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Thomas Newman Scoring 23rd Bond Film 'Skyfall' for Sam Mendes

by Alex Billington
January 4, 2012
Source: MI6 HQ

Always Bet On Bond. Word is that Skyfall, the 23rd Bond film currently in production, may have found its composer as well. Bond fansite MI6 HQ is reporting that Oscar nominated American composer Thomas Newman (of The Help, The Adjustment Bureau and The Debt recently) will be scoring Skyfall for director Sam Mendes and EON Productions. Mendes & Newman are regular collaborators, with a history including scoring Mendes' films American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road previously. As always, the more news I hear about Skyfall, the more excited I get. 2012 is the year he'll finally be back!

Thomas Newman is an experienced composer who's been around for a while, working with Mendes back in 1999 on American Beauty. He even scored The Shawshank Redemption and Meet Joe Black, but really rose to prominence in recent years with Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Little Children, The Good German and Brothers. In addition to working on Skyfall, he recently finished The Iron Lady and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel scores as well. The last two Bond films with Daniel Craig featured scores by David Arnold (both Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale); Arnold has worked on five Bond films since Tomorrow Never Dies. But it is obviously the director's choice in regards to who he wants to use to create the sound of his story this time.

If you're humming the original, iconic James Bond theme in your head, here's details on its origin. Monty Norman has often been credited with writing the "James Bond Theme", and has received royalties since 1962. However, for Dr. No, the song was arranged by John Barry, who went on to compose scores for 11 Bond films in total. It was David Arnold who took over from Barry and "took the essential elements of Bond and updated them for the 90s by incorporating driving rock rhythms," establishing the sound we're familiar with today. Arnold is busy as the 2012 London Olympics musical director, so Newman is stepping in instead.

Filed under Hype, Movie News, Opinions

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