Bayesian

My hope is that someone will make one when the maestro is still alive. We need more in-depth interviews with the man himself, not the usual journalistic mainstream we heard thousand times. Especially the early years 1955-1965 need a bit more coverage, since there is very little information about this era. 
As discussed before, maybe Spielberg could make an interesting documentary with all the videos he shot during recording sessions. I'm sure there are tons of interesting videos in his archives.

Of course your personal opinion is yours but....
 

Very nice!

Guys i saw this film. I think desplat is winning Oscar number 3 for this.

Cast talks a bit about John Williams some and their favorite Williams music. Even the 'I know but they're all dead' story makes an appearance. 

Danny Elfman is having the busiest year of his life.
Revered as one of Hollywood’s premiere film composers, the former Oingo Boingo frontman is perhaps best known for his prolific partnership with director Tim Burton. In addition to both writing the songs and providing the singing voice for Jack Skellington in the beloved 1993 stop-motion animated musical “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Eflman also writes classical compositions.
One such piece, created specifically for French cellist Gautier Capuçon, is now slated to make its long-awaited U.S. premiere with the San Francisco Symphony with three performances beginning Friday, Nov. 11. Conducted by Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, Elfman’s cello concerto was initially intended to premiere in 2021 before being delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These shows will also serve as but the latest landmark moment in a year that’s already seen Elfman perform at the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, premiere multiple other concert compositions, and, most recently, headline a pair of Halloween shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
“It’s been a nutty year,” Elfman said. “As a result of the pandemic, along with the Hollywood Bowl shows and Coachella, I’ve also had three world premieres with symphony orchestras, I scored (the forthcoming Noah Baumbauch film) ‘White Noise,’ and we have ‘Nightmare’ shows in London next month.
“I never expected this year — where I should have been retired and living by the seaside somewhere — would, in fact, be the busiest of my life.”
Danny Elfman, founding member of Oingo Boingo, performs during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 23, in Indio (Riverside County).Photo: Scott Dudelson / Getty Images for Coachella But Elfman isn’t complaining. Instead, he’s grateful for the opportunity to exist in so many worlds at once —  whether he’s attending a world premiere at a symphony hall or ripping his shirt off in front of more than 100,000 screaming fans in a desert, the 69-year-old is enjoying what he calls “the extremes” life has placed in front of him.
“Who gets to have that kind of juxtaposition, going from a concert hall in Vienna, being in a legitimate symphonic, classical world, to walking out onstage at one of the biggest rock festivals in the world? I really appreciate the fact that fate has allowed me to enjoy these types of very extreme juxtapositions,” he said.
Speaking with The Chronicle by phone from his home in Los Angeles before heading to San Francisco this week, the four-time Oscar nominee detailed how his collaboration with Capuçon came together, his affinity for Thomas and how the pandemic was secretly a blessing for his creativity.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Before we discuss your upcoming premiere with the San Francisco Symphony, how were the recent pair of Halloween shows you just played at the Hollywood Bowl?
A: Pretty insane. It all literally started as a concept for Coachella. After I agreed to play Coachella (in 2020), I realized, to my horror, that I’d probably just come up with the worst idea of my life. I worried it would be a train wreck of my own design once I finally started rehearsing stuff, as none of it fit together in any way, shape or form. I thought it was going to leave people horrified.
When we finally did Coachella (after the festival postponed its 2020 and 2021 editions), I literally walked onstage as if I was walking out to my firing squad. But, to my astonishment, it didn’t go that way. That led to the Hollywood Bowl. We doubled the set length, which doubled the pressure and the stress.
