Tag: Danny Elfman

“The Wolfman” Soundtrack Available Now!

In what appears to be a fortuitous glitch, Danny Elfman’s soundtrack to The Wolfman is available for purchase on iTunes, two weeks ahead of its posted February 23rd release date! (more…)

Danny Elfman’s Score WILL Be Used In The Wolfman!

Okay, everyone, you can relax! According to MovieScore Magazine, Universal has confirmed that they will not be using Paul Haslinger‘s music to score The Wolfman. In a twist that would be crazy for any other film but which seems to be par for the course on this one, Danny Elfman’s back in… or at least, his ideas are. Elfman is still too busy with Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland to return to his work on The Wolfman, but Cinemusic.net reports that a number of additional composers (including Conrad Pope) will be brought in to stitch together the material Elfman’s already recorded with another 25 – 30 minutes of music. Word is that test audiences didn’t like Haslinger’s score, which (given his history with Tangerine Dream and his work on the Underworld films) may have been a bit too bleepy-bloopy for such a gothic, old-world looking film.

So, uh, yeah!

“Wolfman” Score – Elfman Out, Haslinger In

If you haven’t already heard this from the many news sources that exploded with panic over the subject last week, let me break it to you gently: Danny Elfman will not be composing the score to The Wolfman. I know. I’m sorry. He’s really very busy composing the score to Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. It’s going to be okay, don’t worry. Here is a picture of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter you can look at while you regain your composure.

Taking Elfman’s place is Paul Haslinger, whose music you may have heard while watching Underworld, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Crank or While She Was Out.  He was also a member of Tangerine Dream, which is a qualification I dare you to denigrate. Haslinger will be recording the score in January 2010, which is cutting it pretty close to the February release, but everything else in this production has gone haywire and then (seemingly) gone right at the last moment, so why not the score?

I’ve heard some people bemoaning this change as further proof that The Wolfman will stink, but I’m actually vaguely cheered by this news. I like Danny Elfman’s work, don’t get me wrong, but I’m of the opinion that a composer’s score should blend into the film, just as an actor should become invisible in the role of a character. Elfman’s music is always appropriate but never blends… the moment I hear that jaunty-yet-morbid brass section kick in, I think well, here’s Danny Elfman again.

Danny Elfman To Score The Wolfman

Harry Knowles over at AICN reported yesterday that the score to The Wolfman will be composed by none other than Danny Elfman, whose numerous works include scores for Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and quite a few other films that have nothing to do with Tim Burton. Nothing else is known at this time, and Knowles didn’t cite any sources, but come on. It’s Harry Knowles. The guy probably knew before Elfman did. In any case, this is good news– Elfman really knows how to set the mood for a dark film like The Wolfman.