Jeff Danna

Composer Jeff Danna (The Good Dinosaur, The Boondock Saints) joins me on The Film Scorer podcast just before we wrap up season 5! Oddly enough, I've listened to quite a bit of music from the Silent Hill franchise over the last 15 months or so, and it turns out that Jeff "scored" the two film adaptations from earlier in the 2000s (I used "scored" in quotes because the real story is a bit more complicated than that). So of course, I used our conversation as an excuse to ask all about Silent Hill, including why the first film never got a proper score release, and he tells me about having to re-record and re-create every single musical sound from Akira Yamaoka's game scores for the films. Quite a feat. Of course, Jeff didn't come on the show to talk about Silent Hill movies from 15-20 years ago. Instead, we spend most of our time talking about his score for the hit Netflix series The Hunting Wives. The conversation goes from creating a unique palette for east Texas (particularly through the Croatian prim), scoring sexiness (the key is not aiming for sexy music), and plenty more. Along the way, we get pretty in-depth about what makes for a good theme, when you need to cast one aside and start over, and how thematic music requires a commitment from the composer and the director; after all, the latter has to be comfortable with a a musical commitment to their characters, as character and theme become intertwined. Jeff's score, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms while The Hunting Wives is currently streaming on Netflix. You can find out more about Jeff on his website.

In a Film Scorer first, a repeat guest joins the show! Daniel Pemberton (the Spider-Verse films, King Arthur) comes onto the show for a second time, after chatting with me back in 2023 about his score for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Even though we're just over halfway through the year, Daniel's already scored about a half dozen projects, so we had plenty of things to talk about. With so much to pick from, we primarily talk about his recent work on the Black Mirror episode USS Callister: Into Infinity and Eddington - two extremely different projects with very different scores. Of course, even though our chat clocks in at just under half an hour we cover plenty of other ground too, including trends in modern film scoring and a big detour into Anton Karas's score for The Third Man. Daniel's score for Eddington and Callister, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms. Eddington is still playing in select theaters and is available on demand while Callister is available on Netflix. And if you haven't yet, be sure to check out our prior conversation here: https://thefilmscorer.com/an-interview-with-daniel-pemberton/

Today I'm joined by Electric Youth! Well, one half of the electronic/synth pop duo - Austin Garrick - without his co-member Bronwyn Griffin. Their latest project is the score for North of Normal, a true coming-of-age drama that jumps between timelines in a forest commune in the 70s and city life in the 80s. Some of you may think that the band's sound would be anachronistic for a film with this setting, and while that may be true, their score still fits right in. Unsurprisingly, Austin and I spend most of our conversation talking about North of Normal, but we also touch on topics like Tangerine Dream and the joy of still getting "new" score releases from them, the importance of a well-curated score release album (learned from becoming fans of the medium at a young age), avoiding being pigeonholed in film and music genres, and plenty more! Electric Youth's score, and much of their other music, is available on all major platforms. North of Normal is currently available on demand or on Paramount+.

Carlos Rafael Rivera (The Queen's Gambit, Hacks) is one of the few composers my mom has asked me about, so I'm extra excited to have him join the show! Carlos's latest project is Department Q, his fourth series with writer-director Scott Frank (joining Godless, The Queen's Gambit, and Monsieur Spade, as well as the film A Walk Among The Tombstones). Normally this is where I'd say something like "unsurprisingly, we spend most of our time talking about that score", but that's not the case here. Instead, we spend most of the interview dancing around Department Q, whether it be talking about his career working with Scott Frank (going back to when he taught Scott guitar in the early 2000s), the changing nature of friendships as you age, or 80s thrash. Ultimately everything goes back to Department Q, but not everything is about Department Q. Carlos's score, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms. Department Q is currently on Netflix. You can find out more about Carlos on his website.

What a surreal moment - getting to chat with Thomas Newman and Julia Newman! Whether you're a big film music fan or a casual film goer, I'll guess that you're familiar with Tom, having been nominated for fifteen Academy Awards (I accidentally say fourteen...) and scoring projects like The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Finding Nemo & Finding Dory, 1917, and loads more. Now, Julia is picking up the family's film and tv scoring mantle, and the two of them recently co-scored Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, a dramatization of the Menendez brothers crimes. We use the series as a jumping off point for the conversation, regularly referring to and discussing it while also pivoting into broader conversations about collaboration, improvisation and working quickly, the use of theme and repetition, and plenty more. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is currently on Netflix, and Tom and Julia's score (as well as much of their other work) is available on all major platforms. 

