Bicentennial Man

[Dole 17]

The online poll at Film Score Monthly says that Williams was supposed to score Chris Columbus's Bicentennial Man but backed out. Does anyone know why? (Not that I mind really. The film was awful.)

Dole

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

I think I remember when filmogrphy lists had "Bicentennial" along with Star Wars Episode I and others.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

Yes, Williams was initially given this film, but i belive that schedule conflicts prevented him from doing it.

[Morlock 11]

Really? So that means the only film Columbus offered Williams was the only one Williams didn't do!

It still bothers me somewhat that after Home Alone Williams was not Columbus' first choice- Williams replaced Pat Doyle on stepmom and Harry Potter was first offered to Horner. And even on home alone he only replaced Broughton.

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

Really? I did not know that. I´ve heard the STEPMOM story many times.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Harry Potter was first offered to Horner

Really? Yikes, I'm glad it turned out the way it did.

Ray Barnsbury

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Well, that's only part-true. From what I remember, there were rumors on summer 2001 (maybe sooner) that Williams had turned down HP and Horner was doing it, but they didn't last much. I really believe Williams was Columbus' first choice.

[Guest]

I remember when Williams was supposed to score BM. I was a little disappointed when I heard he wasn't scoring it, but it helped knowing Horner was doing it. Then we got A.I. Still...it would be nice to have another A.I.-like score to listen to. Especially since Columbus directed it. I've come to think he and Williams have a pretty good working relationship.

[HPFAN 1]

I wonder if Cuaron requested JW personaly for POA or maybe he didn't care and Jw signed on because he probably knows who ever attempts to expand on his work will fail horribly.

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

What if Doyle did a really wonderful work on POA huh? Even borrowing Williams´ themes. I bet Doyle could do it. Though I´m pretty sure he´s a great guy, there´s still egos and I wonder if would use themes by other composer. He would want to creat his own themes.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I remember when Williams was supposed to score BM

LOL Took me a sec to figure out that abbreviation.

I´ve heard the STEPMOM story many times.

Are there any actual facts about that situation? I've never really heard anything concrete.

Ray Barnsbury

[tpigeon 3]

What if Doyle did a really wonderful work on POA huh? Even borrowing Williams´ themes. I bet Doyle could do it. Though I´m pretty sure he´s a great guy, there´s still egos and I wonder if would use themes by other composer. He would want to creat his own themes.

Not that I'd want this to happen, but I agree, Hector. I think that Patrick Doyle is an outstanding composer and I wish he's score more films that call for a big score. Unfortunately he hasn't been scoring many films like that, though the films he has scored recently had jsut the right music and were all good films if I recall.

I also had the notion that what if Williams wasn't scoring the third Potter film. I'm surprised he's doing it at all, with Columbus stepping down as director and this being the third film. his reduced involvement with the second film, though it was inevitable, might have been an easy way out of the franchise for Williams. Though many pople just assumed he was doing it, I as surprised when I heard that he was. I'm lad that he'll be writing a complete score with specific music for every scene, not with some other composer placing music from the first two films into scene that the composer himself didn't score. That's what bothered me so much about the second films' score.

Anyway, what if Williams wasn't scoring this film at all? I would be a little bit disappointed, but then again I would also be a little bit pleased. Williams has been so tied with commitments lately, that he hasnt scored many films that aren't a part fo a huge series or Spielberg. Granted, in the past few years Spielberg has made very original and different movies. But I would still like to see Williams score other things, like he was doing before the 2000's, with Angela's Ashes, Stepmom, Seven Years in Tibet - scores that some may not like, but I think are great scores that show a different side of Williams.

It's just a thought.

Ted

[King Mark 3,631]

Maybe he dropped the movie because it was too much like Heartbeeps.

K.M.Who thinks williams has written a lot of music for robots.

[pete 907]

Wasn't there a big schedule change in the release of BM??? I seem to remember the release was brought forward by about 6 months, and that meant tht John was unable to score it due to other commitments.

This is the first time I have been able to log on in weeks!!!!!! happy!!!

[mahler3 478]

Speaking of Doyle & Horner, i had the good fortune to meet Mr Doyle last year at a film festival my cinema was holding and he was such a lovely man, very jolly (a true Scot) and gratious.

