- Joined: June 2000
- Post Count: 811
Insane news/rumor over at
www.soundtrack.net:Howard Shore's score is being replaced?!?!!
James Newton Howard taking over, it says. Someone please tell me this is a fucking joke. Howard Shore won three Oscars for his LOTR scores.
A fucking joke. Please.
--Jefferson Morris
"If fakes, they were masterpieces."
--The New York Times commenting on Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925).
"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."--Recent thread post on AICN
- Joined: December 2001
- Location: Columbus, OH
- Post Count: 6,427
Quote:
| Someone please tell me this is a fucking joke. Howard Shore won three Oscars for his LOTR scores. |
Maybe what Shore composed sounds too similar to LOTR, and Jackson didn't like that.
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
- Joined: June 2000
- Post Count: 811
Quote:
| The only way I could see this happening is that Jackson HIMSELF rejected the score. There's no way the studio would have the influence to do that to this project. |
That's what disturbs me about this rumor. I also can't imagine anyone other than PJ making this decision. He has obsessed over this project for decades - maybe he had a very particular idea about the music that wasn't coming across. But it's hard to imagine it getting to this point.
At any rate, the idea that a last-minute quickie score from anyone, even a talented composer like JNH, could best a Shore score...We'll see. Then again, I guess scores have been written faster.
Still hoping it's false.
--Jefferson Morris
"If fakes, they were masterpieces."
--The New York Times commenting on Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925).
"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."--Recent thread post on AICN
- Joined: March 2003
- Location: New Zealand
- Post Count: 3,013
Especially when we've had a Post-Production Diary in the last couple of weeks about the recording of the score. If Jackson was uncomfortable with the score, surely he would not have drawn as much attention to it.
AFI Top 100 lists:100 Movies,
100 Thrills - Completed
100 Laughs - 24 to go - last seen:
The Freshman100 Passions - 39 to go - last seen:
Breakfast At Tiffany's100 Heroes & Villains - 10 to go - last seen: Tom Powers in
The Public Enemy100 Songs - 44 to go - last seen: "When You Wish upon a Star"...
- Joined: June 2000
- Post Count: 811
Incidentally, I like Kong's aged new look. I didn't much mind the tooth, but I also don't much mind if it's gone. In truth, an animal that broke its jaw in the wild most likely would not survive, so that bit of Kong's implied backstory may not have made much sense anyway.
Re: Turmoil...Maybe, but they changed a lot of things on LOTR at the last minute too. And PJ made them change Gollum's design in mid-saga. I wouldn't call such late changes a sign of turmoil or poor preparation so much as a sign that Jackson and Co. constantly are seeking ways to make things better, even late in the game (and even if it makes people tear their hair out). Replacing Shore, if indeed that's what has happened, could be another example.
Of course, Shore himself might have pulled out for personal reasons.
--Jefferson Morris
"If fakes, they were masterpieces."
--The New York Times commenting on Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925).
"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."--Recent thread post on AICN
- Joined: February 2002
- Post Count: 10,068
I doubt a full score exists if Jackson and Shore came to this "realization" during various scoring sessions rather than after Shore submitted his full score. If it's like LOTR, Jackson is just as much involved in the scoring from the start as he is with the filming.
I would like to know why Shore thought he would be allowed to take the score in a different direction than that desired by the director, however. When did he think HE was promoted to "Director"?
Uncle Joe: I'll never marry you, Selma Plout! You may as well take off that wedding dress and put it back in your Hopeless Chest!
--Petticoat Junction--
- Joined: March 2003
- Location: New Zealand
- Post Count: 3,013
Sigh. Sad news. As did everyone else, I really do love the work he did on LOTR, and quite liked the little we heard on the Post-Production Diary.
I just hope James Newton-Howard has enough time to give this film the type of score it needs and deserves.
I do like the look of the new Kong, though. As Adam said, he looks much more like a beast now, a real monster. But you can still see signs of softness, of tenderness, which is what we need in Kong.
AFI Top 100 lists:100 Movies,
100 Thrills - Completed
100 Laughs - 24 to go - last seen:
The Freshman100 Passions - 39 to go - last seen:
Breakfast At Tiffany's100 Heroes & Villains - 10 to go - last seen: Tom Powers in
The Public Enemy100 Songs - 44 to go - last seen: "When You Wish upon a Star"...
- Joined: December 2001
- Location: Columbus, OH
- Post Count: 6,427
Quote:
| I would like to know why Shore thought he would be allowed to take the score in a different direction than that desired by the director, however. |
I think you're making composing sound a lot easier than it really is. Sometimes composers can't grasp what a director wants, and they agree to part ways as a result.
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
- Joined: December 2001
- Location: Columbus, OH
- Post Count: 6,427
Quote:
| If Jackson wanted change, Shore could have done it the way he wants. It's not like he doesn't know composing! |
Once again, I think composing is being oversimplified here. Each composer has their signature touch, and Shore's wasn't right for King Kong. It's much easier to drop one computer and go to another than to say to the original guy, "Do it again." It's like asking John Williams to redo Superman or Hans Zimmer to redo The Thin Red Line. I highly doubt you'd notice a big difference. Maybe I'm underestimating composers here, but I don't think so.
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
- Joined: June 2000
- Post Count: 811
Well, best of luck to JNH. I hope he produces a classic. And I also hope (against hope) that this really hasn't soured the relationship between Jackson and Shore. The LOTR scores are among the very best ever composed. T'would be a shame to see that partnership end.
Ironic that Shore himself was brought in to replace Elmer Bernstein on Gangs of New York. Happens to the best of 'em, I guess. As pointed out above, music is not an exact science, and sometimes the sensibilities of a composer, however brilliant he may be, don't mesh with that of the director.
--Jefferson Morris
P.S. So...I wonder how much detail they'll go into about this particular creative change in the supplements for the special edition DVD.
"If fakes, they were masterpieces."
--The New York Times commenting on Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925).
"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."--Recent thread post on AICN
- Joined: September 2005
- Post Count: 1,330
Yeah, and they only changed the model, it's not as if Kong will have to be completely reanimated or anything, it's largly just a matter of re-rendering the necissary Kong scenes.
"Because he's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll hunt him... because he can take it... because he's not a hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a DARK KNIGHT."
- Joined: December 2001
- Location: Columbus, OH
- Post Count: 6,427
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
- Joined: March 2003
- Location: New Zealand
- Post Count: 3,013
The re-working of Kong's face doesn't surprise me. Back when the trailer was released, there was an article about it on the front page of the Wellington newspaper, and they actually quoted PJ as saying that they hadn't finalised Kong's design yet, and he would look different to how he appears in the trailer.
I too hope that the press release is true on the literal wording, and Shore and PJ are still on friendly terms. But something about the way it was worded felt very much like he was being diplomatic over a real huge chairs-thrown-across-rooms argument. I hope I'm wrong.
But has anyone gone back over and re-watched the "13 weeks to go" Post-Production Diary? Howard Shore usually seems pretty comfortable in the thing, but there is one moment where we see him with Jackson (it's the part where PJ is talking about how excited he is that they are using all the instruments from different cultures) and Shore looks really really uncomfortable. Interesting to watch with hindsight.
AFI Top 100 lists:100 Movies,
100 Thrills - Completed
100 Laughs - 24 to go - last seen:
The Freshman100 Passions - 39 to go - last seen:
Breakfast At Tiffany's100 Heroes & Villains - 10 to go - last seen: Tom Powers in
The Public Enemy100 Songs - 44 to go - last seen: "When You Wish upon a Star"...
