I was thinking about who the LEAST rejected composer is. I think it might be John Williams but I am not sure.

Anyone has some ideas?

Philipp

He said something along the lines of: "No, not yet!"

I heard once, and I can't qoute a source, that someone had an album of a rejected score that Williams wrote for an '80s picture. Though it was more then likely a hoax.

Alex North, John Barry and Elmer Bernstein, three composers who, to my ears, have very distinctive styles, have all had scores rejected. I don't understand why, as you have a pretty good idea what you're going to get when you hire(d) these gentlemen...

Given the quality of what I have heard of these composers' rejected works (some had been cannibalized for concert works or other scores, and, in the case of Last Man Standing, the original recording of the rejected score was released on CD), I don't think that a score being rejected has anything to do with how good it is either.

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Originally posted by rkeaveney:
I heard once, and I can't qoute a source, that someone had an album of a rejected score that Williams wrote for an '80s picture. Though it was more then likely a hoax.

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Just wondering...
Sean

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Originally posted by OHMSS76:
Tony Thomas book of interviews with composers lists something called "Emma's War" by Williams, if I recall, from 1984 - anyone have any guesses about that, or any confirmation?

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This was an Australian film starring Lee Remick. You can read about it at:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0091008

The music is by another John Williams, and the reference in Mr. Thomas' book is sadly an error.

Mostly, score are junked for political reasons. Filmmakers discover late in the game that the movie doesn't work as well as it should and the only thing left they can change is the score. Occasionally, the film changes focus in the editing room, as when I Love Trouble evolved from a thriller into a Tracy/Hepburn wannabe. Bernstein's score got yanked in favor of a quick one by Thomas Newman that "lightened" the tone. Goldsmith's moody score for The Kid was exchanged for a more "family-friendly" score by Marc Shaiman. Of course, everyone remembers Legend. All of these scores had individual merit, but the filmmakers had to make a choice.

More rarely, there is division on who should score the film right from the start. The producers favored Bernstein's Last Man Standing but the director had his heart set on Ry Cooder. Kubrick wanted a classical needle-drop score for 2001 but the studio hoped to use Alex North. The most recent example of this would be Gangs Of New York, with Bernstein and Scorsese on one side and Miramax on the other.

Rarest of all are the real "creative differences." Most famously, Herrmann and Hitch hit the wall over Torn Curtain but this kind actual creative dispute is, I think, very infrequent.

Now that I think about it, I think Mr. Bernstein may enjoy the dubious (and unfair) distinction of being the most rejected composer, at least in recent memory. And I am really hoping he'll get the Oscar next weekend.

Burkhard Dallwitz (Supernova)
Shirley Walker (I forget the movie name)
Jerry Fielding (The Gateway)
George S. Clinton (Scary Movie)

Good or bad...Williams is very predictable in his scores, so chances are the producers are getting what they want. Same goes for Horner...

I think that's part of the reason their music can seem redundant at times--they are tasked with the writing the same type of score with the same style again, and again, an again.

The question about Korngold raises the question about Golden Age scores being rejected. No Korngold score was rejected to my knowledge--someone would have re-recorded it by now if it existed. Besides, Korngold was too busy reminding them what a god he was for them to stop bowing and shaking and even consider the idea.

If other Golden Age scores were rejected, it sure was swept under the rug. I know Alexander Tansman's score for Since You Went Away was rejected. There was talk on another topic here about Waxman writing an 'Understudy' score for Gone With The Wind. Steiner was hired as insurance on Lost Horizon in case Tiomkin couldn't cut the mustard and that's why he conducts the score.

There is in the Golden Age a lot of ghosting it seems, one name in the credits and cues written by others. Rozsa ghosted for John Greenwood on Drum and it's pretty obvious whose cues are whose. For some reason Rozsa's score for To Be or Not To Be was "rejected": actually the film has cues by Rozsa in it but the Titles and credit for the score are by another composer (who got Oscar-nominated for Best Score!!). In the liner notes to The Time Machine, Russ Garcia admits to ghosting for 'big names' that he refuses to mention.

Part of the reason why Golden Age scores might have had less total rejections is the studio system process. Directors directed, editors edited, composers composed and in many cases the film was assigned to a composer by the music dept. head and scored without the composer and director ever meeting, so whatever a composer did, as long as it satisfied the basic framework probably went. If a score wasn't working out, it's likely the composer went back to work (at 4am) on re-writing rather than getting dumped.

Professionalism and reputation were involved. To get dumped wasn't the same as today, it implied that you weren't part of the team effort, you weren't meant to score films at all, you were an outsider. I'll bet it was one-two-three strikes and you leave Hollywood. In the Herrmann documentary Raksin talks about Herrmann's Torn Curtain rejection by saying if you had a score rejected in those days it was "a big deal"!