster Signs was arguably his finest and most mature work yet, and though he hasn't had a comparable hit since, his talent continues to grow. Dreamcatcher was a deserved flop and while his score was a disappointment, he managed not to lazily rip off his similarly themed Signs as a lesser composer might have. He was up to the challenge of the surprisingly good Peter Pan remake, giving the visually lavish film a charming and energetic score, and his rousing, melodic score for Hidalgo reinforces the potential he shows to be the next John Williams, but neither film received the audience it deserved. He and M. Night Shymalan reunite for the The Village (which looks like a period version of Signs), and he scores his first film for Sydney Pollack, the thriller The Interpreter.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Village, The Interpreter

2003 RANKING: 7
AGE: 57
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
3 OSCARS
RELATIONSHIPS: Peter Jackson, David Cronenberg, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese
BACKGROUND: Pop musician, Saturday Night Live bandleader
FAN FAVORITES: Lord of the Rings series
TYPECAST IN: Thrillers
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King--375
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers--339
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring--313
4. Mrs. Doubtfire--219
5. The Silence of the Lambs--130
6. Big--114
7. Analyze This--106
8. Seven--100
9. Panic Room--95
10. The Client--92

At the end of the 1990s, if you had wagered that the most popular fantasy adventure of the new century would be scored by Howard Shore, and that he would win three Oscars for his work (including one for Best Song), you would have expected to lose and lose big. Despite a tendency toward dark subject matter and experimental techniques, Shore has always had great success in even the most commercial of subject matter (it's hard to get less artistically or dramatically challenging than Mrs. Doubtfire), but his groundbreaking work on the Rings trilogy has surprised even his biggest fans, and the fact that most scores these days are so disappointing makes his epic work even more impressive. Shore has been announced to reunite with Martin Scorsese for the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, though these days Scorsese shows a distinct preference for found music over original scoring and alas Shore may not get the opportunity to write the Citizen Kane of our time. A more musically promising assignment is Peter Jackson's announced remake of King Kong, starring the offbeat trio of Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and Jack Black.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Aviator, King Kong

2003 RANKING: 5
AGE: 50
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
2 OSCARS, 9 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Ron Howard, James Cameron, Mel Gibson, Martin Campbell
BACKGROUND: Son of production designer Harry Horner, Royal College of Music (under Gyorgi Lygeti), U.C.L.A., student film scores, low budget features
FAN FAVORITE: Star Trek II
TYPECAST IN: Adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Titanic--600
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas--260
3. The Perfect Storm--182
4. Apollo 13--172
5. A Beautiful Mind--170
6. Deep Impact--140
7. Ransom--136
8. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids--130
9. Clear and Present Danger--122
10. The Pelican Brief--100

Horner had four films released in 2003, and while none was the blockbuster hit one would expect from the Titanic composer, the four scores demonstrated impressive variety. Radio was the most conventional score of the four but his emotional music lent some needed feeling to a rather flat film. Beyond Borders was an intriguing mix of synths and ethnic instruments, helping to give the glossy film some necessary texture. The Missing was his most epic score of the year, and though he overused his main theme the score was effective in context. His most acclaimed work of the year was his Oscar nominated score for the uneven drama House of Sand and Fog, and his music progressed from largely improvised synth cues to more orchestral, melodic pieces for the finale, helping musically evoke the sense of tragic inevitability the filmmakers desperately sought. His next epic will be his replacement score for Wolfgang Petersen's Troy, but he also has coming up such varied assignments as a golfing biopic and a psychological thriller.

WHAT'S NEXT: Troy, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Forgotten

2003 RANKING: 3
AGE: 46
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR, 7 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Dreamworks, Jerry Bruckheimer, Penny Marshall, James L. Brooks, Barry Levinson, John Woo, Michael Bay, Tom Cruise, Antoine Fuqua
BACKGROUND: Keyboardist, pop musician, protege to Stanley Myers, founder of Media Ventures
FAN FAVORITES: Gladiator, The Thin Red Line
TYPECAST IN: Epics, action, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Lion King--312
2. Mission: Impossible 2--215
3. Pearl Harbor--198
4. Gladiator--187
5. Rain Man--172
6. Hannibal--165
7. As Good As It Gets--148
8. The Rock--134
9. The Ring--128
10. The Last Samurai--111

Zimmer returned to the style of one of his most widely acclaimed scores, The Thin Red Line, for two exotic battle films in 2003 -- Tears of the Sun, in which he also incorporated African elements, and The Last Samurai, which was a surprising non-nominee for the Best Score Oscar. He also worked in more intimate terrain with Matchstick Men, where major cues were partly based (and properly credited) on Nino Rota's La Dolce Vita, and on an 11th hour replacement score for Something's Gotta Give which featured a large number of "additional composers" including non-Media Ventures member Christopher Young. While all four films were boxoffice disappointments (and Zimmer is currently embroiled in an ugly legal squabble with former partner Jay Rifkin), he has a promising variety of projects for the upcoming year including a Michael Mann thriller, a Jerry Bruckheimer take on Camelot, and a live-action film of Thunderbirds.

