James and the Giant Peach

[Anonymous]

I know I already asked about the ED WOOD thing, but why didn’t Danny do the music for JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH? Was Disney in more control and wanted Randy Newman? Was this Henry Selick’s big break and he wanted Newman instead? Was Danny acting a bit… distant, from Tim? Anyone know?

[Anonymous]

First, yes; Danny and Tim were still feuding when JAMES was gearing up. Second, I think that Henry Selnick just wanted to go in a different direction with the JAMES music anyway. I read somewhere that initially he wanted Lyle Lovett to do the songs for the movie! They wound up with Randy Newman — a one stop shop for both songs and score — and honestly, I really like what he came up with. The songs have more of a “ra-ra” Broadway sound to them (which I’m not so wild about), but the underscore, the second of five animated scores that Newman has done to date (and the only non-Pixar one), is really good. There is a lot of imagination and momentum in there, and although it can be more of a “challenging” listen than NIGHTMARE, it’s totally worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was simple because Danny was just too busy. Didn’t he do 6 scores that year?

[Anonymous]

Well, he did four scores in 1996 (five if you count FREEWAY), but keep in mind that the songs would had to have been written by the time the film started production (93 / 94ish). If Elfman was to be involved, he would have contributed songs back then, and he did not.

[Anonymous]

“…keep in mind that the songs would had to have been written by the time the film started production (93 / 94ish) …”

I didn’t think about that.

If only they had cleared up their feud sooner, that movie would have been something spacial.

[Anonymous]

As a fan of the book, I didn’t like the movie. I don’t think even Danny’s presence would have helped.

If I’m rich and famous soon enough, I plan to do a re-make, and I’ll see what Mr. Elfman says.

[Author]

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