Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, singer, songwriter, and record producer. From 1976 to 1995 he was the lead singer and songwriter for the band Oingo Boingo...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth29 May 1953
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
hate stupid want
It sounds really stupid, I hate making cosmic comments like this but, I just let it do what it wants to do.
hate writing feel-good
You have to write a good score that you feel good about. At least, you're supposed to. But, if the director hates it, it ain't going to be in the movie!
american-musician brought certainly opposite
That still has to be there. And so, it's kind of an interesting question you brought up. Because, on the one hand, yeah, it'd be lovely. I certainly don't see that happening. In fact, I see the opposite happening.
complement favorite future hope love musical nightmare obscure offbeat perfect platform slightly songs stuff styles tales visuals
Like 'The Nightmare Before Christmas,' writing songs for 'Corpse Bride' was a real treat. Tim's visuals make the perfect complement for the kind of stuff I love doing most. These wonderfully fun, dark, offbeat tales are the perfect platform for me to write odd, slightly twisted, obscure styles such as my favorite musical era... 1930s jazz. I only hope we get to do more in the future
land four want
The first thing I do is lay out that melody and figure out how it has to hold here and then finish to land here, because you know in advance you're going to want the melody to catch four things in the action.
thinking differences understanding
I think that's one of the things that has always put me in kind of an odd niche. It's that all of my understanding of orchestral music is via film, not via classical music like it's supposed to be. To me it's the same, it doesn't make any difference.
halloween towns our-town
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright It's our town, everybody scream In this town of Halloween.
play work-out bars
In some types of music I'm working out all the chords one bar at a time - the whole structure, because it's about that. And there are other pieces which are really about - okay, the melody is going to start here and play through to here.
opportunity special needs
It's hard to get a film, you know, you need a very special film to be able to get that experimental. But, I would love to see that happen. I would love the opportunity to be more experimental than I am.
thinking wish doe
Most often the music does end up in the movie, and sometimes there's a point where I wish that it wasn't, just because I think the score would be more effective if there was less of it. But, again, that's not my call.
writing successful exercise
So, it becomes an exercise in futility if you write something that does not express the film as the director wishes. It's still their ball game. It's their show. I think any successful composer learns how to dance around the director's impulses.
kind theme hybrid
I took part of Alan Silvestri's theme on the original [movie], which I really liked, and I pulled it into it new theme, which became kind of a hybrid. I really enjoyed that.
song ideas body
I really look forward to revisiting this body of work which has been such a huge part of my life and bringing it to the concert stage. And the idea of performing some of Jack Skellington's songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas live for the very first time is immensely exciting.
choices undertaker
You'll never get me into a tux. Not until I'm dead and I have no choice because that's what the undertaker put me in.