I’m the eternal pessimist, so I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by the incredible turnout. It didn’t make sense to be doing 30- and 40-year-old material for a third of it, another third of it being brand-new stuff — much of it world premieres, things we’ve never played publicly before — and then the last third of it consisting of orchestral film music. It was pretty nuts, but it went really well. 
Danny Elfman performs onstage at the Outdoor Theatre during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 16 in Indio (Riverside County).Photo: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Coachella Q: How did you meet Gautier Capuçon, and what led you to collaborate together on a new concerto?
A: Long story short, my classical music agent introduced me to Gautier because he said he was interested in meeting me, and we hit it off very quickly — only to find ourselves all in lockdown some months later. That led to a three-way call with me, MTT and Gautier, where we discussed what the overriding concept for this concerto might be. The U.S. premiere was originally going to be first, but then COVID-19 bumped that back a year, so Vienna ended up being the first performance (in March).
Gautier is all over the world, so I was trying to send him ideas and interface with him and get his input. At first, it seemed like it would be impossible — he’s over there and I’m over here — but eventually, I realized that this is just the way everything is now. Everything’s on Zoom or FaceTime, and, after a bit, it seemed quite normal. I’d send him ideas, and he would send back feedback. We tried, as best we both could, to stay in communication throughout the creative process. He knew what I was doing, and I knew what he was reacting to, because that’s how I’m used to working with an artist.
Then, suddenly, boom: I had concerts in a month. It was extra crazy, because I had a percussion concerto with (Scottish percussionist) Colin Currie in London, and the cello concerto with Gautier in Vienna was only a week later. In my wildest imagination, I never could have dreamed of pretty much everything that’s happened this year.
Cellist Gautier CapuçonPhoto: Anoush Abrar Q: How long have you been writing classical compositions?
A: My goal is to do one classical piece per year. It’s been like that for six or seven years now. I made the decision that I was simply going to take off part of each year from film and commit to concert writing, and I’ve pretty much stayed on course.
The piece with Gautier has a very special feeling for me. When I sat down six or seven years ago to do a violin concerto, I decided for the first time to commit myself to writing for symphony orchestras as they exist,  as opposed to how they exist in my imagination. I’ve tried to stick with that, and when I met Gautier, I got the feeling that he wanted to be challenged, musically, but that he also really responded to melody and the romantic aspects as well. I tried to keep all that in mind, to make it something that is both from my personality, but also something through which he could express himself and his own personality.
I’m learning more and more how to keep that in mind when I’m writing for soloists. I’m writing for myself, but I’m also writing for their personality, as I begin to understand them.
Q: On top of Gautier’s involvement, you also had Michael Tilson Thomas offering input, too. Have you two worked together before?
A: No, I didn’t really know him before this. … We never really had many chances to cross paths, but I’ve admired him from afar. He’s been such a great figure of conducting in my own lifetime. I told him the first time I met him that when my son, Oliver, was 3, we used to obsessively watch this DVD of the San Francisco Symphony playing “The Rite of Spring,” with him conducting. My son used to request it every day. … He’d go, “Play ‘The White of Spwing!’ ” He was obsessed with it. There was this long period of time where he wanted to hear it almost every day. We would pause at different sections, and I’d go, “What instrument is that?” and he’d go, “Contrabassoon!” He had this whole fascination with that recording from that orchestra, so I thanked Michael and told him how that recording was definitely a part of my son’s DNA.
