The name Danny Elfman will certainly sound familiar to anybody. It may just be that his name is attached to your childhood obsessions (The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Simpsons), pop culture during your teenage or young adult years (Avengers: Age of Ultron) following you into adulthood through a multitude of iconic melodies via his prolific film work and astounding rock musicianship. The distinctive auteur sound that formed from the first rock-infused notes in 1979 through to the grand orchestration of present-day has instilled a sense of pure wonder and awe through generations of music fans and film-goers.
Elfman began performing at age 19, forming the band Oingo Boingo shortly after as frontman and songwriter. The group joined forces for the movie Forbidden Zone, then they went on to record 8 studio albums over the following 14 years. As mentioned in an interview with Metal Injection, he was heavily inspired by bands such as XTC to form the group and draws interesting parallels with the performance anxiety he shares with XTC’s frontman Andy Partridge. Elfman similarly had to cease the touring band lifestyle to regain some privacy and psychological well-being. However, it was during his time with the band that a now-legendary cinematic pairing first met...
Tim Burton was 27 when his feature-length directorial debut Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was released. As a fan of Oingo Boingo, Burton and star Paul Reubens approached Elfman to consider creating the score for the movie. Although he approached the project with hesitance due to a lack of formal training in film composition, Elfman naturally knocked it out of the park, and history was made. His partnership with Burton is the stuff of legend, producing the beautiful soundscapes for projects varying from Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory to name a few. The Burton-produced The Nightmare Before Christmas, featuring the astounding Elfman musical score and songs, has become one of the most well-regarded musicals of all time and has spawned a hugely successful long-running stage show with Elfman and his orchestra playing alongside a screening of the movie.
Elfman's work with Burton is undoubtedly the composer's most recognizable. However, with 132 film composer credits to Elfman’s name today, it’s safe to say that he is highly regarded as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after artists to give directors' visions his unique sonic style. This is just the tip of the iceberg when listening through Elfman’s impressive back catalog. You can catch Elfman’s most recent work in Marvel’s latest cinematic outing Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on May 6.
Let’s delve into just some non-Burton projects that Elfman composed that may catch you by surprise!
Darkman (1990)
Fresh off the back of Batman, Elfman dived straight into composing the storyline of another brooding masked vigilante. A brilliantly dark and visually striking superhero movie, you know from the prologue that this is the guy who composed the Dark Knight’s cinematic outing the year before. The 1989 classic helped to get darker superhero flicks distributed more easily and the fact that Elfman provided the score for both movies here makes him a massive part of this epic movement. We feel completely engrossed in the existential crisis of the protagonist, just as we feel Elfman similarly entranced by the subject through his music. In "Love Theme," you can hear splashes of the achingly romantic mood conveyed in Edward Scissorhands which Elfman went to work on the year after. His playful carnivalesque side comes out beautifully in the aptly named "Carnival From Hell." Marking the first collaboration between himself and director Sam Raimi, you can absolutely see Darkman as the blueprint for their work on Spider-Man over a decade later.
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Based on the novel byStephen King and holding disturbing themes that the author is well known for, this was the perfect material for Elfman to immerse himself in. The composer reacted passionately to director Taylor Hackford’s vision and created nearly two hours of gorgeous music despite the production complications. The haunting melancholy mood constructed through the score during the prologue and main titles submerges the audience in the engaging murder mystery. The impact of the track "Ouch!" during a particularly shocking sequence leaves you gobsmacked. The mother-daughter relationship explored in the movie is made all the more dramatic via the orchestral music accompanying the twists and turns. As the narrative reveals its devastating conclusion, the piano theme intensifies… joined by the strings, then offering a release from the tension that has built throughout the runtime.
Men In Black (1997)
Getting to sharpen his teeth on nostalgic science fiction soundscapes with Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! the year before, getting the gig on Men In Black brought back fond memories for Elfman. As discussed in an interview with EW, he became involved in the project through a chance encounter with Vincent D’Onofrio who plays the antagonistic bug Edgar in the movie. After watching some of the movie’s finale being filmed in-studio, Elfman was really taken by how fun it looked and how it was being made in the style of a classic sci-fi tale… he was offered the job instantly! Elfman’s incredible knack for establishing the world during the main titles of a movie is absolutely present here, producing another iconic theme. The scary otherworldliness of the aliens at times and emotional narrative pinpoints are greatly enhanced again by the music here.