I was tempted to ask him about the Stepmom affair but bottled out, although i did ask him what he thought of Williams and he applauded him effortlessly, stating how beautifully structured his works are.

I praised Mr Doyle on his 'A Little Princess' score and he was very flattered, continuing by saying that Warners had ideas of a live musical with his music because they were so impressed, but because the film was not a huge success they shelved it.

On congratulating him on his Oscar nominations he did state rather amusingly that at the '96 ceremony (his Sense & Sensibility score was nominated the year he was there), that apparently when Horner did not win he glared with anamosity and rage at (can't remember his name, was it Luis Bacalov that won that year?) the winner and left for the remainder of the ceremony. What a bad loser eh?! Horner was up for Apollo 13 & Braveheart that year, and probably thought that Braveheart had bagged it due to the hype and other awards it had won thus far.

-Tim.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Horner should have won that year for either his brilliant Braveheart or the almost as brilliant Apollo 13.

That psuedo Morricone Luis Bacalov should not have even been allowed admission into the ceremony.

I was weeping that night, and I know how Horner must have felt, he was up for one that year.

Stefancos- who balls his fists in anger when thinking of this travesty.

[Guest]

Oh well...here's to The Passion in 2005.

[Dole 17]

Horner should have won that year for either his brilliant Braveheart or the almost as brilliant Apollo 13.  

Agreed. But keep in mind that Williams lost three times that night (twice for score Nixon and Sabrina and once for song) and somehow managed to remain a gentleman about it. If John Williams can stomach Fame beating out The Empire Strikes Back then Horner can surely hold his temper as Braveheart goes down in flames. I mean, the Academy hardly ever gets it right when it comes to who wins. After all, Bernard Herrmann only ever won one bloody Oscar and none of his Hitchcock scores were ever even nominated!

Dole

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Your point being???

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

"bloody" should have been the word in black

[Dole 17]

Your point being???

My point simply being that it's just a stupid awards show that often focuses on popularity and successful marketing campaigns rather than true, deserving talent. When you don't win, you shouldn't get all pissy about it. Horner and everyone else who loses should just remember that it's an honor to be nominated and hundreds of people in the rest of the world would gladly sacrifice their children to have enough talent to be nominated for an Oscar. He should be thankful that his talents were recognized. Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorcese, Kirk Douglas, and Howard Hawks never won oscars so if Horner lost for Braveheart it surely wasn't the end of the world.

My favorite "loser" story from the composer front comes from Maurice Jarre who says that a stranger named Alfred Newman was sitting in front of him at the Oscars and leaned back to tell Jarre that his granddaughter had told him before the ceremony that she liked his music but it didn't stand a chance against Dr. Zhivago because she liked it even better. When Jarre won, Newman laughed, winked at, and congratulated Jarre. I just think that it's a good story of people keeping life in perspective. This is kind of a moot point anyway since Horner has two Oscars now-- again 100% more than Bernard Herrmann ever received. Now make sense out of that if the Oscars are truly based on talent.

Dole

[Guest]

Wow...Hitch and Kubrick never won. I'll have to keep that in mind if I never win.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

My favorite "loser" story from the composer front comes from Maurice Jarre who says that a stranger named Alfred Newman was sitting in front of him at the Oscars and leaned back to tell Jarre that his granddaughter had told him before the ceremony that she liked his music but it didn't stand a chance against Dr. Zhivago because she liked it even better.  When Jarre won, Newman laughed, winked at, and congratulated Jarre.  I just think that it's a good story of people keeping life in perspective.  This is kind of a moot point anyway since Horner has two Oscars now-- again 100% more than Bernard Herrmann ever received.  Now make sense out of that if the Oscars are truly based on talent.

My favorite looser story goes back to when Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity was nominated for 7 awards, which all went for Leo McCarey's film starring Bing Crosby. When McCarey went to receive the 7th award, for Best Picture, Billy Wilder tripped him up from his seat in the middle of the aisle and the winner toppled his way to the Oscar.

Good story. Not only does it involve Billy Wilder, but it's also about a man who knew who deserved to win - and did something about it.

[King Mark 3,631]

The year I felt most sad for Williams losing is 2002,for A.I. and P.S.,when he was conducting the orchestra and had to move out of the way for the winner and keep a straight face.

K.M.