In terms of his participation (with this work), he’s been mostly like a guiding light, giving me general advice. He warned me that I’d be surprised by how soft the cello is compared to the violin, and it’s true! I love to write aggressively, and I love to write music that has lots of parts and ideas going on, but you also need to be aware of your soloist. That was definitely a learning curve for me.
Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall on Nov. 12, 2021. It was his first in-person appearance at Davies since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thomas, formally the longtime music director of the Symphony, had been recovering from surgery he had in July 2021 to remove a brain tumor.Photo: Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle 2021 Q: You released your first solo rock album, “Big Mess,” last year. How did that fit in with everything else you’ve been working on?
A: It was another wonderful, big, liberating surprise. I had no intention of making a record. It was my luck that, in 2020, when everything shut down, I had just decided, for the first time in my life, to take a year off from film and to just do performances and commissions. I had a number of performances of “Nightmare Before Christmas,” of (touring concert) “Elfman/Burton” and different concerts planned. It was going to be an interesting year. Then, of course, it all collapsed, and I was in quarantine wondering what I was going to do with myself.
Here’s where I feel guilty. I feel great guilt because most of my friends are involved with either writing or performing, and every performer suffered so badly in those two years. Everyone in the film industry suffered because productions were all shut down. The few of us who flourished were the writers. … With time on my hands, I figured I’d play around with a few songs, just for the hell of it, and the result was 18 of them.
Weirdly, I look back almost nostalgically at that time period as being incredibly fertile for me, which I wasn’t expecting. At the same time, I feel guilty for feeling that way because so many of my friends and family suffered so much during that period. That said, I wasn’t expecting to perform again. I wasn’t expecting to hold an electric guitar in my hands again, except to make squealing feedback for film scores every now and then, so this has all been a series of surprises.
Q: Good ones though, from the sound of it.
A: Yes! “Big Mess” led to so many fun, interesting collaborations too. The remix album (“Bigger, Messier”) was my first time ever doing collaborative vocal work with anybody else. Literally, in 48 years of performing, I have almost no collaborations.
I did one in ’92 or something with Siouxsie and the Banshees for “Batman Returns,” and, honestly, that’s it. I can’t think of another one. So to suddenly be doing pieces with Trent Reznor and Iggy Pop? It was crazy, unexpected, fun, off-the-hook stuff that I just never would have guessed I’d be doing.
I love the extremes in my life. It’s what keeps me happy. It’s why I started doing concert music after writing film music for so long. After a hundred scores, it’s time to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Concert music was how I did that. It was all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone, starting with a violin concerto, which was catastrophically difficult for me. I literally thought it was going to kill me, and by the end of it, I’d sworn that I would never do it again.
Then I took another commission the next year.
These are the things that push me. Right now, I’m doing a commission for a chamber piece for the Library of Congress’ Orpheus ensemble, and I’m once again sitting there every night going, “Why do I do this to myself?” I never seem to learn, but it’s essential for me to be doing this stuff.  
MTT: Capuçon Plays Danny Elfman: San Francisco Symphony. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Nov. 11-12; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13. $35-$170; post-concert Q&A with composer Danny Elfman and cellist Gautier Capuçon, moderated by Symphony CEO Matthew Spivey, on Saturday. Free to all ticket holders. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave, S.F. www.sfsymphony.org

