Elfman grew up in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills of Los Angeles, where he was known as 'the whitest white kid'.[1] He spent much of his time in the local theatre, adoring the music of such idols as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman. After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Rick to France, where he played his violin on the street and later teamed up with his big brother to perform with Le Grand Magic Circus, an avant-garde musical theatrical group.
After living for a while in France, Elfman moved on to a new setting: Africa. He traveled through Ghana, Mali and Upper Volta, learning about many different styles of music and also how to play different instruments. One such musical style he learned of was called Highlife, which was a great influence on him in years to come. He caught malaria during his one-year stay and was often sick. During this period he often failed to communicate with his friends and relations in America. Eventually Elfman returned home to the US, where his brother Rick was forming a new musical theater group called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The group was to provide the music for his first feature-film, Forbidden Zone. Elfman agreed to compose the score for the film, and also acted in the role of Satan. By the time the movie was completed, The Mystic Knights had shortened their name to Oingo Boingo, and begun touring the country and releasing albums along the way.
Danny Elfman and Tim Burton
In 1985, Elfman met director Tim Burton, who, as a student, had gone to clubs to see Oingo Boingo and was delighted to have him come on board to write the score for his first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Elfman's lack of formal musical training was cause for a little apprehension on his part, but he has described the first time he heard his music played by a full orchestra as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. From that moment on, he was "hooked" on film scoring. Elfman has spoken of the affinity he developed right away with Burton, and indeed he has gone on to score all but two of his films. To date these include:
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - in which he also sang as the lead character's singing voice (Jack Skellington) as well as a supporting roles (Barrel, one of Oogie Boogie's three henchmen, and The Clown with the Tearaway Face).
Corpse Bride (2005) - lends his voice acting talents again for Bonejangles.
Burton has said of Elfman: "We don't even have to talk about the music. We don't even have to intellectualize – which is good for both of us, we're both similar that way. We're very lucky to connect" (Breskin, 1997).
Selected Filmography
In addition to his work with Tim Burton, Elfman has written scores for dozens of other films including:
In the Rodney Dangerfield vehicle Back To School (1986), Elfman makes a cameo appearance as himself with his band Oingo Boingo performing their song "Dead Man's Party" at Thornton Melon's dorm party.
Elfman conceived the iconic score for Batman (1989) on a plane, as he was returning from the London set. In a 2006 interview with KCRW's The Business (8:08 into the track), he explained that he could hear the score in his head as clearly as if it was in the cinema, and being concerned the plane's arrival music would erase the memory, he kept visiting the toilet to hum the arrangement into a tape recorder. Although the subsequent recording was dominated by the jet noise, he was nevertheless able, after enough playbacks, to reconstruct the Batman score.
In November 2003 Elfman wed Bridget Fonda in Los Angeles' First Congregational Church. They first met on the set of the 1998 film A Simple Plan. They have one son, Oliver, born in January 2005.
Although Christopher Young scored the film, Elfman has a brief cameo in Sam Raimi's The Gift as a backwoods fiddler in a dream sequence.
Elfman and Hans Zimmer have scored for movies in the same franchises, Batman and the Hannibal Lecter series. Elfman composed Red Dragon and Zimmer composed Hannibal, and for Batman Elfman composed Batman and Batman Returns, while Zimmer composed for Batman Begins. Elfman has also done the main theme for The Simpsons, while Zimmer will compose music for The Simpsons Movie, the film based on the series. Elfman also composed the score for 1996's Mission: Impossible film adaptation while Zimmer composed the score for its 2000 sequel, Mission: Impossible II.
Elfman is the uncle (through marriage) of actress Jenna Elfman.
Elfman's work has not only been demonstrated on film and TV. He also contributed the main theme music for the video game Fable and a standalone symphonic work, "Serenada Schizophrana."
In the Simpsons episode, Smart and Smarter, Simon Cowell comments on him (in the end credits), "Yes, but what's he done lately?"
In December 2006, the song "What's this?" from "Nightmare Before Christmas" was covered by artists Michael Franti, Gabriel Rios and Flip Kowlier. This collaboration came to be because of a charity-event by Belgium radio station Studio Brussel and Dutch radio station 3FM. The single could be bought at a low price, and the entire profit was donated to the Red Cross to support their campaign for the victims of landmines, under the motto "Music for Life".
Elfman’s film scores can be described at times as dark and brooding, other times as lush and romantic, other times still as wild and manic, reflecting the many composers and styles which have influenced him over the years.
He recalls that the first time he became aware of film music was in his youth during a screening of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951). The music was by Bernard Herrmann, and that, he has said, was where his love of film music began (Russell and Young, 2000). The most obvious and self-consciously Herrmann-esque influence can be heard in his music for the sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks!.
Rather than merely emulate these musical influences, however, he has combined aspects of them all with his unique brand of wit and grandeur and managed to create a recognizable style all of his own, in the process producing a body of work as distinctive as any of his film composer contemporaries.
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