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Wanna hear Gabriel Yared's awesome rejected TROY score'
Ahoy, squirts. Quint here with a link to the original TROY score. There has been some considerable interest in hearing this score, especially since people have seen the movie and felt let down by James Horner's work. I liked what Horner did in the film (with the exception of the post-Trojan horse attack within the walls of TROY...), but I must admit that Yared (COLD MOUNTAIN, TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and the awesomely titled THE LOST SEAMAN) created some amazing work... Especially the APPROACH OF THE GREEKS track... Hopefully, WB will show Yared some respect and give him his own (isolated?) track on the DVD? Heh! Who am I kidding? Since when has Warner Bros shown respect to anything or anybody?
I'm not expecting this to be 'published' so I'll skip to the skinny.
I'm sending it anyway in the hopes that it will be, because this
betrayal by Peterson and the studio solely because of a test audience
really hit me in the gut. Below is a link to Yared's essay on how and
why his score was rejected, and while he is too kind to say it
outright, how and why he was betrayed by the director, the studio, and
by the replacement composer, Horner, who should know better (isn't
there some informal code of conduct for when scores are rejected like
this?). Also at the link are some dozen or so thankfully long
excerpts from Yared's score, which he calls his best ever.CLICK IT HERE... YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID!!!
I was really looking forward to Troy, and I love Peterson's work, and
sometimes even Horner's. But I for one will not be seeing this
movie. Shame on them. As always in these situations of rejected
scores, which happen far too frequently (but never too my knowledge
because of what a couple of test screening audience people said), the
studio owns the material, so Yared's self-professed 2 hour 'favorite
soundtrack ever' will never see the light of day.
p.s. AICN, Harry, Moriarity, Quint, and co. You guys rule the world! Fuck the angry, jealous talkbackers.
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Why they didn't use this score over the terrible one in the movie is anyone's guess.
Stupid fucking white people. -
Troy's score is BY FAR the worst score ever in a film. James Horner should never get another job in the music industry and WB should rescore the film and rerelease the film. Troy sucked for many reasons other than the score, but having Gabriel Yared's score, which, hearing now, is wonderful, would improve the film 1000%. Horner's crap only had three tracks... "mean sounding drums", "90's MIDI craptastic battle music", and "tone-deaf tart wails". The score didn't fit the movie AT ALL, didn't fit the time period, and didn't fit the scope. I will hope and pray they release on the DVD an alternate score, as it would be the only reason I would currently consider buying the DVD.
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This guy is one of the best in the biz, and has been for a while. His material is much different than the run of the mill scores we see in Hollywood. He received a very-deserved Oscar for The English Patient (a great mix of epic grandeur and the more delicate Arabic-influenced pieces), and did a great job in Talented Mr. Ripley blending the use of classical and jazz elements. There's a great doc on the Ripley DVD about how the two types of music were used as point/counterpoint between the conservative Ripley character and Jude Law's "jazzier" Dickie Greenleaf. Also, his little Bach-esque piano piece in Cold Mountain practically made the film, and was better than the entire scores of almost every other film last year. Howard Shore did great work, but there's nothing from ROTK that plays over and over in my head like Yared's work does. He should have won last year, and if there wasn't such a ridiculous backlash against Miramax (again!), the awards might have been more evenly and fairly spread out.
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Maybe one day we'll see a DVD release, similar to the Legend DVD release, that will have a disc of Yared's score and one of Horner's score.
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You think they'll ever release it like they did with Alex North's rejected score for Kubrick's 2001?
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Troy was a load of shit, and so was Horner's fucking 'one-minute-I'm-Gladiator-next-minute-I'm Star-Wars' score! But hell, it was great to see Orlando Bloom get the shit kicked out of him by Menelaus.
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All very true points about Yared. This score kicks the ass on ass!
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Thanks for the link, but you're not seeing 'Troy' because they changed the score? Don't you think that's a little bit insane! James Horner's score isn't great, but it's okay. Just a mish-mash of every action score he's done over the last 20 years. Hardly a reason to NOT see a film.
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May 17, 2004 4:25:26 AM CDT
wow, i THOUGHT that was a truly bad score, but i figured i was n
by microwavable?
Although, during the film this weekend I noticed an EXTREMELY odd cue right when the beach invasion starts picking up. It was this shrill choir "EEEEHHH AHHHHH AH AH EEEEEHHHHH AHHHHH AH AH" on repeat that just grated the ears. I know not all scores are supposed to sound BEAUTIFUL - but the intended effect was totally lost. I kid you not, about a half dozen people in front of me turned and grimaced to one another as the cue repeated about 7 times at that scene. I don't think Wolfgang Peterson is a genius by any stretch, but nothing points to HIM making the ultimate decision on this. Most likely, a nervous executive saw the test screening results and breathed fire at Peterson about the change. I read last week that he said he was getting pressured about the movie making back its hefty $200 million budget. Props to James Horner for putting something out so fast (some mobsters probably put cement shoes on him while he wrote), but this still bites. Not that the rejected score would have SAVED the crappy flick, though.
