Composer Loves Return of the King Rough Cut

Howard Shore begins working on his third orchestral LOTR score.

April 25, 2003 - With a rough cut of The Return of the King finished, Howard Shore's part of the mammoth production begins. The Oscar-winning composer has begun studying a complete edit of the film as part of his preparation work.

The Province, one of Vancouver's daily papers, had an interview with the Canadian-born composer in which he discussed his approach to the project and his thoughts on the final Lord of the Rings film.

The fantasy trilogy has proven much more challenging for Shore than most movies. Shore is essentially scoring one long, 9-hour story, and he must use his orchestrations to tie all three films together. "You're ultimately dealing with a nine- to 10-hour film. You're creating a large musical work, a 10-hour piece, using all the Tolkien languages."

It's the unusual nature of this project that earns Shore the privilege of viewing each film nine months before its release. Right now, he's in the first stage of his creative planning. That means watching The Return of the King for hours on end, getting a sense of the film's moods and rhythms, deciding where to go with the score. "It's the beginning process because you just want to absorb it and feel something about it. Then comes the more technical process. How does the music relate to the film? What are the tempos? What are the colors?"

Once Shore has completed his planning and scoring, a 100-voice choir and the 100-piece London Philharmonic Orchestra will be waiting for him in London, England.

Shore was also eager to share his opinion on ROTK as a movie. "I can tell you that having seen The Return of the King, it is a great film. It is amazing."

And of course I can't wait for the Grey Havens.

quote:

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Originally posted by Camillu:
I know it's extremely premature, but do you think Jackson will stick with Shore for King-Kong?

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Not necessarily. Depends on the film, schedules, and such.

quote:

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Originally posted by dgoldwas:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by Camillu:
[b]I know it's extremely premature, but do you think Jackson will stick with Shore for King-Kong?<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not necessarily. Depends on the film, schedules, and such.

Dan[/B]

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Howard Shore has now confirmed to Music from the Movies that he has indeed been asked by Peter Jackson to work on King Kong!
http://www.musicfromthemovies.com

All the best,

mikael