Danny Elfman [Composer]

By: Julian Chavez | June 24, 2010 | Ten by Ten

There are probably very few people who haven’t heard the music of Danny Elfman. This phenomenal composer (and former front man for the ’80s influential new wave rock/punk band Oingo Boingo) is responsible for musical scores that have driven some of the biggest, most popular films and television series of all time. His career thus far has seen four Oscar and nine Grammy nominations, most recently for his achievements in the 2008 Gus Van Sant film Milk. Recognition from numerous other institutions has gained him a total of 37 wins and 38 nominations, and Elfman’s score for Tim Burton’s stratospherically successful new film Alice in Wonderland once again highlights his extreme talents as a master of composition.

What inspired you to work in the entertainment business?
I never intended to become a composer. That was a complete accident. I had, in my youth, desired to get into film, but — my biggest dream was to become a director. Also I had sights on being either an editor or cinematographer. In fact, just about any part of filmmaking other than acting or composing. I had no musical ambitions growing up. But I hung out with musicians in high school (laughs) and I became a film music nerd. Film music was something that I loved from about the age of 12 on. But a series of coincidences led me to become musical director of a street theater troupe, the Mystic Knights — predecessor to Oingo Boingo — when I was 19. Meeting Tim Burton was just another humongous coincidence. He approached me to do Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and at that point, again, I was starting to write music, but I never thought of film.

In one or two sentences, how would you describe the current state of the industry?
The entertainment industry?  I couldn’t. But, the music business is in shambles, as we all know. It’s trying to redefine itself. It seems like the film business is just several steps behind it in terms of trying to keep themselves from falling into shambles.

In your opinion what constitutes great storytelling?
Well, that’s probably the most effective question there could be. You know, great storytelling is great storytelling. It pulls you in and involves you and keeps you held there, and if it doesn’t leave you at the end feeling like you were cheated, ripped off or fooled then it’s great storytelling.

What contemporary artists do you admire and why?
I admire the classic composers that I grew up with. I wouldn’t be a composer had I not had a fan-like dedication to the composer Bernard Herrmann. He was something of a god to me. He scored many pictures but was most famous for scoring many of the famous Alfred Hitchcock movies.

Please list your top five scores of the decade and why?
[I could tell you] my favorite film scores of the last decade.

Let the Right One In — Johan Soderqvist. It was haunting and it stayed with me enough to go and buy the soundtrack, which I rarely do.
Birth — Alexandre Desplat. It caught me really off guard and felt so fresh.
Atonement — Dario Marianelli. It was really so perfectly suited for the film and managed some very tricky balancing acts between the different elements.
The Hours — Philip Glass. Why? Simple: It’s Philip Glass. He’s the greatest. End of story!
Requiem for a Dream — Clint Mansell. This has to be my favorite of this last decade. Perfectly suited to the film. Completely original, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. In fact, I still think it’s stuck there.

What do you consider your greatest career achievement?
My greatest career achievement I consider to be my survival. It’s a really, insanely, high-octane, competitive world, and you have to constantly adapt — and achievement to me is still being viable.

What do you consider your greatest career failure?
Ooh … that’s the biggest list. You’d have to devote an entire chapter to that. I’ve always viewed most of my work as not achieving what I was aiming for, and in the end, some of them have worked out pretty well. But there’s very few I’ve actually felt like, eureka! I’ve done it! At the time when I did Nightmare, it was the worst critical slams I’d ever received. But now, 15 years later, more people come up to me and talk about the influence that score had on their childhood or, you know, their early years more than any other movie I’ve ever done. So, you just never know.

What do you believe is the biggest problem currently facing the entertainment business?
Well, I mean it goes back to that redefinition thing. I think the problem is how they deal with the digital age.  And how do we deal with the fact that now we’re now on our second generation of kids that feel entitled to owning music without paying for it? This is a serious problem, and it’s very fucked up.

What new technology currently having an impact on your industry are you most excited about and why? What technology are you most afraid of and why?
I could see negative things coming out of certain parts of the technology with regards to the ripping off and streaming and sharing of music. It concerns me, but it doesn’t scare me. The same part of that digital [technology] excites me a lot. Being able to record and edit digitally was a humongous change in how I work in terms of having the ability to do things that I couldn’t before.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you?
I’ve never really gotten any career advice from anybody. I had no mentors coming up, and nobody ever took me aside and said “Hey kid.” I kind of knew nothing but criticism and bad reviews from the get-go. And for whatever reason, being how I’m wired, I began to thrive on that. I know it sounds like negative energy, but being fueled by “I’ll prove those fuckers wrong,” is still fuel. It’s a negative answer to a serious question, but it really kind of defines my professional life from the age of 19.

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