If luminaries like Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, John Barry and John Williams embody an older, perhaps “classic” generation of film music, Danny Elfman, along with Stewart Copeland, Mark Mothersbaugh and others heralded the arrival of composers who began their career as pop and rock artists before transitioning into the work for which they have become best known – film scores. Elfman, born on May 29, was a member of the band Oingo Boingo for over 20 years, but began composing film music in the late 1970s before making his breakthrough with the score to his brother’s film “Forbidden Zone,” and three years later, the first of dozens of partnerships with Tim Burton on “Pee-wee’s Big Adventures.” In honor of Elfman’s birthday, we’re taking a look back at just a handful of the film and television projects that not only earned him acclaim, but cemented his status as one of the most beloved and recognizable composers in modern music.
Warner Bros.
“Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) – Searching for the sound of Paul Reubens’ whimsical road trip to recover a stolen bicycle, Elfman borrows from Nino Rota’s scores for “8 ½” and “The Clowns,” creating an indelible calling card that would establish him as one of Hollywood’s most idiosyncratic and instantly-recognizable composers.
Warner Bros.
“Beetlejuice” (1988) – Elfman’s next outing with Burton would not only become equally famous but helped establish the sound that defined much of his work for the next few years — gothic, mischievous music driven by propulsive, low-end brass and embellished by soaring choral arrangements.
Warner Bros.
“Batman” (1989) – Effectively setting a musical template for superhero movies that would help reintroduce them to audiences, Elfman won his first and only Grammy cribbing the main theme from Burton’s film from a few notes of Gottfried Huppertz’ “Die Nibelungen” for what remains one of the most identifiable superhero themes outside John Williams’ for “Superman.”
20th Century Fox
“The Simpsons” (1989) – Elfman made a detour into television with this, possibly one of the most famous themes in the medium’s history. Though Alf Clausen skillfully expanded it for the series, Elfman’s music dug in like an earworm, establishing the tone of the show for decades to come.
20th Century Fox
“Edward Scissorhands” (1990) – Burton and Elfman had become a bygone conclusion by 1990, when they teamed up for this Christmas-themed gothic romance that indulged the filmmaker’s outsider impulses for what became yet another signature work for both artists.
Walt Disney Studios
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) – Elfman worked triple duty as composer, songwriter and singer in this future Hot Topic favorite, providing the singing voice of its misguided hero Jack Skellington and proving his instincts as a performer in his own right were still as sharp as ever.
Miramax
“Good Will Hunting” (1997) – Elfman won his second Oscar nomination with this delicate, guitar-driven score for Gus Van Sant’s film about a troubled prodigy and his relationship with a scruffy therapist. Merging his sound with singer-songwriter Eliot Smith’s, Elfman broke new ground in his filmography and showcased his evolving versatility.
Sony Pictures
“Spider-Man” (2002) – Elfman again helped define a new era of superhero movie music with this distinctive and memorable score for Sam Raimi’s film. Raimi shares in common with Burton a unique, idiosyncratic personality as a filmmaker, which undoubtedly made him and Elfman great collaborators.
Sony Pictures
“Big Fish” (2003) – Burton’s then-most-mature film to date challenged Elfman to create something that combined the magic of the filmmaker’s earlier work with more somber and grounded tones, and he pulled it off, earning Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for his work.
Focus Features
“Milk” (2008) – Another Van Sant collaboration, another nomination: Elfman once again complemented the filmmaker’s thoughtful, sensitive work with a score that communicated the drive and humanity of their real-life protagonist, nabbing Oscar and Grammy nods in the process.
Warner Bros.
“Justice League” (2017) – After more than 25 years as a composer, Elfman is so prolific that it’s hard to top himself, or to do something he hadn’t before. For Zack Snyder’s team-up film, Elfman beautifully combines music from his own repertoire (the ‘89s “Batman”) with work from other contemporary superhero films and an homage to Williams’ iconic ’78 “Superman” music for an irresistible mix tape of heroic themes.
His family told told the Associated Press that he “passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side.” The actor was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, but continued to work, appearing in 2012’s “The Bourne Legacy” and “Skyfall.”