Danny Elfman is having the busiest year of his life.
Revered as one of Hollywood’s premiere film composers, the former Oingo Boingo frontman is perhaps best known for his prolific partnership with director Tim Burton. In addition to both writing the songs and providing the singing voice for Jack Skellington in the beloved 1993 stop-motion animated musical “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Eflman also writes classical compositions.
One such piece, created specifically for French cellist Gautier Capuçon, is now slated to make its long-awaited U.S. premiere with the San Francisco Symphony with three performances beginning Friday, Nov. 11. Conducted by Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, Elfman’s cello concerto was initially intended to premiere in 2021 before being delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These shows will also serve as but the latest landmark moment in a year that’s already seen Elfman perform at the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, premiere multiple other concert compositions, and, most recently, headline a pair of Halloween shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
“It’s been a nutty year,” Elfman said. “As a result of the pandemic, along with the Hollywood Bowl shows and Coachella, I’ve also had three world premieres with symphony orchestras, I scored (the forthcoming Noah Baumbauch film) ‘White Noise,’ and we have ‘Nightmare’ shows in London next month.
“I never expected this year — where I should have been retired and living by the seaside somewhere — would, in fact, be the busiest of my life.”
Danny Elfman, founding member of Oingo Boingo, performs during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 23, in Indio (Riverside County).Photo: Scott Dudelson / Getty Images for Coachella But Elfman isn’t complaining. Instead, he’s grateful for the opportunity to exist in so many worlds at once —  whether he’s attending a world premiere at a symphony hall or ripping his shirt off in front of more than 100,000 screaming fans in a desert, the 69-year-old is enjoying what he calls “the extremes” life has placed in front of him.
“Who gets to have that kind of juxtaposition, going from a concert hall in Vienna, being in a legitimate symphonic, classical world, to walking out onstage at one of the biggest rock festivals in the world? I really appreciate the fact that fate has allowed me to enjoy these types of very extreme juxtapositions,” he said.
Speaking with The Chronicle by phone from his home in Los Angeles before heading to San Francisco this week, the four-time Oscar nominee detailed how his collaboration with Capuçon came together, his affinity for Thomas and how the pandemic was secretly a blessing for his creativity.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Before we discuss your upcoming premiere with the San Francisco Symphony, how were the recent pair of Halloween shows you just played at the Hollywood Bowl?
A: Pretty insane. It all literally started as a concept for Coachella. After I agreed to play Coachella (in 2020), I realized, to my horror, that I’d probably just come up with the worst idea of my life. I worried it would be a train wreck of my own design once I finally started rehearsing stuff, as none of it fit together in any way, shape or form. I thought it was going to leave people horrified.
When we finally did Coachella (after the festival postponed its 2020 and 2021 editions), I literally walked onstage as if I was walking out to my firing squad. But, to my astonishment, it didn’t go that way. That led to the Hollywood Bowl. We doubled the set length, which doubled the pressure and the stress.
I’m the eternal pessimist, so I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by the incredible turnout. It didn’t make sense to be doing 30- and 40-year-old material for a third of it, another third of it being brand-new stuff — much of it world premieres, things we’ve never played publicly before — and then the last third of it consisting of orchestral film music. It was pretty nuts, but it went really well. 
Danny Elfman performs onstage at the Outdoor Theatre during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 16 in Indio (Riverside County).Photo: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Coachella Q: How did you meet Gautier Capuçon, and what led you to collaborate together on a new concerto?
A: Long story short, my classical music agent introduced me to Gautier because he said he was interested in meeting me, and we hit it off very quickly — only to find ourselves all in lockdown some months later. That led to a three-way call with me, MTT and Gautier, where we discussed what the overriding concept for this concerto might be. The U.S. premiere was originally going to be first, but then COVID-19 bumped that back a year, so Vienna ended up being the first performance (in March).
Gautier is all over the world, so I was trying to send him ideas and interface with him and get his input. At first, it seemed like it would be impossible — he’s over there and I’m over here — but eventually, I realized that this is just the way everything is now. Everything’s on Zoom or FaceTime, and, after a bit, it seemed quite normal. I’d send him ideas, and he would send back feedback. We tried, as best we both could, to stay in communication throughout the creative process. He knew what I was doing, and I knew what he was reacting to, because that’s how I’m used to working with an artist.
Then, suddenly, boom: I had concerts in a month. It was extra crazy, because I had a percussion concerto with (Scottish percussionist) Colin Currie in London, and the cello concerto with Gautier in Vienna was only a week later. In my wildest imagination, I never could have dreamed of pretty much everything that’s happened this year.
Cellist Gautier CapuçonPhoto: Anoush Abrar Q: How long have you been writing classical compositions?
A: My goal is to do one classical piece per year. It’s been like that for six or seven years now. I made the decision that I was simply going to take off part of each year from film and commit to concert writing, and I’ve pretty much stayed on course.
