Guillermo del Toro needs to be moved to tears to know a soundtrack is complete: “That type of director”
Music can make or break a movie, so when a filmmaker finds a composer whom they trust, it makes sense that they’d stick with them for multiple cinematic collaborations.
In fact, most directors have a go-to composer (unless you’re Quentin Tarantino, who much prefers to use pre-existing music), whether that be David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, or, perhaps most famously, Steven Spielberg and John Williams. It’s smart – music is something so personal that it’s only natural that you’d want to entrust an original score with someone who truly understands your creative process.
I mean, that video of Badalamenti explaining the process of writing ‘Laura Palmer’s Theme’ really sums up the power of a strong artistic connection between a filmmaker and a composer. He re-enacted Lynch’s excitement as he composed the iconic piece of music, emphasising how the pair came together on an emotional level.
Emotion plays a huge part in making a solid score, one that is really going to elevate every element of a film to even greater heights. Making a great soundtrack is about knowing when to indulge in a music-heavy moment and when it’s best to pull away, which is why Guillermo del Toro has returned to a certain composer three times now, because with him, he is able to experience music that moves him to tears.
Alexandre Desplat has worked with del Toro on The Shape of Water (which actually won the composer an Oscar for ‘Best Original Score’), Pinocchio, and most recently, Frankenstein, bringing the perfect blend of fantasy and eeriness to each. Every world that del Toro crafts has a dark fairytale element to it that Desplat – who has previously composed for movies as diverse as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to The Grand Budapest Hotel – seems to adapt to well.
While he is best known for his collaborations with Wes Anderson, the varied list of major Hollywood directors that Desplat has worked for, including Stephen Frears and Greta Gerwig, has only demonstrated how versatile he really is as a composer.
It seems like when he collaborates with a director multiple times, he really comes to understand what it is about them that makes them tick, and what it is that leaves him assured that he is making the perfect musical accompaniment for their work. In the case of del Toro, he knows he’s on the right track if he is left wiping his eyes.
“He’s one of these directors who is touched by music.. I’ve known very few directors that are at the session really moved to tears, just because they love music and they love music in their films. And he is… that type of director,” Desplat told Gold Derby.
It must be a great feeling to witness a director be moved to tears by your soundtrack, which is often the final piece of the puzzle that helps bring a movie together. According to del Toro, “If I don’t cry when we’re listening to it, it is not done.”
