When it comes to film composers,Michael Giacchinois a household name.
Additionally, we briefly discussed Giacchinos impending work onIncredibles 2andJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Check out the full interview below.
Your score forWar for the Planet of the Apesis absolutely one of my favorites of the year.
MICHAEL GIACCHINO: Oh, thanks.
So, congrats on that.
Image via Collider
It’s so good.
GIACCHINO: Thank you.
I loved that movie.
Image via 20th Century Fox
I love that franchise, and I love working with Matt Reeves.
It was nothing but fun.
GIACCHINO: Well Matt and I talk a lot because we’re really good friends.
Image via 20th Century Fox
I’m trying to remember, it was a couple years before it came out that we talked.
It’s mostly story.
We always just talk story, and music never really enters into the picture.
Image via 20th Century Fox
Well I know that Matt had teased at that time kind of an Exodus, Moses-like story.
Was that the story idea you guys were talking about and that you built a foundation on?
GIACCHINO: Yeah, definitely.
Image via 20th Century Fox
So all those ideas were flying around really early on, before we got anywhere near the scoring stage.
Or do you just wait until filming is finished and then you kind of dig into it?
Go about my life in a normal way.
Image via 20th Century Fox
You know, I didn’t write anything early.
So I do see an early cut of it prior to it really being shaped.
It was all being …
Image via Disney-Pixar
But always with the hope that they’d be able to live together in peace.
And of course that all was shattered in the second one we did, the third in the franchise.
When the Colonel comes in and of course takes out his family.
Image via Disney•Pixar
And besides, behind the anger is always sadness.
But that was his whole journey in this film, which is very different journey than it was inDawn.
Yeah, it’s a wildly emotional film.
Image via Disney-Pixar
GIACCHINO: No, I think you’re right.
BetweenUpand even tons of episodes ofLOSTgot very emotional.
It was just a pleasure to do.
Image via Sony Pictures
That is kind of a throughline through your work of just kind of making people cry their eyes out.
Do you have a sense of when you’re writing that kind of music?
Does it move you?
Image via Sony Pictures
GIACCHINO: It always moves me.
It has to, or else the music isn’t going to feel right.
It won’t be truthful.
So if it feels that way to you, that means it felt that way to me.
And I’m just sort of passing that on to you, the viewer.
It always starts with me exploring, “How did this film make me feel?
How did the story make me feel?”
Okay, I’m going to write sad music."
So what was your reaction to seeing thatToy Story3ending cut to theLOSTtheme that is just devastatingly emotional?
GIACCHINO: (Laughs) Yeah, I thought that was interesting.
That was a while ago.
Yeah I remember seeing that, that was really interesting.
It’s fun to see them mix and mash their own versions of things.
Sometimes they put in my music, sometimes they take out my music (laughs).
So it’s allit’s always different.
You never know what you’re gonna get.
But it still absolutely feels like a Michael Giacchino score.
GIACCHINO: You know, I don’t think too much about it when I’m writing.
I know I grew up with those films, I grew up with Jerry’s work.
I loved what he did for the original, so it’s just sort of in me.
GIACCHINO: And I used those in the score.
So Emil’s been around a long time and I’ve worked with him on almost everything.
But he gave me the percussion instruments that he used on those first couple movies.
But at the same time, there’s also very melodic music.
That’s something you didn’t really get in the firstPlanet of the Apes.
There was no melodic throughline in that story.
I think you hit that balance spot on.
Was there one scene or sequence that was particularly challenging or theme on this one?
GIACCHINO: Probably the hardest one to do was the conversation between the Colonel and Caesar.
I wanted to verify you could watch this scene without even really feeling what I was doing.
So that was probably the toughest one.
I also wanted to ask aboutCoco, which is just incredible.
GIACCHINO: Oh, thanks.
And so completely different, but it’s possible for you to feel the authorship there.
GIACCHINO: Oh, yeah.
I always love that.
And I’ve always loved Mexican music; it was really something I listened to as a kid.
My dad had a great record collection which included some music from Mexico and so I always loved it.
It was like going to a masterclass of Mexican music for me.
So I ate it up, I loved it.
It’s always about stories and these beautiful musical stories that are being told.
So to be able to do that for a film likeCocowas great.
We’re in Mexico."
I wanted the entire thing to feel real.
I wanted the entire thing to feel, again, like it was just born out the country.
GIACCHINO: Yeah, it was really fun.
There were a lot of guitars.
Especially about a kid who wants to play guitar and sing.
GIACCHINO: Well, I mean, I’m always talking about where do we not need music.
More often than not, I’m worried about, where shouldn’t we have music?
Because the tendency is just to put everything everywhere all the time in a lot of movies.
A great story has ups and downs and it’s quiet, then it’s loud.
It’s silent, then it has some sound.
It’s all over the place, and Lee was really smart and on board with all of that.
I feel like both of were really watching out for, where can we keep some space open?
So that when the music does come in, it means something.
It’s one of my favorite things in the film.
The characters would sing them and represent that these characters had with each other.
And so it just kind of fades into the background.
So it was nice to be able to do that and not feel tied to anything else.
Well, speaking of Pixar, I cannot wait forIncredibles 2.
Have you started the scoring process on that one yet?
GIACCHINO: I just was up there two days ago to talk about the beginning of that whole process.
So I haven’t actually written anything yet, but you know, it’s on the horizon.
It’ll be very soon, I gotta dig in real soon.
It’s an incredibly fun, fun, fun follow up.
So I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of it all.
And as forJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, I mean we got the idea through the hiring of J.
Is that something that’s kind of reflected in the score?
Fair, totally fair.
GIACCHINO: But I have seen it, and yes.
GIACCHINO: I think that’d be fun, yeah.
I haven’t done a ghost story.
I did work with Matt Reeves onLet Me In, I loved that movie.
But I think that it would be fun to do one day, a really cool ghost story.
GIACCHINO: You’re always just celebrating you made it out alive (laughs).
Because you never quite hit the heights you have in your head for what you’re going to do.
But you learn something each time, which is important.
Well I think your score forSpider-Man: Homecomingwas terrific as well.
How’s the Marvel experience been for you?
GIACCHINO: Yeah, no, that’s been great.
That was the whole idea behind that, for me anyways.
That’s what I would want if I was sitting down to see one of those movies.
Working with Kevin Feige has just been a joy.
And he and the people at Marvel, definitely I feel that.
They’re a lot of fun to work with and it’s always just thisit’s never easy work.
Yeah, it sounds like Feige’s a bit of a music fan as well.
GIACCHINO: Yes, he is, he loves film soundtracks.
He pretty much listens to them all the time.
He grew up, like I did, listening to them.
I did want to ask, I feel it’s been a pretty great year for movie music overall.
Are there any scores this year that particularly stood out to you, or you were really impressed by?
GIACCHINO: You know what, there’s a double-edged sword to having a lot of work to do.
So, you know, that’s my job for the next month.
Is to catch up with the rest of the world and see what’s been going on.
War for the Planet of the Apesis now available on Blu-ray and Digital HD.Cocois currently playing in theaters everywhere.