The piece with Gautier has a very special feeling for me. When I sat down six or seven years ago to do a violin concerto, I decided for the first time to commit myself to writing for symphony orchestras as they exist,  as opposed to how they exist in my imagination. I’ve tried to stick with that, and when I met Gautier, I got the feeling that he wanted to be challenged, musically, but that he also really responded to melody and the romantic aspects as well. I tried to keep all that in mind, to make it something that is both from my personality, but also something through which he could express himself and his own personality.
I’m learning more and more how to keep that in mind when I’m writing for soloists. I’m writing for myself, but I’m also writing for their personality, as I begin to understand them.
Q: On top of Gautier’s involvement, you also had Michael Tilson Thomas offering input, too. Have you two worked together before?
A: No, I didn’t really know him before this. … We never really had many chances to cross paths, but I’ve admired him from afar. He’s been such a great figure of conducting in my own lifetime. I told him the first time I met him that when my son, Oliver, was 3, we used to obsessively watch this DVD of the San Francisco Symphony playing “The Rite of Spring,” with him conducting. My son used to request it every day. … He’d go, “Play ‘The White of Spwing!’ ” He was obsessed with it. There was this long period of time where he wanted to hear it almost every day. We would pause at different sections, and I’d go, “What instrument is that?” and he’d go, “Contrabassoon!” He had this whole fascination with that recording from that orchestra, so I thanked Michael and told him how that recording was definitely a part of my son’s DNA.
In terms of his participation (with this work), he’s been mostly like a guiding light, giving me general advice. He warned me that I’d be surprised by how soft the cello is compared to the violin, and it’s true! I love to write aggressively, and I love to write music that has lots of parts and ideas going on, but you also need to be aware of your soloist. That was definitely a learning curve for me.
Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall on Nov. 12, 2021. It was his first in-person appearance at Davies since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thomas, formally the longtime music director of the Symphony, had been recovering from surgery he had in July 2021 to remove a brain tumor.Photo: Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle 2021 Q: You released your first solo rock album, “Big Mess,” last year. How did that fit in with everything else you’ve been working on?
A: It was another wonderful, big, liberating surprise. I had no intention of making a record. It was my luck that, in 2020, when everything shut down, I had just decided, for the first time in my life, to take a year off from film and to just do performances and commissions. I had a number of performances of “Nightmare Before Christmas,” of (touring concert) “Elfman/Burton” and different concerts planned. It was going to be an interesting year. Then, of course, it all collapsed, and I was in quarantine wondering what I was going to do with myself.
Here’s where I feel guilty. I feel great guilt because most of my friends are involved with either writing or performing, and every performer suffered so badly in those two years. Everyone in the film industry suffered because productions were all shut down. The few of us who flourished were the writers. … With time on my hands, I figured I’d play around with a few songs, just for the hell of it, and the result was 18 of them.
Weirdly, I look back almost nostalgically at that time period as being incredibly fertile for me, which I wasn’t expecting. At the same time, I feel guilty for feeling that way because so many of my friends and family suffered so much during that period. That said, I wasn’t expecting to perform again. I wasn’t expecting to hold an electric guitar in my hands again, except to make squealing feedback for film scores every now and then, so this has all been a series of surprises.
Q: Good ones though, from the sound of it.
A: Yes! “Big Mess” led to so many fun, interesting collaborations too. The remix album (“Bigger, Messier”) was my first time ever doing collaborative vocal work with anybody else. Literally, in 48 years of performing, I have almost no collaborations.
I did one in ’92 or something with Siouxsie and the Banshees for “Batman Returns,” and, honestly, that’s it. I can’t think of another one. So to suddenly be doing pieces with Trent Reznor and Iggy Pop? It was crazy, unexpected, fun, off-the-hook stuff that I just never would have guessed I’d be doing.
I love the extremes in my life. It’s what keeps me happy. It’s why I started doing concert music after writing film music for so long. After a hundred scores, it’s time to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Concert music was how I did that. It was all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone, starting with a violin concerto, which was catastrophically difficult for me. I literally thought it was going to kill me, and by the end of it, I’d sworn that I would never do it again.
Then I took another commission the next year.
These are the things that push me. Right now, I’m doing a commission for a chamber piece for the Library of Congress’ Orpheus ensemble, and I’m once again sitting there every night going, “Why do I do this to myself?” I never seem to learn, but it’s essential for me to be doing this stuff.  
MTT: Capuçon Plays Danny Elfman: San Francisco Symphony. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Nov. 11-12; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13. $35-$170; post-concert Q&A with composer Danny Elfman and cellist Gautier Capuçon, moderated by Symphony CEO Matthew Spivey, on Saturday. Free to all ticket holders. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave, S.F. www.sfsymphony.org

