Speaking to Collider, as part of the site’s new interview series designed to keep fans connected to filmmakers during the COVID-19 outbreak, Giacchino discussed how creating the music for The Batman was akin to the way new artists and writers feel when taking over a Batman comic.
“I felt total freedom to do whatever I want,” Giacchino said. “Matt [Reeves] always agreed, this is our Batman, this is our vision. In the same way that I always loved, what I still do about Batman comics and graphic novels, is that each of these artists, each of these authors they take their own crack at what they want this to be. It’s their version of Batman.”
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“I love it when I see a graphic novel of Batman in the 1800s,” he added. “To me that is cool. I love that. I’m not the kind of person that says Batman must always be this. It’s like ‘no, why?’ It can be whatever the artist wants to be and it has over the years done that, many times over. I love the idea of taking something and just kind of doing our version of it.”
Over the years, Batman’s movie score has been composed by the likes of Elliot Goldenthal (Batman Forever), Hans Zimmer (The Dark Knight Trilogy), and, of course, Danny Elfman (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman: The Animated Series).
The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz, began filming in the U.K. at the end of January. The film’s take on the Batmobile has many influences, from the comics to the original TV series.
For more on the new movie, here’s everything we know so far about The Batman. Then check out IGN’s ranking of all the movie Batsuits and our pick for the best movie Batman.
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Look no further than Jonny Greenwood’s masterful score to There Will Be Blood to help you focus when working from home. The sporadic, staccato stabbing of strings will inject a new found sense of urgency in you as deadlines approach. There’s also the enchanting nature of the score’s opener “Wide Open Spaces” that drives the dialogue-less nature of the film’s opening 15 minutes, if you need something a little more low-key to fuel concentration. Either way, this score is the perfect way to oil those gears in your mind and unblock that pipeline of procrastination.
If you’re in need of some music to truly motivate, look no further than Ludwig Göransson’s bicep-swelling score to Ryan Coogler’s potent, pugilistic crowd-pleaser Creed. While it’s true that there are many memorable riffs here on original Rocky composer Bill Conti’s existing, iconic refrains, Göransson has done a masterful job bringing the unmistakable sounds of Rocky into the modern world. The Creed score’s delicate moments will calm even the most frayed of nerves and its big, chest-thumping arrangements will have you bouncing off the walls like ring ropes. Need to get something done around the house? This will power you through it in half the time. “You’re a Creed” and the inventively-titled “End Credits” are standouts, but the heavy-hitter is “If I Fight, You Fight” – four minutes and 54 seconds of musical muscle powder that’ll have you air-punching all your problems away.
Daniel Lopatin’s score for Uncut Gems matches the ebb and flow of the film’s breakneck pace. The ethereal, anxious, and cathartic track list complements Howard’s descent into depravity and irrevocable change. Lopatin’s score channeled a marriage between Disasterpeace’s Fez and It Follows scores while melding it with the booming choirs and childlike echoes found in Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s work in Akira. Lopatin somehow managed to capture the existential dread that underlines the entirety of Uncut Gems, reminding us how small a role humanity plays in the universal scheme of things. Or it’s just really cool and chill. You decide.
Like the movie itself, The Martian’s original soundtrack conveys the feeling of being isolated and alone, while often sprinkling in the tones of hopefulness. Tracks like “Making Water” give that gleefulness astronaut Mark Watney feels when he’s creating water for the first time on a foreign planet. “Messages from Hermes” invokes that perfect blend of hopefulness and despair as the crew from the Hermes learns that Watney was left behind on a desolate planet. And finally, “Crossing Mars” is the perfect mix of feeling both lonely while uplifted as Watney leaves the (relative) safety of his Martian HAB and makes the months-long journey to the other side of Mars. Those were just some of the highlights of this amazing soundtrack. Hopefully in these weird times, music like this can help you power through the tougher moments.
The perpetual tick-tocking of Hans Zimmer’s Dunkirk score is exactly what you need to be blasting out when your home has become a bit too dusty. Looking to get everything tidied within an hour? Perfect. Dunkirk clocks in at a handy 59 minutes and will propel you to new speeds of cleaning before bathing in the majesty of “Home” as you sit on your dust-free sofa and take in your achievements. Music was meant for moments like these.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for David Fincher’s The Social Network is nearly pitch perfect. It not only fit the tone of the film perfectly, but it uplifted the whole picture beyond what was written on the page, or what was shown on screen. Right from the beginning, as Mark Zuckerberg runs home through Harvard Square, the score is deliberately off-key from the diegetic sound of the busker playing violin. As an audience member it’s unsettling in a way that is only able to be accomplished by a great score, and you know you’re in for something special.
Ramin Djawadi is a musical genius. Hearing his music makes me miss playing in my high school symphonic band. While trying to pick between whether I wanted to listen to the Game of Thrones soundtrack or Westworld soundtrack while editing video, I realized that Djawadi, the composer for both shows, has his playlist on Spotify that I can enjoy. He has scored a lot of popular movies and television shows such as Game of Thrones, Westworld, Pacific Rim, A Wrinkle in Time, Iron Man, Warcraft. Honestly, this list can go on.
Black Dynamite is the pitch-perfect 2009 Blacksploitation parody/homage from Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White. The original soundtrack by Adrian Younge (Luke Cage, Ghostface Killah, etc) is an equally spot-on recreation of classic tracks by the likes of Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Ennio Morricone and many more. If you’re stuck at home, the numbing effect of isolation is probably starting to set in before the first week is even over. As ridiculous as it may sound, I can practically guarantee you that this album, which is supposedly the backing track of a comedy film, will actually make you feel something.
