Danny Elfman: An In-Depth Interview | Film Music Foundation's Legends Series

An interview with composer Danny Elfman in conversation with Jon Burlingame. Recorded July 30, 2014 at Danny Elfman’s studio in Los Angeles, California by The Film Music Foundation.

- Chapters -
0:00:00 Introduction // Early Life and Family
0:03:11 Early Film Influences // Composer Bernard Herrmann and director Ray Harryhausen
0:07:49 Picking Up the Violin at Age 18 and Performing in France
0:13:11 Traveling Africa and Returning to America
0:18:06 The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo
0:21:10 Introduction to Writing Music
0:24:31 Oingo Boingo // Ska Influences
0:27:41 "Forbidden Zone" // First Experience with Music in Film
0:29:13 The Beginning of Oingo Boingo’s Success
0:33:08 First Collaboration with Tim Burton // "Pee-wee’s Big Adventure"
0:36:37 Writing for Full Orchestra // Influence of Nino Rota’s Music
0:43:32 Splitting Time Between Composing for Film and Oingo Boingo
0:46:11 Orchestrating with Steve Bartek
0:47:09 Collaborating with Tim Burton and Martin Brest
0:49:37 Composing for "Batman"
1:00:46 Composing for "Edward Scissorhands"
1:04:40 The Importance of a Theme
1:07:32 Elfman’s Writing Process
1:08:59 On "Milk", "Mars Attack", "The Hulk"
1:11:59 Meeting Gus Van Sant and Sam Raimi
1:14:31 Composing for "A Simple Plan"
1:15:24 Composing for "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
1:19:34 "The Nightmare Before Christmas" getting a second life
1:22:19 Composing "The Simpsons" Theme
1:27:24 Winning an Emmy Award // Oscar Nominations
1:29:24 Discussion on musician’s credibility in Hollywood
1:34:13 Finding A “Voice” in Music
1:35:58 Being Hired for "Chicago"
1:36:55 Composing for Superhero Films: "Spider-Man"
1:41:05 Scoring for Documentaries // "Standard Operating Procedure", "The Unknown Known"
1:42:38 Non-film Commissions // "Rabbit and Rogue", "Iris"
1:46:46 Collaborating with David O. Russell // "Silver Linings Playbook", "American Hustle"
1:50:39 Re-Composing Classical Material
1:52:27 Elfman’s Proudest Achievement
1:54:55 Advice to Aspiring Film Composers
1:57:45 Career If He Weren’t A Film Composer
1:59:37 Musicals for Broadway
2:02:23 How Elfman Would Like To Be Remembered

- Biography -
Danny Elfman (born Daniel Robert Elfman) is an award-winning composer, singer-songwriter, actor, and record producer. A native of Los Angeles, Elfman began his musical career as a violinist in Jérôme Savary’s “Le Grand Magic Circus” alongside his brother, Richard. He travelled the world, learning from different musical cultures and styles. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Elfman worked as the musical director of “The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo,” a performance art troupe established by Richard. His first scoring credit was for Richard’s 1979 film Forbidden Zone (1979, dir. by Richard Elfman). After his brother departed The Mystic Knights, Elfman became the lead singer-songwriter and transformed the group into the band Oingo Boingo. The group went on to release eight albums between 1981 and 1994 including Dead Man’s Party (1985) and Dark at the End of the Tunnel (1990).

In tandem with his career with Oingo Boingo, Elfman continued scoring films after Forbidden Zone. He was approached by Tim Burton and Paul Reubens in 1985 to score Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985, dir. by Tim Burton), which established Elfman’s collaborative relationship with Burton; Elfman would go on to score nearly all of Burton’s major studio releases including Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Elfman has also frequently collaborated with directors Sam Raimi (Darkman, 1990; Spider-Man, 2002) and Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, 1997; Milk, 2008) and worked with many others on films like Dick Tracy (1990, dir. by Warren Beatty) and the Men in Black franchise (1997–present, dir. by Barry Sonnenfeld). Alongside his scoring career, Elfman continues to compose concert and incidental music for works including Twyla Tharp’s ballet Rabbit and Rogue (2008) and Cirque Du Soleil’s show Iris (2011).

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