I say this often to other people, but it’s always nice when you hear about these long-lasting friendships in the industry because, though Hollywood has gained a reputation for being cutthroat, the truth is there are a lot of great partnerships and friendships that bloom in the crew. Now, I believe My Dinner with Hervé is your first HBO project. What’s the biggest difference between scoring for basic cable versus premium cable? For you as a composer, have you found that it’s changed things like having extra money in the budget or more time?
Well, the great thing about HBO is that, if anybody is all about storytelling, it’s them. Len Amato, who’s the head of HBO films, was a great person to have involved in the process, as was Evyen Klean, HBO’s music executive. The budget permitted me to compose for a decent-sized string section. I worked on the film probably for about six months.
On that particular movie, part of the music budget went towards recording a new version of “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” The Verve song. Sacha was using the song in the rough cut, and it worked really well. But acquiring a license to use the original version posed some issues. So we in fact remade it: we recorded the strings, the vocals, the rhythm section, I played guitars and keyboards, we made a completely new version of it. And there was enough money in the budget to do all of that and record the score with a great string section.
So, I guess one of the things that’s lovely about that is that you have the tools you need at your disposal, and they’re not shut out by budgetary considerations. That’s not to say that the budgets are huge, but there is a sense that, to tell these stories properly, these are the tools we need and we’re going to get them. And I think that helps elevate the quality of the work and the quality of the storytelling in the final analysis.
I’m glad to hear that it provided several new avenues for you and Mr. Gervasi to explore, while also keeping true to the story you wanted to tell.
And the other thing that’s so great about it is…my experience working with them was that they were fantastically supportive of us as creators and artists. Len Amato and the HBO crew were hugely supportive. Evyen Klean, who is HBO’s music executive, was fantastically supportive of Sacha and I. And I actually spoke to Evyen about it the other day, and I said “it’s so strange, when you get to the level of working with these people, it’s just so great. Does it get greater the further up you go?” And he said “yes,” because for them the concern is just about telling good stories.
I definitely think that should be the motto for every filmmaker and producer who aspires to work in this industry: it makes things more streamlined and stress-free. So, I just have to ask, even though My Dinner with Hervé is about the eponymous actor’s final days, was there any temptation to include a musical homage to Fantasy Island on your part? Or were you focused entirely on the mood of Mr. Hervé’s mindset at the end of his life?
Well, that’s a really great question. The question did come up, and because we’re obviously telling Hervé’s story, you see the part of his life where he’s a big star on Fantasy Island. And as the composer in the early stages I’m examining all the possibilities, and one of the possibilities was should there be an echo of that somewhere musically in the score? And that presented a number of further questions, one of which was is it even possible to do that on a legal basis, and would it require further clearance and all of that kind of thing. But all of that became unnecessary to consider in the end because it wasn’t the direction that Sacha wanted to go, and I believe rightly so.
What he wanted, instead, was a score that spoke of Hervé and Danny Tate’s internal conditions. And so, therefore, in terms of the score itself, there was no musical tribute to Fantasy Island. Having said that, when people watch the film, they will see that the Fantasy Island element of Hervé’s life is not under-served in the movie. It’s not at all.
So yes, it came up, and it was decided that we not go down that route, and I think that was the right choice. Sacha wanted a really original score, and I was delighted with that choice.
That decision makes sense. And when you brought up the legal aspect, I was reminded of my film school days where I had a film professor who told me how complicated sound and music licensing can be. So it’s good that Mr. Gervasi ultimately went a route that was more freeing for you.
I will tell you this, though. When we go to Fantasy Island in the film, and we have the opening sequence, the actual version of the opening sequence that was available had very poor sound on it. And so, one of the tasks that came my way, as well as the score, was whether I could do anything to sweeten it. And the harmony for that Fantasy Island theme tune is extremely complex, and took a moment to figure out, but I did in fact sweeten it for the film so that we could make it rich and warm and full of satisfactory (removed) harmonic warmth.
And I definitely hope that Fantasy Island fans will be able to catch it. My last question, sir, is something I like to ask every composer, and that is what are three pieces of music that have had the greatest influence on you as a composer? They can be a film score, a band album, anything.
Red, does it have to be only three? I found it really difficult to whittle it down to three [laughs]. Can I have four?
[laughs] Yeah, absolutely.
To start with, Ennio Morricone’s score for Once Upon a Time in America. That was the thing that made me think “why I am wasting my time in a band? That’s what I want to do.” I love the film: the film is essentially about someone who’s not a very nice person doing not very nice things. And the score gives this huge romantic, sympathetic, epic sweep to it so that we don’t even see him in that light. He becomes this sort of hero, and the fact that music could do that was very impressive to me, and kind of intoxicating. So that’s number one.
I’m going to have to say, if I’m really honest, Massive Attack, both “Protection” and the Mad Professor dub tracks that they did called “No Protection”, which is Mad Professor remixing protection. Hugely influential record for me in terms of the sonics and the simplicity of the production, the spatial nature of the mixing, and just the dark emotions that really appeared in a couple of records.
And then, if I’ve got two more, first Thomas Tallis’s “If Ye Love Me,” which is a motet from the 16th century, and then Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians,” which was a well-known but revolutionary moment in music and it marked, for me, the beginning of the move away from serialism and atonalism into something where tonal music could regain prominence in an innovative fashion. And for that, I’m extremely grateful it happened by the time I was born. So that’s my answer to that [laughs].
No, those are all terrific choices. It’s kind of funny, because I was inspired to ask this question after I saw an interview Hans Zimmer did where he was asked the same inquiry, and the number one score he kept insisting he loved above all else was Once Upon a Time in America by Ennio Morricone.
Oh really?
Yeah, so it really just shows how influential it was, and how great Mr. Morricone is as a whole. But thank you, Mr. Norland, for taking the time out of your day to speak with me. This has been very enlightening to learn about how music goes into the news media, and just how music works in general.
You are so welcome! I appreciate the opportunity Red.
Flickering Myth would like to thank Mr. Norland for sitting down with us. My Dinner with Hervé is available to watch on HBO.
Special thanks to Impact24 PR for making this interview possible.
Red Stewart