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It's hard to believe that WB canned this score based on the ridiculous opinions of a focus group. This score would've completely altered 'TROY' - it would've given it a heart where there is none. That is what Zimmer's music did for Gladiator.
I guess the studio hired james Horner because he can bash out a score at the last minute in record time ( he did the score for 'Aliens' in a matter of weeks)
WB, YOU ARE FUCKING IDIOTS!!!
You have just scrapped a fantastic score by Yared ! 'Troy' has suffered because of it - the hurried score as composed by Horner, is a mish mash of all the scores we've heard before - yet it still fucking sucks!
My condolences to Yared. -
The movie looked somehow so... puffy... like a big CGI Joe Don Baker. I was driving to see it yesterday afternoon and then thought, do I really want to see a big puffy Hollywood cheese epic with Brad Pitt as Achilles? That sounds like a film "The Critic" would be reviewing. So then I went and rented "The Hills Have Eyes" 2-disk and all was right with the world. And now hearing this awesome score the morons in charge fucked over, I'm glad I didn't see Troy, and I won't. Fuck Troy.
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His score has everything Horner's lacks, including heart and drama. It doesn't sound like Wolfgang Petersen is to blame - not if he was applauding the score for months as it came together. As for boycotting the film, who are you punishing? A film is a collaborate effort, and unless you had no interest in the film in the first place, why not go to make up your own mind about the contributions of all the other artists? People built sets, made costumes, choreographed fights, gave (in some cases) wonderful performances, wrote lines (some moving, some trite and awful), and none of them had a vote on the composer. And WB won't know if your missing ticket is because you hate the music - or just don't like epics. See the movie, listen to Yared's score, and THEN be vocal about your problem with the switch, but complain to the right people. Disappointed as I am in the substitution of composers (and I wrote Yared to praise his version), I still think "Troy" was a better than average epic, if not up to "Lawrence of Arabia" (but then, what is?). I'd have been very sorry not to have seen Eric Bana's performance (or Saffron Burrows' Andromache - she put Helen to shame with her beauty and character), or Peter O'Toole's, or the Achilles-Hector duel, or the sets and costumes, or the flaming arrows/balls (the BEST use of that technique ever). ***Note to Roger Ebert: I've read the Iliad twice, and know perfactly well what SHOULD happen, but since the film departed so far from the original story, I actually was surprised by what happened to Patroclus - thanks to NOT reading your review in advance. Can no one stop critics from giving away key plot points to the uninitiated? Describing a key scene, and one that depends on an element of surprise, should never happen in a review. I used to work with a film critic who said he learned his lesson when he thought he was safe giving away the ending to "Romeo and Juliet" - and found out how wrong he was. Since then, he said he never gave away any part of the narrative, because there might be someone who's encountering the story for the first time and deserves to be surprised. I'm sorry for anyone who grows to adulthood not knowing whether Achilles triumphs over Hector, but not because that makes them uneducated. (I'd like to know more about quantum physics than I do). It's because they've missed out for too long on one of the most dramatic encounters of western literature. I knew what had to happen - and was still in agony.
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The idiotic rejection of Yared's score reflects the overall sense of misfire on Troy. Yared's music is poetic in a way that Troy, sadly, was not. Now I know why the movie's score sounded like a temp track. And what was with that lame song over the end credits? I definitely quickened my pace leaving the theater when I heard that.
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Horner's replacement score for Troy is woefully mismatched and ultimately detremental to an already dissapointing spectacle.
The score sounded like a mish mash of Horner's customary self-referencing, thrown together with inferior and overt 'rips' from the likes of Stargate, Gladiator and Laurence of Arabia (temp tracks?) it does the film no favours in underscoring the drama and action effectively.
I personally think it's a crime that Gabriel Yared's score was rejected and replaced with this aural turd at the eleventh hour.
Yet another example of callow marketing suits cow tie-ing to fucking bullshit focus groups and unrelaible NRG data.
Anyone who has'nt heard the film's closing song is in for a laugh (imagine the theme from Stargate being crooned by a low rent lounge singer)Truly 'Shit Sandwich' without the fucking bread. Yared's closing music is by comparison both haunting and beautiful, with a finer sensibility.
However judging by the way the script and plotting have deviated so dramatically from the Illiad and the Aenid it's no surprise the lowest common denominator mentality of corporate Hollywood prevails. Instead of a Ten Year War epic we're treated to a 'weekender' a revisionist HBO flick that will be as cinematically ephemeral as the Scorpion King.
