Henry Jackman is perhaps most known among the CBM Community for scoring comic book movies such as X-Men: First Class, Kick Ass, and G.I.Joe: Retaliation, but he also known for animated movies like Puss ‘N’ Boots, Wreck-It Ralph, and Monsters vs. Aliens, but now Captain America: The Winter Soldier is added to his giant list, which is currently getting amazing reviews from critics and fans alike. The composer recently discusses the process of scoring the movie, working with the Russo Bros., and what he thinks about the buzz surrounding the movie.
Regarding the movie’s reviews, Jackman says “I’m not surprised there’s a great buzz about the film. I feel like I got super lucky. I mean Marvel superhero films are consistently super entertaining and well-made anyway, just as a baseline. I’d argue…maybe I’m not objective because I worked on this one, but I’d say this one is unusually good. They’ve combined everything you expect to get, that’s entertaining from a superhero Marvel film, but I would argue they’ve pushed the Marvel franchise into new hitherto unexplored and thoughtful/thought-provoking and interesting areas. I’m not making this out as some sort of high-brow art movie or something, it’s still jam-packed with action, it’s visually spectacular, it’s visually entertaining, but it also has some really interesting, credible political themes to it.”
The Winter Soldier composer goes on to discuss the story and Steve Roger’s challenge of fitting into our world, and his very own challenge of handling the score for his scenes and making everything sound good musically. “When you’re dealing with people who have a consistent vision about the film and they’re articulate, and they trust you creatively, it’s actually really valuable. I think I was talking to them maybe a year before I started writing while I was working on other themes. I had read the script. Straight off the bat we had a conversation about how we all know Captain America’s origins as a Sentinel of Liberty and an All-America hero. That legacy is still there, and it’s obviously the atmosphere of the first film. The political environment of that kind of film is Captain America dispatching the Nazis. It’s morally unambiguous. They were keen to talk straightaway how in their film Captain America is now marooned in 2014, he’s a fish out of water, he doesn’t even know what the internet is, he’s questioning the motives and the operations of the U.S. government. Musically this has a knock-on effect. The music is not going to be a fully traditional, nostalgic, historical, symphonic score. It’s going to need the pedigree of the symphony orchestra because you have the history and the origin of Captain America, but he’s kind of trapped in a dangerous political thriller where he doesn’t know who he can trust.”
He was also asked if he looked at other movie scores for inspiration, similar to how a movie director would watch movies to prepare. He said “Not specifically, no. We had a lot of conversations. [The Russo Brothers] love a lot of 70s movies and a lot of grown-up, intelligent thrillers and political thrillers. You can’t reach too much literally into that musical genre because you’d end up in a slightly ironic self-referential place if you go there.” Finally, he was asked if he had any interest in returning to score the sequel. His response: “Are you kidding? Absolutely!” Marvel doesn’t seem to really call their composers back for a second movie. A few composers have been brought back, like Brian Tyler and Alan Silvestri, but Marvel is usually looking for new talent. Do you think Marvel will ask Henry Jackman to come back to score Captain America 3, or any other Marvel movie? Do you even like his Winter Soldier score? Sound off below!
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” picks up where “Marvel’s The Avengers” left off, as Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C. Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Georges St-Pierre, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp and Maximiliano Hernández with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is directed by the team of Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing the film. Executive producers on the project include Alan Fine, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo and Stan Lee. The creative production team on the film includes director of photography Trent Opaloch, production designer Peter Wenham, editors Jeffrey Ford, A.C.E. and Mary Jo Markey, A.C.E. and three time Oscar®-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is set for release on April 4, 2014. In addition to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on other iconic Marvel characters including “Iron Man 3” on May 3, 2013; “Thor: The Dark World ” on November 8, 2013; “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014; “Marvel's The Avengers” sequel on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on November 6, 2015!
CAST:
Chris Evans as Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow
Anthony Mackie as Falcon
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Emily VanCamp as Agent 13
Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
Robert Redford as Agent Alexander Pierce