Danny Elfman is one of the most prolific film scorers in cinema today. His resume ranges from the quirky collaborations with Tim Burton to superhero epics like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man or Avengers: Age of Ultron, while some people recognize him for writing the music to fan-favorite musical The Nightmare Before Christmas. For us Batfans, we recognize him for scoring Tim Burton’s Batman, which for many of us was our first memory of Batman. That theme eventually went on to open Batman: The Animated Series and therefore inspire the beautiful music of that series as well.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, the non-news for today is that in an interview with Elfman by New York Post, Elfman revealed that scoring that film was not a good experience for him.
When asked about which soundtrack was the hardest to compose, Elfman responded:
Batman was very stressful — almost nervous-breakdown stressful. All I had done up to then was quirky comedies. Nobody but Tim wanted me on the movie. I really had to prove myself. There was a desire to have me collaborate with Prince [who wrote additional music for the film], but I was not open to that.
I wish he had elaborated just a bit more on it, but I suppose it’s all just history at this point. His Batman theme will forever be associated with that character and it showcased his versatility as a film composer, opening the doors for him to work on many other genres from there on out.
In case you forgot how the theme went, here’s a reminder.
The song still gives me chills. Thanks for enduring, Mr. Elfman.
