A new Superman score was in the works long before filming began

John Williams He may be best known for his work With George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, but its subject matter Superman You could top them all. It’s a theme that has lived far beyond Williams’ involvement with the character and has become almost as big a part of him as the S on his chest. James Gunn He certainly thinks so.

“That soundtrack was one of my favorite soundtracks ever,” Superman Director James Gunn He said in a recent press conference. “When I was a kid, what I loved most about film was the music. That was the thing I took home with me more than anyone else.

So it is not surprising that At the first passage of Gunn’s interpretation The character was released, and Williams’ theme was there. Not only was this the plan from day one, but long before that.

“I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do with music,” Gunn said. “I thought about it a lot. Are we going to do something completely different? Are we going to use Williams’ idea?… I knew we were doing something that was reminiscent of the past and also looked to the future. So, it was about finding that balance.”

The balance is not just between past and future, but between John Williams and John Murphy.

“John Murphy is a composer I loved working with and he started working on the music before the script was finished,” Gunn said. “He was one of the first people I pitched the script to with Peter Safran and a couple of others, so he could start writing the music for it. I said, ‘I want to use a version of Williams’ idea, but I want to do our own version of it.'” And that’s what you hear (in the clip) Propaganda).”

Gunn then wondered how he used this new technique with Williams all the time. “What’s really amazing is how that leads to so many other pieces,” he said. “Some of it goes back to Williams’ theme, but some of it is purely John Murphy. He goes in, he comes back out, and it’s used beautifully throughout the film. John has been working almost nonstop for the last two years or so, putting the results together.”

It seems that the dream is that when he sees children Superman In July, they had the same reaction as Gunn to Richard Donner’s 1978 film: Great movie, but better music.

Superman Opens July 11.

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