MUSIC INTERVIEW: HOWARD SHORE

Movie Composer Talks Tunes, Moons, Vampires & Hobbits

By: Daniel Schweiger

June 30, 2010

Not every movie franchise has to have the same composer to retain its sense of musical identity. Listen to the snarling force that Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and John Frizzell gave to the Alien saga’s four pictures, and you’ll hear how their different approaches still conjured the same malefic beast. And the six Harry Potter films so far certainly haven’t a lack for a similar sense of magical thrills, even given that Hogwarts was occupied by John Williams, William Ross, Patrick Doyle and Nicholas Hooper.

Though the Twilight saga is still relatively young with two released entries, the rock chords of Carter Burwell and the lush romance of Alexandre Desplat in New Moon have captured all the teen angst of virginity vs. vampirism. Now as the series’s tone takes a twist to the dark side for Eclipse — the franchise’s oldest music voice yet — Howard Shore has been called upon to play the conflict between Team Edward and Team Jacob.

Twilight couldn’t hope for a better prince of darkness than Shore, whose famed, surging walls of string insanity and pounding percussion have included the likes of Silence of the Lambs, The Cell, and Se7en. It wouldn’t surprise if Shore truly went for the throat, given that Eclipse has been directed by David Slade, whose 30 Days of Night stands as one of the most brutal mainstream vampire films in memory.

But perhaps what’s most surprising about Howard Shore’s take on Eclipse is just how hip and vibrant the score is, all while retaining Twilight musical touches, from hip electric guitar chords to tribal percussion for its Native American werewolves. And for a series renowned for brooding characters that are all about just saying no when they mean yes, Shore’s piano theme for Bella — electronic percussion, and lush orchestrations — have a romantic bite that’s anything but musical doom and gloom, an aura that some accuse of visually afflicting New Moon.

Better yet, Howard Shore is a composer who knows his way around the blood wars of mythic figures, given that he also scored a little franchise called Lord of the Rings to Oscar-winning effect. Here it’s all about horror icons of vampires and werewolves, even if their antics have been watered down for tweeners. And the climactic battle of a new vamp brat pack against Teams Edward and Jacob have a symphonic heroism that wouldn’t be out of place in a Rings prequel. Top that off with Shore transforming his love theme into a catchy Metric song, and you’ve got a nicely emotional Twilight score that’s very much in tune with what has musically come before, while creating its own sense of excitement. It’s his musical gravitas that adds further respect to the series. It’s another link in the chain of fresh, melodic blood — one that continues to push Twilight’s music into its own appealing twilight zone in the realm of horror that has its own romantic, virginal swoon. And thanks to Shore, the sinister bite is still there.

Daniel Schweiger: How did you get the job to score Eclipse?

Howard Shore: I just got a call about doing it. When I saw Eclipse, I thought it was a good story, and I had enjoyed the other two movies, which I thought Carter Burwell and Alexandre Desplat had done a very good job scoring. I thought it would be interesting to write a third part because the story expands so much in Eclipse, and that gives your music a lot to work dramatically with. That made this score particularly fun to create. It’s like a relay race. Carter had passed the baton to Alexander. Now I’ve got it, and I hope I’ve created music that breathes life to the series and will take viewers into the final part of the story.

DS: You definitely can hear the musical continuity in all the scores so far, but do you think it’s a good thing that a different person scored each film, as opposed to one composer doing the whole thing?

HS: I think it can be successful. Obviously, I’ve worked on a trilogy where I wrote and orchestrated all the music. Eclipse is different because each composer has expanded the dramatic arc of the story. We’ve all gone deeper into it and have created new dramatic pieces for the characters and their relationships. In Eclipse, the Jacob Black story has quite a lot of focus that I was able to work with. And Bella’s relationship with Edward is different. All of them have life or death decisions to make, which gives the music a nice emotional scope.

DS: Eclipse is certainly the biggest score that David Slade has had for one of his films, and certainly a very different vampire score from the brilliantly insane one that Brian Reitzell did for Slade’s 30 Days of Night…

HS: David is a terrific director, especially because he’s very detailed in his approach. He knows how music should be used to drive the story and express the characters’ feelings. It was a good collaboration.