J Moo and J Gow are in it?!

I don't think we know yet that it is (or isn't). But given the press-once-and-done approach of film soundtracks on CD over the last couple decades, we should grab our copies now if we care to own it on CD. The price won't ever be lower than it is now and it's sure to jump a hell of a lot on the secondary market if it turns out Sony pressed only a few thousand copies and they sell out quick.
 
Will it sell out quickly? No clue. But the film score-collecting world knows that the SS/JW collaboration is coming to a close. The Fabelmans is also the first collab in five years and may be the last one where SS is director, so it's special. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes OOP quickly.
 
 

I don't think we know yet that it is (or isn't). But given the press-once-and-done approach of film soundtracks on CD over the last couple decades, we should grab our copies now if we care to own it on CD. The price won't ever be lower than it is now and it's sure to jump a hell of a lot on the secondary market if it turns out Sony pressed only a few thousand copies and they sell out quick.
 
Will it sell out quickly? No clue. But the film score-collecting world knows that the SS/JW collaboration is coming to a close. The Fabelmans is also the first collab in five years and may be the last one where SS is director, so it's special. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes OOP quickly.
 
 

I love that song!

That damn music follows your dog whereever he goes.  

Some pretty good music in the background
 
 

If I ever find out, I'll make sure to let you know.

Just listened to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (my favorite composition of any composer ever).  Featuring full orchestra, choir, fugues galore, violin solo, drama, the great Amen on the Gloria surpassing even Handel's Hallelujeh Chorus.  I mean the following as a compliment: I think this is the closest thing we get to a film score from the 1800s.  There is something about its arc (or maybe just the execution) that is more dramatic than his or other's operas.  
 
If you have 80 minutes, sit back, relax, and let this piece kick your musical ass. 
 
 

Yes, I am imagining a young Spielberg with medium long hair, sunglasses and a cap enthusiastically calling "action" through a megaphone to a hustling film crew on the set for Jaws...
 

 
 
 
I like the detail provided under "Explore" which confirms that the composers are not all dead.
Composers
Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750) Clementi, Muzio (1752-1832) Kuhlau, Friedrich (1786-1832) Williams, John Towner (b.1932)  
Not sure about Haydn...

I heard the whole thing and I can say it's not generic at all. It's restrained, but very heartfelt. There is a French-like character by the way of JW's own unique voice, so it's definitely not the usual generic and trite tinkly piano scoring that is plastered in most contemporary dramas for film and tv shows. Quite the opposite, it shows you can be very musical and profound by stripping it all down to a few instruments and using a restrained approach. The use of piano, harp and celeste is poignant. It's perhaps JW's most chamber-like score of his career, which makes a lot of sense as the film itself is a chamber piece.

Samples available on the Presto website: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9381464--the-fabelmans-original-motion-picture-soundtrack
 
EDIT: this is beautiful 

Probably 90% of this board just don't get that they are part of the problem, not the solution. Pitching more Superman movies, yeah, the silver lining for cinema. Just sayin...

I was under the impression that directors often have final say over a film but that that privilege was given at the studio’s pleasure. I’m other words, a director could always be overruled by the exec producer or the film’s main producer. 
 
I suppose it’s fair to ask why director’s cuts of films are even a thing if the director always has final say.

I was under the impression that directors often have final say over a film but that that privilege was given at the studio’s pleasure. I’m other words, a director could always be overruled by the exec producer or the film’s main producer. 
 
I suppose it’s fair to ask why director’s cuts of films are even a thing if the director always has final say.

But when you say 'technical marvel', that sounds rather reductive, as if it's all just surface value without any kind of effect. It obviously is a technical marvel, but what matters is how you make use of it. Form is content. So when you have visionaries like Cameron (or Scott, or Spielberg, or other directors that make full use of the audiovisual tools not only for storytelling, but for mood and other things) that makes use of these technical marvels to create engrossing, visceral experiences, that's a valid form of pleasure. For all their spectacle, none of the Marvel films have accomplished this. Cameron, on the other hand, has managed this herculean task with THE ABYSS, ALIENS, TITANIC and the first AVATAR, in particular, and I have great confidence he will do it again with this sequel.
 
Everyone and their grandmother agree that the Pocahontas story of AVATAR is completely unoriginal, but that's not really the point of the film, the way I see it. It's just a mechanism by which to absorb you into the universe of Pandora.

I was under the impression that directors often have final say over a film but that that privilege was given at the studio’s pleasure. I’m other words, a director could always be overruled by the exec producer or the film’s main producer. 
 
I suppose it’s fair to ask why director’s cuts of films are even a thing if the director always has final say.

Yep I made that correction in my previous post (or rather a clarification) Some directors have "final cut", whereas some do not and instead the studio does. Depends on the film/director/studio.