The Mission Impossible franchise has been going strong for nearly thirty years, so it's a bit surreal to see it apparently come to an end, with Tom Cruise hanging up the mantle as Ethan Hunt. To celebrate the final entry, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the film's composers Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey join the show! Naturally, the three of us spend most of the interview talking about Mission: Impossible, including spending a year straight exclusively scoring the film, how score fits into the broader film making process in a project of this scale, the difficulty in scoring the two major set pieces, and how and when to utilize Lalo Schifrin's iconic main theme. The last point was a particularly interesting one to me, as I've seen quite a few people wondering about it as well given that they don't quote the full theme often at all. Trust me, it's all intentional and done for good reason! I also want to point out how prevalent the theme of teamwork is in this interview. Naturally, it's become a main thematic motif throughout the film series, with Cruise's Ethan Hunt willing to essentially do anything possible to save his team (and, in turn, save the world). Would Max or Alfie hold onto a biplane as it speeds thousands of feet in the air? Not sure. But they will spend a lot of timing raising up their colleagues and team members. Something I can definitely get behind. One note: Alfie's voice is the first you'll hear and Max provides the first longer answer. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is currently in theaters, and Max and Alfie's score (as well as much of their other work) is available on all major platforms.

Ahead of the premiere of the third and final season of Squid Game, I chat with the show's composer, Jung Jae-Il (Parasite, Mickey 17). Obviously Jae-Il and I spend much of the conversation talking about Squid Game, including the palette, the differences in score and approach between the seasons (due to different games and loads of character deaths), and the closure that season 3 brings. Along the way we cover things like 90s British death metal, the piano as his natural language, the social themes of the projects he scores, and plenty more. Season 3 of Squid Game premieres on Netflix on June 27, and Jae-Il's score is forthcoming. However, much of Jae-Il's other music, including scores and solo work, is available physically and on all major platforms. We also used a translator here (although Jae-Il's English is very good), whose voice you will hear throughout the interview.

Composers Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson join The Film Scorer Podcast to round out the unofficial (and accidental) trilogy of duo interviews (joining Meg Remy & Grace Glowicki and Aaron May & David Ridley). Leo and Zach are fresh off of scoring the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai as well as the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, so it's no surprise that we spend much of our conversation talking about those two scores (and Cobra Kai as a whole). In doing so, we cover things like the importance of putting their own stamp on a score (including making individual Cobra Kai fights seem unique and making their Spider-Man distinct from the many other entries), the daunting nature of creating a Spider-Man score in the wake of Daniel Pemberton's masterpieces, and the bittersweet nature of finishing Cobra Kai. For reference, of the two, Leo is the first to speak. Leo & Zach's scores are available on all major platforms, as are their other various other scores. There's also a compilation album of "greatest hits" from Cobra Kai seasons 4, 5, and 6 coming out later this year via Mutant. Cobra Kai is currently on Netflix while Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is on Disney+. You can find out more about Leo & Zach on their respective websites (Leo; Zach).

For my second of three consecutive duo interviews, I chat with composers Aaron May and David Ridley. While they've been composing together for a while, their biggest project is also their most recent - the viral Netflix series Adolescence, from director Philip Barantini and starring Stephen Graham. It's not surprise, then, that we spend a lot of our chat talking about the series, including working in the single take, real time format, understanding that the series might not need score at all, and the genesis of the child vocalization that forms an integral part of their score's palette. Dave has also scored all of Phil's projects, with Aaron also scoring all but the first two, so we discuss this long term director combination as well as how the two work together (and work separately). This is one of the more tangential conversations I've had - Aaron and Dave warned me beforehand that it might happen, but I certainly instigated it! I should have known it was coming when we lost track of time before recording talking about East Anglia and the British ritual/folk year. Shame that wasn't recorded too... Aaron and Dave's score is available on all major platforms, as are their other scores and their debut solo albums (each released in 2023). Adolescence is currently on Netflix, and there are rumors that a second season may come (though this would at least be a surprise to me). You can find out more about Aaron and Dave on their joint website.

Although we're now a couple months into 2025, I finally present you with the "best" film scores of 2024. As usual, there are some very mainstream scores in here that most observers would agree with and there are a few left field choices. If you're a longtime listener, that shouldn't surprise you. As with all of these lists, although I say they're the "best", what I really mean is these are my favorites. Who's to say what's really the best? Surely not me. If you can't control yourself, look below to see what scores I picked, though you'll miss out on the why of it all. And make sure to check out my conversation with David Rosen (from Piecing It Together) to see what we think are the best film scores of the decade (so far). Evil Does Not Exist – Eiko Ishibashi Smile 2 – Cristobal Tapia de Veer Megalopolis - Osvaldo Golijov AGGRO DR1FT – AraabMuzik Dune 2 – Hans Zimmer The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Le Comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo) - Jerome Rebotier Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - John Paesano A Different Man – Umberto Smerilli