I thought it would be neat if we gathered all the interviews in one thread, for convenience's sake -- whether written, audio or video. Just give me your picks, and I'll add it to this first post. I will try to update this thread continously. From the recent postings, there is this:
I don't have any interviews to post but a brief quote.
On American Tail-
Horner stated, "There is no way you could put a score like this in any other kind of film. It would only work in animation or if I wrote a ballet. I loved doing it."
Generally, the Bluth crew were initially disappointed with the first score recording. However once edited, they found that most of the music worked quite well.
Source: The Animated Films Of Don Bluth John Cawley
There's vid footage of this somehwere, but this is sound only ... for the BBC again, and Horner is talking the nitty-gritty in various sections of the programme:
Horner seemed to be doing a lot of interviews, concerts etc. in recent years, perhaps opening up more after Vienna in 2013. But does anyone have any older Horner interviews? I do seem to recall a rare video from the mid 80s where the journalist is given a tour of Horner's home in LA. But I can't find it on Youtube. Anyone?
I do seem to recall a rare video from the mid 80s where the journalist is given a tour of Horner's home in LA. But I can't find it on Youtube. Anyone?
You might be thinking of this one from 1986:
Amusing that it's English subtitles over German voiceover which itself mostly obscures the English the original conversation was done in. But a great, early interview.
Also this vintage 1991 "Rocketeer" one:
And a 1998 "Titanic" interview for a CNN "World Beat" segment:
And lastly for now, 7 minutes of his 15-minute 2005 TED Talk (which I'd had been wanting to see for a while after positive quotes from Thomas Dolby on it), posted by them this past week in tribute:
ZapBrannigan, that's an absolutely amazing little interview you've found! So many nuggets. Considering he was not yet a 'name', the interview delves into things I wouldn't have expected him to talk about - deleted scenes, what Paramount didn't like, etc.
There are tons of interesting bits, some of which are even more so given how his career panned out. He didn't like bagpipes! Hoho - if only he'd known they'd become part of his legend. And he comments on the original score to Wolfen that was rejected (by one of my favourite composers Craig Safan), as well as confirming his Englishness (a resident from ages 10 - 20).
But, my oh my, how about this for a closing statement. Will he compose the sequel to this big sci-fi (Wrath of Khan) that he's talking about?... 'For me not to do it, I'd have to be in a bad accident or get killed'!
"Jamie was ridiculously gifted. He had laser-like focus on his goals. He was hereditary Hollywood royalty. (His dad was Harry Horner, an Austro-Hungarian émigré and famed production designer, and I think Jamie grew up with people like Otto Preminger as dinner guests.) And he was still ghost-writing scores for dog-shit films for next to nothing. For some, Jamie’s steep uphill path would have been an inspiration. But it scared me the hell away from his profession. (And today’s Hollywood scoring scene is vastly more brutal than it was back in the ’70s.)...Post-Romantic music was considered hopelessly tacky. No one studied Richard Strauss, especially his later, reactionary stuff! But I remember Jamie walking around with Strauss’s Alpine Symphony score under his arm. He was smarter than everyone else."
But a great, early interview.
