Through four films in the Pixar canon, composer Thomas Newman has delighted audiences with sonic landscapes that have accompanied pivotal moments in animation history. Most recently, the Finding Nemo composer reunited with the studio to provide the score for Elemental, a love story for the ages. Coincidentally, Newman’s work on this latest effort drew some parallels to another Pixar classic, 2008’s Wall-E, and it’s all thanks to the joys of rewriting the score of both films to accentuate some beautiful songs.
As I had the incredible honor to speak with Thomas Newman for a press day involving Elemental, my research turned to the production notes for both that film, as well as Wall-E. In both cases, I noticed that the maestro who’s scored everything from The Shawshank Redemption to Skyfall cited his collaboration with songwriters as being a vital ingredient to going back and reworking some material.
Speaking with CinemaBlend about his process, Thomas Newman reflected on revising his own work, and it’s a prospect that delights him for a very specific reason. In particular, the joys of rewriting are the following:
You do go back and kind of retrofit, because the more you know I think, the more you can go back and say, ‘Wow. Even though I wrote something in Reel 2, now that I have something in Reel 5, let’s swap it out.’ [You] share that with the director, and it’s a yes or a no. If it’s a yes, you know it’s going to improve the movie. … It’s a joy when that happens. Sometimes when you’re asked to rewrite things, there’s a part of you that can get, not resentful but to get desperate. In some of that rewriting a lot of doors open, and it could make things a lot simpler. I think rewriting often is the right thing to do.
What Mr. Newman is saying here makes a lot of sense, and perfectly encapsulates the artistic handoff between past and future efforts. On one hand, that music in Reel 2 may have been pretty inspired and could have worked just as well on its own. But if later down the line, there’s an idea that sparks something greater from Reel 5, it’s hard to say no.
In the case of both Pixar projects mentioned, hindsight brought things into focus that Thomas Newman saw only after things had progressed. That brings us to the first case of revitalization through revision, which is fitting considering that Elemental’s recent box office rebound seems to be changing minds in its own way.
How ‘Steal The Show’ Helped Thomas Newman Rescore Elemental
As we dug into Lauv’s “Steal The Show” from Elemental, Thomas Newman was careful to tiptoe around any spoilers for the story of Ember (Leah Lewis) and Wade (Mamadou Athie). The element-crossed lovers of director Peter Sohn’s film are bound by this musical offering, especially thanks to Newman’s revising of the film’s score to include the featured song more organically.
Much as the story of Elemental changed to exclude a previously planned villain, the process of fluctuating decisions also benefitted the musical score that resulted. Those rewrites led to the composer sharing these further notes with CinemaBlend:
Well there’s a scene near the end … where Ember is bemoaning the fate of their relationship, where we were able to kind of reprise that tune, and it was just lovely. Again, I’m a composer that is reactive, insofar as I’ll write something, put it up against the image, and just ask my ears as honestly as possible, ‘Do I like this, and why?’ It was no different with the song that Lauv and I did together. ‘What’s good about it, and how can I exploit it?,’ because the tune was so beautiful. I figured I couldn’t really use it ahead of where it appears in the movie, but that we could kind of respond to it in the scenes that follow, as they’re kind of getting to like each other more.
You can certainly hear the influence of “Steal The Show” in sections of Elemental’s overall score. Just as any good musical body is supposed to, you can hear that melody flirting with the contents of cues like “Bubble Date” and “Beach Glass,” which accompany crucial moments of Ember and Wade’s courtship. By the time the closing credits kick in, and Lauv's song plays over some adorably Pixar animation, everything comes full circle.
If I were to describe Thomas Newman’s musical style, I’d sum it up in two words: “ethereally driven.” Through his choices in instrumentation and style, the music for his Pixar work especially knows how to dance between the intense focus of grand set-pieces and important emotional events, as well as the grander wide view of characters taking in their environment.
Which naturally leads to the story of how Wall-E saw some of its most iconic moments touched up after Thomas Newman had collaborated with fellow music icon Peter Gabriel. And once again, the hypothetical Reel 5/Reel 2 dynamic worked exceedingly well.
The Two Wall-E Scenes Thomas Newman Reworked To Include ‘Down To Earth’
Leaning on that metaphor of reels a little more, it's time to shift back a couple reels to 2008 and discuss one of the best sci-fi movies ever. While the collaboration process on Wall-E is similar in scope to how Maestro Newman worked with Lauv on “Steal The Show,” it isn’t just a case of doing the same thing with the same result.
This story does start with a piece of music; in this case, the Peter Gabriel song “Down To Earth,” changing the game for the composer’s second Pixar film. But as he described the revision process in scoring director Andrew Stanton’s sci-fi masterpiece, Thomas Newman shared two scenes in particular that changed in their musical content.
As you can see below, one of those revisions wasn't merely to heighten the romance, as the character of EVE benefitted from this next piece of process:
The two scenes I went back and kind of adapted that song was when we first see Eve. When Eve lands on the planet, and then flies around for the first time in this kind of whimsical way. As much as she can kill, she has a sense of innate joy in her. And then when the two of them dance, the ‘Define Dancing’ scene. Both of those come from, and were co-written with Peter Gabriel. Adapted by me, but certainly co-written, in those two scenes. And I was saying, ‘Wow. Now that we have this, what about this here?’
Having listened to the Wall-E score quite frequently in the 15 years since it was released, “Define Dancing” qualifies as one of my favorite tracks from that specific body of work. Hewing more towards the “ethereal” part of Thomas Newman’s “ethereally driven” aesthetic, the moment when Wall-E and Eve dance together in space is heightened by the sort of futuristic digital waltz they have to move to.
You really have to listen to “Define Dancing,” if only to just be reminded of how beautiful it sounds. So if you’re so inclined, take a moment and let that melody take you over with the video below:
To think that this song may have been wildly different, or not exist at all, without “Down To Earth’s” contribution to Wall-E’s score is kind of scary. And if you really want to tie it all together, listen to the cue “EVE” with those two songs and think of how much of an impact this Academy Award-nominated song really had on Thomas’ work.
Ultimately, it comes down to that important question Thomas Newman faced when reworking Elemental’s score: ‘Do I like this, and why?’ Experimentation and an open mind can lead to great things in any art form, and in the twin cases I discussed with this Academy Award-nominated composer, that openness led to musical magic that can be enjoyed by everyone for years to come.
Elemental is still showing in theaters, and I highly recommend catching it on the big screen while you can. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for Wall-E, you can currently stream that film with a Disney+ subscription. Unsurprisingly, if you happen to miss Elemental in its theatrical run, that’s the very place you’ll be able to stream it once it comes home. Think of it as more knowledge from Reel 5 that makes Reel 2 all the easier to enjoy.
