BFI | Sight & Sound | The Best Music in Film

The Best Music in Film

(Composed the music for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)

S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?: "Hook (1991) by John Williams is one of the great symphonic film scores that have largely gone unnoticed. Because he was able to use his themes from an earlier unfinished stage show about Peter Pan it meant that the music was in his blood when he came to write Hook. The result is an extraordinarily rich and cohesive score."
S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?: "It is particularly good at expressing the aspirations and fears of the characters even if these feelings are not apparent on the screen in a given scene. Also, music can help bind a number of dispirit stories or characters by expressing the emotional heart of the film...that thing that all the stories and characters have in common."
S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?: "Magnolia (1999) is a film that I would have liked to score. Wonderfully drawn characters and an insightful portrayal of everyday people stumbling through life and the ruts they carve out for themselves, followed by growing self-awareness and redemption. Jon Brion's score powers the bemused treadmill of life through hope to catharsis. A great melding of music and film."