Spider-Man (2002)
“He’s really the soul of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, through his music.” Sam Raimi reveals here exactly why he’s returned to collaborate with Elfman multiple times and how integral his music is to the stories they accompany. The themes for each character are so distinctive; the playful flute of Peter’s first web and honking brass notes of his first tentative wall climb show Elfman’s inventiveness on display. The goosebumps felt by every audience member the first time hearing Goblin’s approach to wreak havoc in the parade scene to Spidey’s farewell swing in the final scene are undeniable.
Hulk (2003)
The genius of Elfman’s theme work for Ang Lee’s film adaptation of the big green guy is just how much it highlights the tragic sadness of Bruce Banner’s past. The main titles instantly convey the mixture of psychological study and action epic that the movie is. The Hulk’s broiling anger is explored in-depth but is highlighted by his sensitivity underneath, which is a viewpoint greatly enhanced by the phenomenal flute choir theme. The use of Middle-Eastern instrumentation is something we had not heard Elfman use before and is a great example of him taking visual metaphors from the source material (such as the desert in this case) and adapting it to his own style for the character’s benefit. Considering the fact that Elfman stepped into the project late after the original composer Mychael Danna left, it’s all the more impressive how much of an impact the score makes.
Wanted (2008)
Incredibly entertaining and visually extravagant, Timur Bekmambetov’s Wanted is an intoxicating ride from start to finish. A huge component is naturally the soundtrack which includes hard-rocking single "The Little Things" from Elfman, alongside his score. His vocalization on the track alongside the pulsing bassline, shredding guitar, and pounding drums remind viewers of his origins as band frontman. The first time it is heard in the movie is alongside central character Wesley’s breakdown and consequently becomes a highly therapeutic song to counteract the audience’s own hardships in life.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
The collaboration between Elfman and one of cinema’s most artistically driven creatives Guillermo Del Toro was overdue and thankfully became a reality with the director’s epic superhero sequel. The filmmakers focused heavily on further expressing the fairytale quality of the anti-hero’s story in this chapter which Elfman excels at conveying while also creating highly underrated action themes through percussion and orchestra work. With delightfully unexpected science-fiction style cues through tracks such as "Teleplasty" and the darkly delicious "Where Fairies Dwell," this is one of Elfman’s most overlooked works.
Taking Woodstock (2009)
Elfman’s second film with director Ang Lee was massively different from the summer blockbuster they worked on beforehand. A comedy-drama biopic focusing on the organization of the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969, Taking Woodstock is perhaps the most understandably overlooked in Elfman’s filmography. The film itself contains hardly any of his original score and the balancing act of original music and the music of the era depicted tips considerably in favor of the latter. However, despite it not being one of his most well-known pieces, there is a lot of joy to be had when listening to the score separately, and you can feel how satisfying it must have felt to record the psychedelic guitar work. This is a great example of listening to his work separate from watching the movie, as the sound conveys emotion just as powerfully (if not even more so) than the image.
The Wolfman (2010)
With the notorious production hell that the Universal Monster’s return to the silver screen went under, it’s a miracle it ever ended up seeing the light of the full moon. As expressed in a previous Collider interview, Elfman was attracted to the project through his love of monsters and nostalgia for the character. He goes on to explain the troubled nature of the production but how much the final director (Joe Johnston) supported his hard work throughout the hectic schedule. "… A lot of people in that position would have just rolled over and said, okay give me rock and roll, you know, instead of orchestra… He just never let up. So, he's a good guy. Very difficult project but some of them are." The outcome is a score that captures the creeping unease of a werewolf stalking you in the night and the tragic romance of the doomed characters the story explores.
The Circle (2017)
In projects such as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Terminator: Salvation, you can hear Elfman’s use of digitized methods in a couple of tracks to give the scene in question an even stranger feel. In James Pondsoldt’s film adaptation of the book The Circle, Elfman gets to explore these methods even further to accommodate the movie’s statement on modern technology and social media. The creative minds seem to work well together as this is their second feature after The End of the Tour, which had a similar method of musical approach. The ability to use different methods to reflect the themes and/or characters within an individual movie while sticking to his unique style is a huge reason for Elfman’s success.
Justice League (2017)
The highly anticipated but problematic release of Justice League’s initial theatrical cut was made even more exciting by the announcement of Elfman providing the music and returning to provide a brand-new theme for a certain DC character… The haunting melody of "Batman on the Roof" is an extremely satisfying return to the subject material from the composer, with a throwback to the ‘89 classic being joyously present in "Then There Were Three." As stated in an interview with DC All Access, he addresses the challenge of incorporating the already classic themes from DC’s past (such as John Williams’ Superman theme) and twisting them into his own distinctive melodies.
