Reading the news about James Horner and Carter Burwell having particularly bad years for rejected scores, I thought about who is getting rejected the most these days. Bernstein, Barry, and Goldsmith seemed to really rack up the rejections back in the day, but they have all passed on.
So who seems to be getting their music recorded and rejected the most these days?
Reading the news about James Horner and Carter Burwell having particularly bad years for rejected scores, I thought about who is getting rejected the most these days. Bernstein, Barry, and Goldsmith seemed to really rack up the rejections back in the day, but they have all passed on.
So who seems to be getting their music recorded and rejected the most these days?
I'm sure Yared is up there too which is a real pity....
There's no way to really know for sure about the exact details about each change in composer, so one can't really say each project was a rejection, but off the top of my head (without counting precisely), it would one of these composers:
What about all those composers who can't get a gig in the first place?
That's harder to say. As little as we know about replacements, we know even less about who can get a gig. Who's offered gigs but turns them down for whatever reason we will never know -- nor the consequences of those decisions. What would Broughton's career look like now if he hadn't turned down Home Alone for Rescuers Down Under -- who knew that silly comedy would be such a huge hit? How would Poledouris' life have been different if he had scored Dances With Wolves instead of bowing out to stick by his friend for Flight of the Intruder?
What is sadder is that producers no longer want epic scores. Many have gone back to thinking the way producers in the 30s thought...that music was there merely to ape the action on the screen. The "golden age" of composing film scores and the many brilliant scores composed up until the late 80s are now treasured historical relics. I don't think we will ever see another lush Rozsa-style score ever again. A real pity, imho.