DS: The “youth” sound of electric guitars and tribal percussion have been part of the past Twilight scores. Was it a given that you’d use them here?

HS: No, it wasn’t a given, but I did consciously want to have continuity with the music of the other two films because it lets you know how characters have developed.

DS: Could you tell us about the interesting, rhythmic, electronic textures you’ve incorporated into your score?

HS: This score is mostly recorded live at Abbey Road Studios in London. So what you’re imagining to be electronic textures are actually overtones in the room and in the volume of recording. By creating live pieces in the studio, it matches well the energy of what comes off of the screen.

DS: Tell us about your music for Team Edward and for Team Jacob.

HS: I think the focus was more on the tribal aspects of the werewolves and the vampires. The Cullens are very well represented in the story, and have a strong thematic thread that goes through the whole score for all of their discussions, planning, and conferencing where they try to figure out what their next move will be. The werewolves have their own thematic material that has to do with creation of their clan. Victoria’s newborns have their own theme that is very brutal and unrelenting. It’s visceral music with orchestra, guitars, and percussion.

DS: Tell us about your theme for Bella.

HS: The music for Bella originates from the song called “Eclipse (All Yours).” I wrote it first with Emily Haines and James Shaw of the group Metric. We recorded the song before the score, so I was able to work ideas from it into my music. That way, the melody would lead up the song. So finally, you hear this theme become Emily’s beautiful vocals. James Shaw is the guitarist. Both are fantastic musicians, and it was great to work with them.

DS: “Rosalie” is the score’s most eerily beautiful cue, especially since it’s the only time you use female vocals. How did you approach her character?

HS: I used a soprano voice as a way to relate to her past. The music is for a flashback to the life that she wanted — the one she could have had, so it’s nostalgic and has a lot of pain in it. You hear how envious she is of Bella for things that she has that Rosalie realizes she never will.

DS: The standout cue for me is “The Battle / Victoria vs. Edward.” Having written battle scenes for clashing fantasy characters in Lord of the Rings, how did you approach vampires vs. werewolves?

HS: Because the vampires and the werewolves have their own harmonic rhythmic motifs, I would just pit one musical idea against the other. It’s always fun to do because, when you finally reach the battle, you’ve established the language of the score. So you have the thematic ideas and are able to write cannons and variations. And as the battle ebbs and flows, you’re able to use the thematic ideas of how the action is evolving on screen. Peter Jackson instilled that kind of musical storytelling in me. He told me that you don’t have to illustrate so much what’s going on on the screen because you’re seeing all that. What you want to feel with the music is the emotional part — the struggle, the pain, the glory, the courage, the honor, and the sacrifice. All of those things are what you want from the “battle” music.

DS: Do you think the fan base around Twilight makes this the vampiric answer to the other great franchise you’ve scored, Lord of the Rings?

HS: J.R.R. Tolkien’s book was published in the early 1950s, so it had quite a bit of a head start on Stephanie Meyer’s series. The Lord of the Rings has some of the most complex fantasy worlds that have ever been created, and Stephanie’s world has its own structure, with characters that are beautifully constructed. I think it’s their relationships and how well Stephanie writes them that the Twilight fans respond to. The song, “Eclipse (All Yours),” that I wrote with Emily and James is very much in Bella’s voice, and I think that voice is the same as these young, young girls who are going through the same things that she’s going through in the story. It’s a contemporary story with a connection to the feelings and emotions that people are experiencing right now. Lord of the Rings was, of course, a story written about the world from five or six thousand years ago, which also has deep emotions in it. So these two series are quite different.

DS: On that note, with all that’s going on with The Hobbit, do you hope you’ll still end up scoring it?

HS: Yes, of course. It’s something I very much want to do. Peter and I have been talking about The Hobbit for many years. We’ve had some setbacks, but I hope everything gets back on track.

Howard Shore's score for 'Twilight: Eclipse' is out now on E1 Music.