Captain Marvel made history in a lot of different ways and it was particularly noteworthy that the movie marked the first time Marvel Studios had a female composer work on one of its films.
Pinar Toprak is no stranger to the world of superheroes after providing additional music for
Justice League and scoring two seasons of
Krypton. However, this marked Toprak's biggest project to date and it was no easy task, especially as she had to create a unique theme for the character's big screen debut.
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Pinar about
Captain Marvel and we touched on a number of subjects, including an in-depth look at the work she did on the movie, her unique audition to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and whether she would like to return to also score the eventual sequel.
It was great fun talking to Pinar and she's clearly passionate about her work, something which shines through in this interview. So, check it out below and many thanks to the composer for talking to us.
Captain Marvel is available on Digital in HD and 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere May 28, and lands on Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD™ June 11.
I wanted to kick things off by asking what the biggest challenges for you were when it came to finding a unique theme for Captain Marvel in a world with a lot of existing superhero themes?
The challenge was that I wanted to find something that was identifiable from the first two notes. Figuring out, you know, not just those two notes but how Carol Danvers going “Higher, Further, Faster” lines up with certain intervals. I just started humming that interval while I was going for a walk and trying to come up with her theme and the Captain Marvel theme now is what I recorded on my walk, unchanged, which is kind of remarkable! [Laughs]
You made history by becoming the first female composer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so how did it feel to take on that role in what has now become a $1 billion blockbuster?
It's surreal. I still feel like it's not real and someone is going to say, 'Hey, wake up, you're making all of this stuff up!' [Laughs] It's a huge honour, truly, to be part of this film from the start to how it's been received right now is just incredible. I have no words.
There's a lot of secrecy surrounding Marvel Studios movies so how hard did you find it to keep what you were seeing to yourself and to presumably not even be able to tell family and friends about what you were working on?
That was honestly harder than writing the score! [Laughs] It's very challenging. You can't talk to anyone and Marvel comes to the studio, changes the internet settings, and put a camera where we're working, so the security is insane. When the film was released, I was finally so happy saying, 'Thank God, now I can talk about it!' It's a big responsibility as there's so much at stake and everyone takes it very seriously.
You just mentioned Krypton but you obviously worked on Justice League as well, so how would you compare the process of working on a character like Wonder Woman to Captain Marvel?
The projects were very different; Captain Marvel was my material, so I was the composer and it was my music and my theme which led to a different way of approaching the material. With Justice League, it was a Danny Elfman score, and he's so wonderful, and my mission was to stay true to his writing style and what his wishes were for the score.
It must have been quite an experience for you to work on an iconic group of DC characters and then to have one of Marvel's biggest characters solely in your hands shortly after, though?
It's incredible. Such a huge honour, absolutely.
Going back to Captain Marvel, how does the inclusion of those 90s songs have an impact on the work that you do, if any?
To be honest, not a whole lot because a lot of time, the songs don't get chosen until the very last minute. I have an idea of what songs they're thinking of and where they're going to be – and I knew they would all have a 90s vibe – but it doesn't really matter because by the time they're added much, much later in the process, the score has already taken shape.
Do you look at those scenes, such as the one with No Doubt, and wish you could have worked on them and added your own take?
Not really because sometimes we go back and forth as there will be some scenes we tried to score first and then we decide a song is going to be better. It's all about the best storytelling tool and there's never an ego with these things like, 'I wish I wrote that!' It's more about what you're trying to say because if the film does what you want it to say, it doesn't really matter whether it's achieved by a song or score as it's always about telling a story and moving that along the best you can.
Did you look at any 90s movies, in particular, for inspiration for how Captain Marvel would sound?
I didn't have a whole lot of time to rewatch things but some of my favourite scores for the 90s I did look back on for some kind of inspiration just to get into the mood for it. For example, Lethal Weapon. We really wanted to get that 90s cop action vibe in some of the scenes with Fury like with the train chase scene so it was just to put us in the mood and it was fun to revisit those and the 90s setting was a great element to be part of.
I know you said you can't have any ego with a job like this but what was it like for you to see Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame and in the hands of another composer? Is that difficult for you?
For me, it's a huge, huge honour to know that Alan Silvestri worked my theme into Endgame. I am such a huge fan of his and was a pretty surreal moment to just sit and watch those moments with my theme. For me, I take it as an honour, it's never a negative thing and it's all positive for me.
Looking back at Captain Marvel, do you have a favourite scene that you particularly enjoyed writing music for?
I have two for different reasons. One is the scene where she keeps getting up. I think that's such a powerful sequence that's beautifully done and for personal reasons, I love the song named “Breaking Free” where she breaks free and goes to Earth. That was the first scene I auditioned with so it will always have a special place in my heart.
You've mentioned in previous interviews that you hired a sizeable orchestra for your audition, so can you talk more about what that was like and why you felt it was necessary to handle it that way?
I hired a 70 piece orchestra and a lot of time with auditions, we write the music on the computer or hire musicians and then send an MP3 and hope for the best. With this one, knowing it's a big film, and yes, I've worked on big budget films before but nothing of this magnitude, I wanted them to feel safe or safer knowing I could handle an orchestra. I wanted them to also see how badly I wanted this and the best way to do that was to hire an orchestra and conduct it so I hired a media crew to shoot the whole thing and I didn't tell anyone what it was for. The pieces were called “Demo 1,” “Demo 2,” and so on and people were saying to me that these must be some big demos. I then did a video in my studio where I talked to the camera and it was like an actor's style audition in some ways as I talked about Captain Marvel and what I thought about the character, my approach, and I even played a simplified version of the theme on the piano as I wanted them to see me play as well. It was important for me as I knew I wasn't going to be in a room with them at that stage and I wanted to make as big an impact as possible. And I figured that even if I didn't get hired, I wanted them to remember my audition. I'm so grateful it worked out.
We've talked about Captain Marvel but which other projects have you worked on in your career that you most enjoyed composing music for?
There are many. The TV show that I'm part of, Krypton, I love writing for that show, the team, and everybody involved. We've just finished our second season which I believe starts airing in June and that's always really exciting to work on because they let me loose and it's really fun. Then, on a very different side of things, I scored The Wind Garden and Tides of Fate and they're both sailing documentaries and I loved writing for both of those films very much. They're very orchestral and very different to the comic book themes I've written lately. They're close to my heart. I also did the Disney/Pixar short Purl which involved jazz and I have a jazz background so that was so much fun to let loose on with a big band. I've been blessed to work in different genres and it's hard to pick one as I like working lots of different styles as it helps my musical ADHD, I guess! [Laughs]
Finally, I wanted to ask whether you'd like to return for a Captain Marvel sequel and if there are any other characters you would like to write music for across the entire MCU?
Absolutely, yeah! As far as other characters, after some time has passed, I'm still living the high of Captain Marvel right now but it's such an incredible universe to be part of, so absolutely.