Finney’s career spanned six decades, with a mix of stage, film, and TV credits. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His first film role came in 1960’s “The Entertainer” with Laurence Olivier. He earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor playing the title role in 1963’s “Tom Jones” (which won Best Picture).
Finney was also nominated as a Best Actor for 1974’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” 1983’s “The Dresser,” and “1984’s “Under the Volcano.” He received a Best Supporting Actor nod for 2000’s “Erin Brockovich,” starring opposite Julia Roberts.
The actor also won a Golden Globe, Emmy, and BAFTA for portraying Winston Churchill in the 2002 TV movie “The Gathering Storm.”
Finney is survived by his third wife, Penelope Delmage, and a son, veteran camera operator Simon Finney.
Way back in 2017 we visited the set of Tim Burton‘s live action remake of the beloved Walt Disney animated classic “Dumbo.” Now, what we saw there and what we did must remain, for now, under a circus tent of secrecy, but we can say that we were lucky enough to talk to Danny DeVito, a fairly regular Burton collaborator who in the new movie plays Max Medici, a smalltime circus owner who cares for the very special young elephant born into his care … Dumbo. Since I’m pretty sure the scene we saw DeVito shooting was towards the end of the movie, we’ll just rundown everything else DeVito told us while on the London set of the absolutely gorgeous-looking reimagining of “Dumbo.”
1. It’s The Completion of the Burton/DeVito “Circus Trilogy”
Keep in mind that this is the third time DeVito has played a circus ringleader (of one form or another) for Burton — first in “Batman Returns” and then in “Big Fish.” (DeVito also appeared, fleetingly, in Burton’s underrated disaster movie send-up “Mars Attacks!”) In fact, DeVito admitted that it was the completion of a trilogy and that was how Burton pitched the character to him. “When he called, he said, ‘We’ve got to complete the circus trilogy.’” DeVito, who admitted to being a “big fan” of the original film, went on: “I would do anything to be in a movie with him.” Although, after a beat, he guessed that the next project he and Burton collaborate on will have to be “really weird.”
2. His Character Exemplifies the Differences Between the Original and the Remake
When someone asked if Burton gave him any specific character notes that stood out, DeVito went on a fairly detailed about how his character typifies the differences between the original and this updated version. “Medici, my character, or if you’re from England you say Medici, or from New Jersey, probably, but I call it Medici,” DeVito began by saying. (The Medici are a powerful Italian family that date back to the 15th century.) DeVito continued: “The thing is that he has a big pressure in the beginning to keep the circus afoot, alive, because it was a very, very tough time. It was 1919. And contrary to what it was in the movie, where the mouse gives the head of the circus all the ideas, this is kind of like life itself, in a kind of a modern world puts us in a spot, where for some reason, we’re having a very difficult time getting people in the seats.” Of course, things change. “We get a windfall when I buy Mrs. Jumbo,” DeVito said. “So to try to answer your question, it’s more of a guy who’s under a lot of pressure and makes a couple of decisions during the movie that are kind of like, obvious for a guy whose back is up against the wall. But then, thank goodness everything works out okay.” Hey, it is a Disney movie, after all.
3. Burton Hasn’t Changed At All
Someone asked whether nor not Burton has changed since DeVito began working with him, and DeVito paused and said “not a bit.” “I’ll get emotional thinking about how much I care about him,” DeVito said. “Always spirited, always an artist, always thinking about the craft, always just painting with his mind.” DeVito then told a story about first meeting Burton for the role of The Penguin in “Batman Returns.” “He had a painting of circus stripes, red and white, just beautiful, just a big canvas,” DeVito explained. “And on a circus ball was this creature. And there was a caption that said, My name is Jimmy, but they call me the hideous penguin boy.” DeVito then did some quick fire remembrances, saying that he was “in Vegas for four nights” for his role in “Mars Attacks” (“What’s about about that? You know what I mean?”) He also said that Burton has a cameo in DeVito’s “Hoffa,” which was very much news to me. “People didn’t know that in the beginning, when he was in the coffin, so it’s really a cool moment,” DeVito said. Most touchingly, he said that, with Burton, “it’s always the same.” “It feels like we don’t see each other for a really long time, and then you just pick up,” the actor explained, in the most heartwarming way possible.
