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Elemental has been showing up in LA theaters again, so I suspect that Disney will be making an awards push for it - either way, Newman seems a very plausible nominee, as he is a favorite of that branch with unexpected nominations for films like Passengers, The Good German and Saving Mr. Banks (the latter two being the only nom those films got)
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Thomas Newman is one of my all-time favorite composers and probably my favorite composer of the last couple decades, but "a bit light on themes" sums up pretty well why I've been disappointed in many of his last 15 years or so of scores.
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Posted: |
Sep 13, 2023 - 6:00 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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Over the past 15 years, I'd say he's written some wonderfully thematic stuff, for example, SAVING MR BANKS, BRIDGE OF SPIES, PASSENGERS and his Indian flavoured scores (EXOTIC MARIGOLD 1&2, MALALA, VICTORIA & ABDUL).
Yes, he ain't writing up a storm like he was 30 years ago, but who is these days?
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Already showing a profit and streaming starts today. Throw in DVD/Blu-ray + TV rights and this one will show a substantial profit.
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Posted: |
Sep 13, 2023 - 9:25 AM
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By: |
chriswg24
(Member)
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Thomas Newman is still my favorite working composer.
The last score by him that I really loved is VICTORIA AND ABDUL from 2017. I really liked both his Bond scores, I love BRIDGE OF SPIES and I thought FINDING DORY was great. There are several others in there like TOLKIEN, 1917, A MAN CALLED OTTO and now ELEMENTAL which I think are really good, but that I haven't felt like revisiting much.
But I certainly don't see a huge drop off in the quality of his work or anything like that. Almost nothing about THE LITTLE THINGS or OPERATION MINCEMEAT appealed to me (except for that "Room 13" cue), but so what? He's writing music to fit a particular movie, and he's got bosses to please. I'm still more interested in hearing what he does next than just about anyone else right now.
I agree, there's something about Newman's music that just speaks to me and hits me in the feels. I always find something to love about every score, just some are richer that others. I've really adored A Man Called Otto and Elemental as both have really grown on me. I'll maybe post my 2020s Newman Playlist.
I'm always so interested in what is next on his to score list. I just hope we have many more years of him and retirement isn't on the horizon. And also, just give the man an Oscar - seriously. His work on Elemental is deserving because it feels like real music rather than computer generated score.
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concur
something happened after WALL-E?
For me, WALL-E was the last one of his great period (beginning with Fried Green Tomatoes). Since then, I think Bridge of Spies is top-notch, I really like Skyfall, and Victoria & Abdul seemed more melodic and varied than most of his recent output.
Since his pre-Tomatoes output wasn't that strongly melodic, I wonder if the more diffuse approach is just his personal preference. Or maybe that (mis?)quote I tend to attribute to Miklos Rozsa applies - "Before you're forty, the melodies chase you. After forty, you chase the melodies."
Christopher Young is another composer who may not personally prefer strong themes, and I also find his recent work much less memorable than from his heyday, so the question is "Is he less inspired now, or back to following his natural musical instincts?"
I do feel that Newman is someone who, if he lives long enough without winning a competitive Oscar, is a shoo-in for an Honorary. So many great scores, so many nominations, and a hugely influential sound.
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I'd love Newman to get the Oscar for Elemental but already sense that Oppenheimer has the momentum and will probably win it. I suspect that Newman's chance may have gone, He should have won several by now,
What agreat interview with with Newman about Shawshank. So good to hear a detailed analysis of The Shawshank Redemption cue including why the film version was slightly different to what Newman intended.
Here's an article from 2014 in the WSJ, the 20th anniversary of the film's release about scoring Shawshank.
How Thomas Newman Scored ‘The Shawshank Redemption’
By
June 20, 2014
The first time Thomas Newman watched “The Shawshank Redemption” wasn't a wholly enjoyable experience. The composer had been chosen to write the score for the film, and as the screening at the old Warner Hollywood lot concluded, he felt a mix of joy and despair. “How could you not make this a worse movie?" he recalls thinking.
Mr. Newman didn't make “Shawshank” worse. After a disappointing theatrical release in September 1994, the film took off on home video and cable and became one of the most popular movies of the past 20 years. “Shawshank” earned Mr. Newman the first of 12 Academy Award nominations for films including “American Beauty,” “Wall-E” and “Saving Mr. Banks.”
The enduring cultural and economic power of “Shawshank” was the subject of a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, and after its publication some wondered how we could run such a piece without mentioning the contributions of Mr. Newman. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, we reached out to the 58-year-old composer, who shared his thoughts about the movie and how it shaped his future work.
Mr. Newman says “Shawshank” elicited such strong emotions without any music at all that the challenge was to create a score that elevated scenes without getting in their way. When he brought director Frank Darabont to his studio to walk him through an early version of his work, striking that delicate balance soon emerged as a focus of their collaboration.
“Shawshank Redemption,” the piece playing during Andy Dufresne’s escape, starts slowly and gathers speed as it builds toward the climactic moment when Tim Robbins’ Andy emerges from the sewage pipe, strips off his clothes and raises his arms toward the sky as rain washes over him. But the piece in the movie is a slightly toned-down version of the original cue. Mr. Darabont preferred a one-note climax over Mr. Newman’s three-note motif. “The crescendo of the music there felt too big to me, it had too much of a triumphal flourish,” says Mr. Darabont. “I asked Tom to dial it back a few degrees.”
"Brooks Was Here," which accompanies James Whitmore’s Brooks Hatlen as he struggles to adapt to life as a free man, is perhaps the simplest cue on the soundtrack. Yet it is also a fan favorite in part because it evokes the pain of a man as he comes to realize he can't survive on the outside.
Mr. Newman says creating pieces that “do very little but tend to pack a punch” became a hallmark of his later work. “When you have such emotion coming off a screen, how can you add to that emotion without overpowering a scene?” he says.
“I'm very sensitive to when a score crosses that line between enhancing the emotion and impact of a scene, and when it clobbers the viewer over the head by doing too much--which can actually be a very fine line, so sometimes the change needed is pretty subtle,” Mr. Darabont says.
The process wasn't entirely about dialing things back. For what became one of his favorite pieces, “So Was Red,” Mr. Newman stepped out of his comfort zone.
The cue plays near the end of the film as Morgan Freeman’s recently paroled Red makes his way to the hayfield in search of what Andy has left for him. Mr. Newman initially wrote the piece for a solo oboe. But the composer ultimately—and he says “reluctantly”—agreed to add a harmonica as an extension of a story element in the script. Earlier in the film, Red tells Andy he used to play the instrument on the outside, but that it no longer made sense to do so in prison. Andy later gives Red a harmonica, which is both a “parole-rejection” present and a continuation of his effort to convince Red that hope is worth holding onto.
So on the last day on the scoring stage, a harmonica player named Tommy Morgan played for Messrs. Darabont and Newman what viewers hear as Red finds the note and money that eventually lead to his reunion with Andy. “Well, this harmonica player casually delivered something dead-on perfect on the first take,” Mr. Darabont recalls. “When he was finished, Tom and I looked at each other and said, ‘Well, that’s done.’”
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