WHAT'S NEXT: King Arthur, Thunderbirds, Collateral

2003 RANKING: 6
AGE: 48
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
6 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Sam Mendes, Jon Avnet, Martin Brest, Gillian Armstrong
BACKGROUND: Son of Alfred Newman, Yale, pop and theater composer
FAN FAVORITE: The Shawshank Redemption
TYPECAST IN: Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Finding Nemo--339
2. The Green Mile--136
3. American Beauty--130
4. Erin Brockovich--125
5. Phenomenon--104
6. Road to Perdition--104
7. Fried Green Tomatoes--82
8. The Horse Whisperer--75
9. Scent of a Woman--62
10. Up Close and Personal--51

Newman began his career scoring the most openly commercial of films (namely, Revenge of the Nerds) as well as quirky low-budget films like The Prince of Pennsylvania, but as his abilities grew he began to specialize in the kind of film that seeks critical acclaim and almost accidentally becomes a top grosser (American Beauty, Erin Brockovich). With Finding Nemo, he managed to bridge the two eras of his career, scoring an animated family film which was also one of the best reviewed films of 2003 -- and a boxoffice blockbuster, earning even more money than Pixar's previous four features (all scored by his cousin Randy). Newman's Nemo score managed to fit the film expertly while maintaining the composer's own distinctive (if oft-imitated) voice, highlighted by a gently moving main theme. Next, Newman will score a darker children's adventure, the first film from Daniel Handler's "Lemony Snicket" novels, and will score his first Ron Howard film since 1986's Gung Ho.

WHAT'S NEXT: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Cinderella Man

2003 RANKING: 2
AGE: 50
REP: Kraft-Engel
3 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Sam Raimi, Tim Burton, Barry Sonnenfeld, Gus Van Sant, Brett Ratner
BACKGROUND: Rock singer-songwriter (Oingo Boingo)
FAN FAVORITES: Batman, Mission: Impossible
TYPECAST IN: Comic book movies, adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Spider-Man--403
2. Batman--251
3. Men in Black--250
4. Men in Black II--190
5. Mission: Impossible--180
6. Planet of the Apes--179
7. Chicago--170
8. Batman Returns--162
9. Good Will Hunting--138
10. Hulk--132

Elfman's replacement score for Ang Lee's Hulk was not as widely acclaimed as his breakthrough work for Batman, but it demonstrated Elfman's admirable determination not to write the same superhero score over and over again. The film received mixed reviews and was considered a boxoffice disappointment, but with $132 million in U.S. grosses it's hardly a black mark on Elfman's remarkably blockbuster filled career. Big Fish received Elfman's first Oscar nomination since 1997's one-two punch of Good Will Hunting and Men in Black, and the fact the film's only nomination went to its score -- especially a score marked by restrained emotion and not dependent on hummable melodies -- suggests that the Academy's Music Branch, and the Hollywood film music community in general, may finally be giving Elfman the respect he's so long deserved.

WHAT'S NEXT: Spider-Man 2

2003 RANKING: 1
AGE: 72
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
5 OSCARS, 42 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Chris Columbus
BACKGROUND: U.C.L.A., session pianist (for Goldsmith & Bernstein), TV composer, concert music
FAN FAVORITES: Spielberg movies, Star Wars series
TYPECAST IN: Fantasy adventure, Oscar bait
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Star Wars--460
2. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial--434
3. The Phantom Menace--431
4. Jurassic Park--357
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone--316
6. Attack of the Clones--310
7. Return of the Jedi--309
8. The Empire Strikes Back--290
9. Home Alone--285
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets--261
 
It's a sign of Williams' importance that he can take a full year off from film scoring and still stay at the top of his profession, but it doesn't hurt that the four films he scored in 2002 grossed an average of $216 million, and one of them, Catch Me If You Can, earned him his forty-second Oscar nomination and received rave reviews even from those mainstream critics who use Williams' name as shorthand for everything they perceive as wrong with contemporary film music. This year he returns with his third Harry Potter score (the first in the series not directed by Chris Columbus) and a prime piece of Spielberg/Hanks Oscar bait, followed in 2005 by the conclusion of a little series called Star Wars.

WHAT'S NEXT: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Terminal, Star Wars Episode III

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