Excert from
INDEX MAGAZINE's 2002 interview with
Mark Mothersbaugh interviewed by Andy Spade
MARK: Whenever I work with Wes Anderson I end up writing enough music for two or three movies, so I always have lots left over.ANDY: You've scored all three of his films. How do you two work together?
MARK: Wes is the most hands-on of all the directors I've met, across every area of his films. He sat in the studio with me while I scored The Royal Tenenbaums, and when he wasn't with me, he was designing the poster for the movie. He and his brother did the drawings for the set decoration for the film. He's pretty meticulous.ANDY: The music in his films is always an integral part of his vision. I'm thinking of Creation in Rushmore or Elliott Smith in The Royal Tenenbaums.
MARK: A lot of it has to do with the fact that he is his own man, and has control over his movies. Wes takes his projects to the studio, as opposed to a lot of directors who are hired by the studios and can never separate themselves from the bean counters who usually end up having a tremendous impact on the movie that you see in theaters.ANDY: Do you start writing the music early on in the process?
MARK: When I came on board Wes's first movie, Bottle Rocket, everything had already been finished except for the score. For Rushmore, I sent Wes musical sketches as soon as he sent me a script. I sent him music for Tenenbaums based on discussions we'd had about French Impressionist music, which he was listening to during the shooting and editing.ANDY: Are you working on his next film?
MARK: Wes just told me some of his ideas and asked me to do some musical sketches. I was starting to work on it and I said, "Can you send me a script?" He said, "I'd love to as soon as I get something written." He's now pretty close to having a draft done, but we've already been exchanging music and musical ideas. We're talking about going to Europe for this one, so I might set up shop over there for a while.ANDY: It sounds like the music is important to him from the beginning.
MARK: Wes is very interested in the music-making process. Some people say they are, and then they really aren't. They've just directed this movie and they're like, "Oh my god, I want to think about something else, here's a directive, I'm leaving."
 | Currently listening:
Bottle Rocket
By Mark Mothersbaugh
Release date: 14 January, 1997 |
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