Elfman leaves Spidey 3 hanging

[QMM 4]

Looks like Elfman will follow suit with John Dykstra (who left Spidey3 earlier this year) and take his leave from the Spider-Man franchise. Composer Danny Elfman has cued up much work for 2007 (the year of Spider-Man 3's anticipated release), including the rumor of scoring the movie adaptation of the adventures of the superheroine: Wonder Woman.

After much creative differences between Sam Raimi and Danny Elfman  

during the post-production of Spider-Man 2, Raimi brought in other composers to complete the unfinished score. One of those composers was Christopher Young, and according to sources close to Raimi and Elfman, it appears that Young will be hired for the job. (on Spidey3)

Elfman is currently working on: The Corpse Bride & Charlie and The Chocolate Factory for Tim Burton.

Read more on the forums at Elman.FilmMusic.com

http://www.superherohype.com/news/spider-m...ews.php?id=2806

I didnt know they had creative differences nor the fact that there was unfinished scoring(which might explain the fact why the hero theme was a bit overused) but I'm more excited that he'll be able to get some new work in

Max

[Lurker 5]

This was well documented at the time of Spider-Man 2's release. I think the composers brought on to it were Christopher Young, John Debney and maybe even Joseph Deluca. I think some music from the first film may have even been tracked into the second one. I could be wrong though, since I've only seen them both once, but I think the new FSM mentions this.

Neil

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Fine with me, I don't blame Elfman at all. I didn't hear anything really new and noteworthy in the sequel score, and the movie wasn't very good - doesn't seem like there was or will be a lot to inspire him in the series anymore. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing his work for those two Burton films, as well as next year's Charlotte's Web.

Ray Barnsbury

[fommes 153]

Moreover, it'll be interesting to see what Young does with the material! (This coming from an Elfman 'fan' by the way.)

[Marian Schedenig 8,177]

Young for #3 would be my own choice too. His material for #2, why hardly too original, was among the best stuff from that score. Having him do the entire score should result in some very good music.

Marian -

[bondo 33]

Bad news indeed. Young would be my 3rd choice, Debney at #2

[THEfranz_conrad 0]

Would be great to see Chris Young with an A-list assignment for a film that will get real attention. He needs more than horror assignments like The Grudge.

[Kevin McCallister 0]

This was well documented at the time of Spider-Man 2's release. I think the composers brought on to it were Christopher Young, John Debney and maybe even Joseph Deluca. I think some music from the first film may have even been tracked into the second one. I could be wrong though, since I've only seen them both once, but I think the new FSM mentions this.

Here's the way it apparantly went down:

After the film had been scored, two crucial problems hit it, 1) Sony decided last minute to heavily re-edit the film before its final release and 2) As a result, temp tracking became an issue as well. Elfman was asked back to re-score the film, but declined, saying he felt the score was fine, as well as being firmly committed to other projects as well (Sam Raimi supposedly felt the same, one can only speculate how he felt about the re-edits). Several musical sequences were dropped entirely, tracked with music from earlier in the film or from the first film, OR were completely rescored.

JOHN DEBNEY was responsible for the following:

"Special Delivery": Replaces the first half of Elfman's "Pizza Man." A boisterous cue for Peter's ride on a motorcycle through town. Once Spider-Man appears, it is Elfman's original music, inter-cut.

"Cake Girl": Replaces "Peter's Turmoil," which is on the album. Occurs just after the fire sequence, with Peter's neighbor offering him cake.

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG was responsible for the following:

"The Reveal"

"Blue Light"

"Fusion"

"Mayhem"

(All of the above were originally scored by Elfman under the Ock Demonstration. Young rescored all of them)

"Runaway Train": Replaces Elfman's "Train," which is intact on the album. This cue was used in other parts of the film as well.

No other composers worked on the film.

Several scenes were tracked with music from the first film. They include the following:

- Peter is about to take their picture as MJ and Jameson's son come down the stairs - "Main titles"

- Spidey swings to stop the thieves in the car before going to MJ's play - a part of "Revenge"

- The MY BACK!! scene - "Main Titles" again

- Spidey is swinging - Last moments of "Parade Attack" - and then falls to the ground - A part of "Revenge"

- Peter dumping the suit - Last moments of "Final Confrontation"

- The Fire sequence is tracked with the music from the the fire sequence in the first film

- "Appreciation": intact on the album, tracked with the end of "Final Confrontation"

- During the last showdown with Doc Ock at the pier, Dock Ock throws him out and then he swings back - Choir part of "Revenge" [Those editors sure loved "Revenge" like they should]

"Aunt May Packs" - tracked with "Getting Through" and "Alone"

There are probably many other instances that I am forgetting.

MOST of the unused unreleased music to the above sequences can be heard in the DVD Dcoumentaries, and some of it is quite phenomenal. It's a shame that the project had to have such terrible luck.

