Welcome to the latest episode of The Fourth Wall – an interview podcast where I attempt to break down the fourth wall of the film industry, getting a behind the scenes look through my conversations with filmmakers, actors/actresses, and other industry professionals. Today’s guest is “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Child’s Play” composer Bear McCreary.
From the age of five, Bear developed an incredible passion for film and film music which started him on the path to becoming a film composer, eventually leading him to become one of the final prodigies of Hollywood legend Elmer Bernstein. Bear’s distinct blending of traditional and modern film scoring sensibilities is what sets him apart from other composers along with his drive to innovate. You’d be hard-pressed to find another composer who’s cataloged such a wide variety of projects with such diverse instrumentation ranging from “Battlestar Galactica,” to “Outlander,” to AMC‘s “The Walking Dead,” to “10 Cloverfield Lane,” to 2018’s video game smash hit “God of War.” 2019 might be Bear’s biggest year yet given his work on “Godzilla” and “Child’s Play,” as he innovates creating new sounds and themes for two of cinema’s most beloved franchises. Perhaps the best example of this is how he revitalized Blue Oyster Cult‘s B-Side hit “Godzilla” for a new generation.
“I was nearly done writing the score, and from the minute [‘Godzilla’ director] Michael [Dougherty] hired me, I knew that I wanted to cover my favorite Blue Oyster Cult song, I knew I wanted my friend Serj Tankian [from System of a Down] to sing it, and I knew I wanted the rhythm section from Metalocoplypse to play it,” he explained. “I didn’t say any of that, but I just knew, ‘Keep that in your back pocket that’s so crazy.’ Right towards the end of the scoring, I thought, ‘this is my chance to try this.’ So, I assembled the guys and did a demo. In our last meeting, I played the last set of cues for Michael and everyone was getting up to leave, and I go, ‘Hang on guys I want to play you one more thing. I’ve got this idea for the end credits. Let’s just take a listen.’ They say okay, sit down, and I hit play on the space bar. There was a buffer of about 10 seconds, and in that gap, Michael Dougherty looks at me and goes, ‘Blue Oyster Cult?’ and I just held my breath, and then the chanting guys came in and then the guitar riff starts, and it was like, there it was. And that was it. The song from there to the final mix went through almost no distinguishable changes.”
During our conversation, we not only discussed his work on “Godzilla,” but his apprehension to taking on “Child’s Play,” his love for film as a kid, creating “The Walking Dead” theme, and much more. As always, The Fourth Wall is part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes The Discourse, Be Reel, and more –and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thanks for listening.