4. He Was Glad to Reunite With Keaton, Too
“Dumbo” also sees Burton reuniting with another high profile past collaborator: Michael Keaton, who starred in “Beetlejuice” and, of course, two Batman outings for Burton. Keaton plays V.A. Vandervere, a kind of evil Walt Disney type who has a futuristic theme park called Dreamland (as well as villainous designs on our favorite flying pachyderm). When the team-up was brought up, DeVito laughed, saying, “He was playing the good guy in that movie. I’m the good guy in this movie. So it’s a little bit of an evolution here.”
5. DeVito’s Relationship with ‘Dumbo’ Is Longer Than an Elephant’s Trunk
At one point, DeVito described his “very emotional” connection to the original animated Disney classic. He suspects that he first saw the movie on television and then he showed his children, 30+ years ago. “I just watched it again, of course, before we started,” DeVito said. He solidified his fandom by describing a deleted scene he had watched on the Blu-ray. “They took it out because it was really dark, because what it was was Timothy explaining to people why elephants are afraid of mice. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but you should check it out,” DeVito suggested. The sequence, dubbed “A Mouse’s Tale” in the original draft of the screenplay, has Timothy outlining how, in prehistoric times (“There was no circuses and no big building and no automobiles”), elephants were smaller than mice, and they would hang tiny elephants on a string and wear them as necklaces. It’s one of the few story elements that was actually removed from the svelte narrative. DeVito’s conclusion? “Disney was really whacked, man. You know?”
6. There Is A Nude Scene (!)
When DeVito said that there was “no difference” between his character in “Dumbo” and his character in “Big Fish,” he said, “I do have a nude scene.” He quickly pointed out, though, that, “You don’t see it. But in ‘Big Fish’ I get up and you got to see my tush.” But even the possibility of nudity was a draw for DeVito. “[Burton] told me, he said, ‘There’s a scene in a bathtub.’ I said, ‘I’m in, baby.’” It’s here that we pause and remind everyone that “Dumbo” is, of course, a family film.
Disney
7. Filming Without Actual Elephants Was Tough
DeVito admitted that working with computer-generated creatures was something that he’d “never done before,” and that aspect was “cool.” “We have a couple of people with green suits with these big aluminum outlines of how big an elephant would be, with eyes,” DeVito said. One of his favorite things was a mechanism that was trotted out when the elephants were supposed to be exiting the side of a boxcar. So how’d they pull it off? “Oh there’s a guy with a big rig coming down the ramp and the ramp has got a hydraulic thingy that like, pulls it down. Man, it was deep. I thought that was the coolest thing.” He also said that when they were filming sequences with Dumbo and his mother, “one of the elephants was purple and one of the elephants was green,” the actor guesses, because, “when they wind up drawing it, you know how you separate, they separate the colors.” Later, he talked about a scene where he shows the other characters Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo’s mother. “She’s not there,” DeVito said. “And then, the special effects people do things like they have little filaments that move the hay. And it’s really cool, to watch all of that.” The technical complexity, with the visual effects people having to shoot multiple plates, added to the workload. “So you do the scene like, they shoot the scene like at least four or five times over again,” DeVito said, before joking, ” And then people don’t remember their lines and added, makes it 10 or 12 times.” Zing!
8. For DeVito, ‘Dumbo’ Has a Fairly Deep Message
Sure, “Dumbo” is a lavish, big budget live-action remake of a beloved animated classic, the kind of thing that Disney has gotten very good at over the past few years. But for DeVito, it’s much more than that. “Well, I think it’s a very positive, hopeful, almost never give up kind of thing. There’s that kind of theme. I mean, I think that in life, you see all of the different things that infiltrate the good things in life,” DeVito explained. “And things that surprise you come out of nowhere, like when you think you’re making a move with somebody, maybe somebody’s duplicitous or whatever. And I think in terms of a younger person or an older person looking at it, I mean, by now, you guys must’ve learned this lesson already, I hope, but the idea is that you can’t always believe what somebody tells you. And sometimes, it messes up all of your dreams and your hopes and dreams. But if you all stick together, possibly you can get out of it and there’ll be a happy ending. And dreams do come true.” Sounds like a message we could really use these days.
“Dumbo” flies into theaters everywhere on March 29.