The CD isn't much better, as it is also short and edited in several places.

The fact that Elfman is bowing out of the series is a disappointment, but I'm sure they will find someone.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The CD isn't much better, as it is also short and edited in several places.

I think the CD is great, as it shows the best representation of the music Elfman originally intended. Many of his CD's are short anyway.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

I hate this. The Spider-Man scores were my favorite recent non-JW scores, and now it's back to square one, musically. At least nobody can take those two first scores away.

JOHN DEBNEY was responsible for the following:

"Special Delivery": Replaces the first half of Elfman's "Pizza Man." A boisterous cue for Peter's ride on a motorcycle through town. Once Spider-Man appears, it is Elfman's original music, inter-cut.

"Cake Girl": Replaces "Peter's Turmoil," which is on the album. Occurs just after the fire sequence, with Peter's neighbor offering him cake.

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG was responsible for the following:

"The Reveal"  

"Blue Light"  

"Fusion"  

"Mayhem"  

(All of the above were originally scored by Elfman under the Ock Demonstration. Young rescored all of them)

"Runaway Train": Replaces Elfman's "Train," which is intact on the album. This cue was used in other parts of the film as well.

No other composers worked on the film.

Several scenes were tracked with music from the first film. They include the following:

- Peter is about to take their picture as MJ and Jameson's son come down the stairs - "Main titles"  

- Spidey swings to stop the thieves in the car before going to MJ's play - a part of "Revenge"  

- The MY BACK!! scene - "Main Titles" again  

- Spidey is swinging - Last moments of "Parade Attack" - and then falls to the ground - A part of "Revenge"  

- Peter dumping the suit - Last moments of "Final Confrontation"

- The Fire sequence is tracked with the music from the the fire sequence in the first film

- "Appreciation": intact on the album, tracked with the end of "Final Confrontation"  

- During the last showdown with Doc Ock at the pier, Dock Ock throws him out and then he swings back - Choir part of "Revenge" [Those editors sure loved "Revenge" like they should]  

"Aunt May Packs" - tracked with "Getting Through" and "Alone"

There are probably many other instances that I am forgetting.

MOST of the unused unreleased music to the above sequences can be heard in the DVD Dcoumentaries, and some of it is quite phenomenal. It's a shame that the project had to have such terrible luck.

The CD isn't much better, as it is also short and edited in several places.

The fact that Elfman is bowing out of the series is a disappointment, but I'm sure they will find someone.

This is most informative and interesting. What is your source?

[Kevin McCallister 0]

This is most informative and interesting. What is your source?

The end credits of the film lists who was responsible for the rescored tracks and what they scored.

Aside from the CDs for both films, the SM2 DVD has been the greatest source. For example:

In the music section, there is a shot of the COMPLETE cue list (although the alternates are missing, they are discernable from other spots both in the film, on CD, and in the doc).

The documentary's background music also play NUMEROUS unrelreased/unused segements, which is how I came to hear the unused original opening for "Pizza Man" and realize that Elfman's version does play over Spider-Man's appearance in the film (it's in the Direction segment of the documentary, right after Sam and John Dykstra look into their mini-camera. Notice closely that not only does the music segue perfectly into Elfman's music in the film, but the percussion for the opening matches EXACTLY with what we hear during Spider-Man's swing with the Pizzas in the film).

Elfman also gave an interview to a French magazine last year which more or less detailed his experience with the film and the above information.

One tidbit I'm not sure many of you know: I had the hardest time trying to figure out where the unused last minute of "Spidus Inerruptus" belonged in the film, when in fact, it's a completely different cue for a completely different scene. The cue is "Not Quite Back Yet" and it underscores the MY BACK scene where Peter jumps over the building. I even tries synching the music to the movie, and it plays BEAUTIFULLY. So much better than the main titles, but I can see why they cut it out, as the slow motion of Peter's jump does not synch perfectly to the music. But to me, why cut the music to the film instead od the other way around?

I think the CD is great, as it shows the best representation of the music Elfman originally intended. Many of his CD's are short anyway.

I agree, but there is forty mintues of some of the best music in the movie that we will never probably hear. I'm not saying we have to have a 79 minute CD. Even if the CD could be around the 60 minute mark, that would be fine. I think Batman is really the best example of an Elfman score with all of the most important music intact and a CD that is the perfect length to boot.

Tracks like "Pizza Man," "Spider-Fall," "A Hostage" (when Ock kidnaps MJ), "Uncle Ben" (when Peter quits), and the Ock Demonstration cues (some of which can be heard on the DVD) are to me, major cues that should've been on the CD. But I do agree that the album does the best it can.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

The MY BACK!! scene - "Main Titles" again

I hated that scene. It was so predictable, playing on the stupid "oh, what else can go wrong for poor Peter Parker?" It's the perfect example of how Spider-Man 2 trys to be so funny, and it's . . . not.

~Sturgis