“Once I had his theme, it gave me permission to do the things the film perhaps was asking for. Since it’s a different type of film, he was telling me not to worry and not be too honorable to the original, and do what I felt like is the right thing to do.” One of the challenges was to concoct a present-day sounding-score that still felt timeless, a tricky proposition. “John was interested to see how it would be if it were modern, as it were. And I say ‘modern’ in inverted quotes because his style is sort of timeless for a classic. The danger with making anything modern is that it goes out of fashion. If you look back on a score from 1977 by John Williams, it doesn’t seem out of date at all. But if you look back on a score by an electronic rock band (from the 70s) and listen to it now, it sounds really dated. John’s score could have been ’77, ’88, ’98 anytime.” According to Powell, his mere goal was “to fit into that world, not fuck it up, and also not be frightened to do what the film needs.”
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