Keeping Score

An orchestral musical score for a movie may be one of its key ingredients...but you'd never know it. Thanks to today's Hollywood trend of slapping on a few popular songs, the score usually gets buried in favor of promoting the big names and selling a "Music From And Inspired By" CD. While I recognize the the value of the "song" album, I also believe, the score deserves a little more attention than it normally gets.

To that end...and since the score for 1978's Superman - The Movie remains an all time favorite of mine...

Dan Goldwasser of Soundtrack.net has posted an excellent article about his exclusive visit to the scoring sessions for John Ottman's eagerly awaited score to Superman Returns. The article features many photos, and a full description of what went on behind the scenes, including visits from stars Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, and director Bryan Singer.

Here are a few excerpts:

During one of the bigger days, the original prologue and main titles were recorded. At the time, it was planned to be basically a re-creation of the original opening from the 1978 film, with the curtain opening, comic book intro, and then flying through space as the John Williams march played. (Things have changed now, and a new prologue will be recorded instead.)

It was during that time that director Bryan Singer showed up to the scoring session with lead actor Brandon Routh (Clark Kent/Superman) and Sam Huntington (Jimmy Olsen). Routh, who had played trumpet for years, was invited by the brass section to show a bit of his skills. (pictured [above]) In the end, he didn't play on the score, but was kind enough to pose for photos with Ottman, Singer, and the trumpet players.

Overall, things ran pretty smoothly during the sessions. There are about two hours of score in the film, and most of it was recorded in the two weeks scheduled. Thoughtfully, Ottman invited John Williams to visit the sessions, however due to the Juilliard Centennial celebration, he was unable to attend - but appreciated the offer. Two choir sessions were held at Warner Brothers. Led by Bobbi Page, the first was a mixed choir of sixty voices, and the second was an eight-member boys choir.

The sixty-voice choir led by Bobbi Page

Article Photography by Dan Goldwasser and Todd Black

The complete article can be found here...

It's a shame that John Williams had a prior commitment and couldn't come by for that visit...

The movie's companion "song" CD, Sound of Superman, hits stores soon...

Meanwhile, the "score" CD, for Superman Returns hits shelves on June 27th.