From experience, I find that sometimes I tend to write about 2-3mins a day if I'm not doing anything else. Composing is just a very time consuming exercise, and it becomes more so depending on the number of instruments you're writing for and how easily the ideas are flowing.

Thats always a fun story to tell.

--Brian

Miklos Rozsa, in his later years, warned producers that "I'm slow ... I write one minute a day, and that's it." They hired him anyway: he was Miklos Rozsa!

Danny Elfman has observed that he KNOWS he can produce a certain number of minutes a day, but I forget what the figure is ... it's not more than five, more likely three. But like all of them, he's had to produce rush jobs as well. Michael Kamen had to rethink DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE and X-MEN more or less over a WEEKEND (or so the legend goes).

Goldsmith actually finished CHINATOWN in TEN days, but that had as much to do with his genuine inspiration -- he loved the film and almost immediately knew exactly what he wanted to do with it -- as with the schedule. Falls into the "happy accident" category. I've always wondered how terrible the original rejected Philip Lambro score was or wasn't.

KRULL was indeed written in about two weeks. ALIENS, a bit less. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, mentioned above, was another rush job (and Goldenthal fell back heavily on ALIEN 3 as a result, to my ear). I'm sure Horner knocked out the replacement RANSOM score in record time.

Akira Ifukube said he wrote GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1994) in TWO DAYS, which I find hard to believe, but there is a lot of repetition in that one, and a great deal less of his berserk signature time-changes (the whole thing is basically in 3/4 or 4/4). It was the first time ever, he added, that he felt so constrained for time that he needed to hire -- an orchstrator!!!!! (A practice all but unheard of in Japan!)

remember, Phantom Menace is infinitely more complex musically than almost any of those other scores listed.
Not to denegrate any of those other fine scores (certainly Chinatown is a classic), but I've heard a few composers say hard core action is infinitely easier to write, as well as those simple melodies for oboe with simple string accompaniments (everyone does those, and that's why they sometimes sound generic). That's why I imagine Goldsmith could pump out Air Force One is such a short time.

a simple look at Goldsmith reveals lots of string and/or synth ostinatos with brass punctuations in many of his scores centered around a main melody.

Hans Zimmer and Shirley Walker had a little more than a week to do a complete re-scoring of WHITE FANG (about 80 minutes of music). In the end, I think only about a fourth (maybe less) of their score was actually used (much of Basil Poledouris' beautiful score remained in the film). Zimmer didn't even get credited for it (Walker is mentioned for only one cue).

Michael Kamen is quoted in an issue of Soundtrack Magazine, that he composed and recorded his replacement score for WHAT DREAMS MAY COME in an astonishing SIX DAYS! Not sure if there is any exaggeration there, but if true this is a major accomplishment. Great score, and IIRC around 70mins. of it.

David Newman's I LOVE TROUBLE was another fast replacement score for a schizophrenic film, done in 10 days IIRC, employing probably every orchestrator in town....and Alan Silvestri is thanked in the notes to the Varese CD.

All the best,
Sean

The most important is that this movie has been the only chilean film awarded internationally for his music (Trieste Festival, 2000). For two nights of work, he won.

I have the CD soundtrack for this great film, and I really enjoy the themes that he created. If you have any chance to watch the movie or listen the score, do it.