Interview: Bear McCreary Talks Danny Elfman’s Influence, Weighs In on THE WALKING DEAD’s Dwindling Viewership
Josh Millican
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Last week, we began our conversation with lauded composer Bear McCreary, known for his work on shows like Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, along with recent films The Cloverfield Paradox and Happy Death Day.
Since Danny Elfman has been a constant source of influence and inspiration for Bear, and since the composer’s birthday is coming up on May 29th, he’s been a reoccurring theme throughout our conversation. In this concussion of our interview, we also discuss Bear’s appreciation of horror and his thoughts regarding The Walking Dead’s dwindling viewership (even as the show begins production on its 9th Season).
Danny Elfman
Dread Central: We’ve talked about how Danny Elfman’s sound is instantly recognizable; it’s circus-like, it’s jaunty, it’s whimsical. There’s also a Bear McCreary sound; by comparison, it’s atmospheric, it’s moody, it’s surreal. How would you describe the Bear McCreary sound, and what elements can listeners tune into in order to recognize your work without even seeing your name?
Bear McCreary: That’s a fascinating question, and I’ve got to say, Josh: I’m utterly unqualified to answer. You’re more qualified than I am because I’m inside my brain. Even when I’m trying to reinvent myself, even when I’m trying to not sound like myself, I am myself! I make my version of whatever I’m doing. So I don’t know. I will say, I certainly hope that there’s no specific musical thing I can point to and say, “Well, you know, I always use the C minor chord in 4×4…” you know what I mean? I’m striving to not be known for using a specific bag of tricks. But I think that what I strive to do, and what Danny Elfman very frequently does, is write music with personality. That is a word that has stuck with me for just about 20 years now.
The first time I heard that word pertaining to music was when I was working with Elmer Bernstein, one of my other heroes; I was a protégé of his for a few years. When I was just out of high school, I was sitting in on his film scoring class at USC (which I wasn’t even allowed to attend). But I did the assignment, which was to score a scene from Sudden Fear, one of the films Elmer scored back in, I think it was 1952. He gave it to the class and said, “Okay everybody, write a cue.”
So I wrote this cue and I remember thinking vividly, “This feels like a Danny Elfman cue”. It had big tribal drums and low woodwinds. It reminded me of Nightbreed (one of my favorite Danny Elfman scores). And, of course, looking back on it, it was way too big and aggressive. It was steamrolling over this black and white scene from the 1950s. But Elmer smiled and he said, “This cue has a lot of personality.”
And I remember realizing I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I was just trying to make the most awesome thing I could. And as I’ve gotten into this business, as I’ve written music and listened to music that’s out there I’ve realized: Music with personality is consistently the music I enjoy; it’s the music that stands out to me. And I really picked that up from Danny Elfman. His music has so much personality we immediately identify it with him. But even his scores that don’t immediately jump out as being a Danny Elfman score still have personality and that’s an incredibly valuable thing.
DC: You’ve built a very diverse body of work, including scoring horror for The Walking Dead and dark sci-fi for the last two Cloverfield movies. How does it compare to other genres and what do you like best about scoring horror?
BM: I have a blast with horror films. To me horror isn’t even a genre—it’s a medium. Like, The Cloverfield Paradox is this epic science fiction body horror psychological thriller, and Happy Death Day is like a charming comedy, but they’re both horror films! And they allow me to explore completely different moods and textures. I think one of the things I love most about horror films is they really lean on music, perhaps more than other genres, to really help pull in the audience. It doesn’t just mean the music is bigger and louder all the time; it’s actually quite the opposite. The music needs to be expertly delivered, so when it is big and bombastic you can really scare people—which is the hardest thing to do and one of the things I love the most.
I grew up on horror movies and I think horror audiences are massively sophisticated. When people go to see a comedy, even if they’ve already seen thousands of them, they’re still going to laugh—if it’s funny. Horror audiences like me, when you’ve seen a thousand horror movies, you have to work hard to scare me. I know all the tricks, I know all the clichés, I know where the plot is going, which is why it can be fun for me because it’s a challenge.
That’s why I think movies like Get Out and, in its own way, Happy Death Day are so effective. Because even if you’ve seen a million horror films, you’re still disarmed by something in those films that’s new. And music can really be a big part of that and it’s an absolute thrill for me.
DC: Complete this sentence: “A movie I wish they’d remake so I could do the score the new version would be…”
BM: The Great Escape.
DC: Let’s dish about The Walking Dead. Of course, we know you have nothing to do with the decision-making involved in producing the show, but as someone with a stake in it, I think your insights will be interesting. Cool?
BM: Totally cool.
DC: Are you a fan of the comic books?
BM: Yes.
DC: How would you explain the show’s dwindling viewership?
BM: As a fan of the show, I think there’s a natural exhaustion that kicks in when you go beyond Season 3 of anything. I mean, name me a show where Season 8 had the highest ratings; I wonder if there’s even an example in the history of television where that’s the case. So I look at it differently; I’m like, “Hey, this show is in Season 8 and look at how many people watching it!” Think of all the shows that never made it this far. Buffy never got there; I don’t remember if The Next Generation got there, but whatever. My point is, it’s a juggernaut that’s lasted a long time and it’s continuing strong with its core demographic.
Personally, I think that since the time that the comics were written in and the era that we exist in now, the politics and national conversation has changed to the degree that it’s altered what makes The Walking Dead appealing to a lot of people. The escapist fantasy has changed. It posed the question: “Can you imagine if our country was a devastated hell-scape?” In the early 2000s until 2016, that was really an escapist fantasy; it was a fun world. I love I Am Legend. I love these kinds of stories.
DC: The idea of starting over from scratch.
BM: Exactly! But I think the ratings started to go down around the time of the election, around the time of the campaign. And I think there was really a sense of unease, no matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on. Things are just a little less known, and things that we all took for granted suddenly we’re thinking about. And then you turn on your TV and you see Negan… Now, 5 years ago when I first met this guy in the comic, I loved him because he represented this escapist fantasy. I really think that some of the viewership that has left The Walking Dead might be because, nationally, we’re more scared than we were. And it’s not as much fun to turn on the TV every Sunday and get that kind of hyper-violence.
DC: You’re saying it’s hitting too close to home these days.
BM: Exactly. You can weave politics and satire more in into fantasy and sci-fi but there needs to be a sense of detachment. As a contrary example, we did an arch on Battlestar Galactica that was, in my estimation, a very thinly-veiled allegory for the war in Iraq. It had our heroes strapping themselves in with suicide bombs, going in to blow up a police station of the occupying force. And the audience was like, “Yeah, go do that.” It really had a lot to say about what was happening, but it was buried under the surface enough that people just enjoyed it as a science fiction show. Not to mention, for most Americans, the war in Iraq is far away. So The Walking Dead hits closer to home literally and geographically. So I don’t know, but I do wonder if that has something to do with it.
DC: I never thought about it like that and I think our readers will find your input illuminating. If you’ve still got a couple minutes, we’d love to hear about what you’re working on next.
BM: I’m very excited about God of War, for Sony PlayStation. I don’t do video games very often but this one is just epic and I think it’s going to be fantastic. And I have a number of horror and science fiction films around the corner, but it’s a little early to say what they are just yet. There’s a lot of cool stuff coming up in the next year, so I’d just say stay tuned!
And please include, from me, a hearty Happy Birthday to Danny Elfman and thanks for all the years of inspiration.
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