Yared's diplomacy and good grace in not apportioning blame for Peterson's betrayal and the Studio's behaviour is admirable, but I'd hope that his hard work and commitment would be vindicated and the score petitioned to be reinstated for DVD release. -
May 18, 2004 11:38:55 AM CDT
The musical score is VERY important to most all movies. I like
by jdanielp
Just take a look at movies with with either good or bad soundtracks, ... and how different the movie may have been, otherwise. "TERMINATOR 2" is one of the first movies that come to mind that really nailed it with the soundtrack. I mean, ... how can you NOT think of the music when you visualize the film in your mind's eye??? And the work of John Williams is most always on the mark, ... though I was expecting a "JAWS" inspired score for "JURASSIC PARK", since it was described as a "Jaws on land" picture. (I even purchased the soundtrack before the movie was released, only to be disappointed.) And Danny Elfman is actually my personal favorite, ... an obviously very talented individual who can vary his style according to the needs of the picture, ... and his "BATMAN" work is a favorite of mine. -- So, on the OTHER side of spectrum, ... we have VERY BAD soundtracks ... like the music in "THE PUNISHER" film, which was probably the WORST movie music I've ever heard in my life (in conjunction with the film) ... though there was an interesting change in the "score"(if I can even call it that) at the very end. -- I could sound off on this subject all day, ... being the filmmaker wanna-be that I am. But I can say that I'd be much more interested in purchasing the "TROY" dvd if I had the option of choosing the soundtrack, ... Yared's version being one of the options.
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May 18, 2004 12:00:08 PM CDT
Oh, ...one more thing. Anyone ever notice that the James Bond m
by jdanielp
Just an observation. -- And in the past, I've wondered how MORE interesting certain "good but old movies" (with cheesy soundtracks) would be if they only had a brand new orchestrated soundtrack, ... with today's best doing the musical scores (like Danny Elfman, for instance). Maybe this is something HOLLYWOOD should consider, for dvd release. Anyone with an opinion on this???
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Nice nod to Gustav Holst's "Mars" there at the end. Rest of the score sounds pretty damn good, too! Shame it wasn't used.
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Apparently, Gabriel Yared is not only an excellent composer, but a kind gentleman with wonderful manners. A part of his response to my note: "It is really conforting to hear that my music which I have filled with love and the best of my skills is being appreciated by many. Let's hope that someday Warner Bros will decide to release a CD as they own all the rights." ***Isn't it awful that not only can they reject his music, but deny him the right to publish it on his own? A real dog in the manger attitude.... ***Even though I can think of one or two instances where I wish the score of some classic movie could be re-done, I can't imagine how you would ever get agreement on which ones warrant that treatment. (James Bond IS that music.) For many of us, the more "modern" scores suffer compared to the classics of the past, and reflect more the taste of the current generation than any subjective greatness. Who would you replace? Miklos Rozsa? I WORSHIP that guy! Franz Waxman? Elmer Bernstein? I rarely buy soundtracks any more, precisely because so few of them achieve the greatness of the scores from the '60s and '70s that were the foundation of my music library. (And a few of them I have bought have been by Horner, including "Glory" and "Braveheart"!) I'm also eagerly awaiting the complete LOTR score. If there is any trend I would absolutely kill, it's having to end every otherwise orchestral score with a pop song over the titles. And that goes double for Horner's "Troy"! What is really sad is that most of the favorable reviews on amazon cited that song as the best thing in the score.
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May 19, 2004 12:46:36 AM CDT
Oh, damn. I just listened to Yared's score ... and now I'm reall
by quiddler
I mean, sure the movie was mediocre at best, but just listtening to some of those exerpts brought TEARS to my eyes. DAMN YOU, WB! DAMN YOU FOR FOISTING THE MEDIOCRITY THAT IS JAMES HORNER UPON US YET AGAIN!
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May 19, 2004 9:10:04 AM CDT
When I mentioned "bad music" in past James Bond films, I WAS NOT
by jdanielp
I was talking about poor music within particular scenes of Bond films. The one that stands out in my mind more than any other is in, ... if I remember correctly, ... "Goldeneye". The scene I remember is when Pierce (Bond) is racing , ... forgive me, ... I'm blanking on her name(soon to become Phoenix in "X2" or "X3") ... and she's driving a red car. Anyway, I remember that being some of the worst music I've heard in a film, taking away some impact of the scene. -- And on the subject of GOOD old movies getting "much better" musical scores (with modern symphony), ... why couldn't the directors of those movies, if alive today, oversee such a thing?
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A beautiful, memorable score by Yared, the main theme gives me the shivers whenever I hear it. Beatrice Dalle was hot too - whatever happened to her?
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Of a good/classic old movie whose score you think should be replaced by something more modern. I can think of one old epic (hardly a classic) that was partially ruined by the score - "The Fall of the Roman Empire" - but then, I don't much like Dmitri Tiompkin, and certainly not compared to such composers of "Roman" music as Rozsa and Alex North. I'm also surprised at how few people seem to know that "Gladiator" is simply a reworking of that movie with more emphasis on the arena.
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I HATED the score in TROY. The whole time I was watching the movie my brain kept telling me, "There is something sucky about this movie....oh it's the score!" I hear people say that the score to a movie is not that important...well, this can prove them wrong.
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May 20, 2004 9:59:13 AM CDT
He should do what Randy Newman did with his rejected Air Force O
by minderbinder
Great stuff, I can't believe they trashed it in favor of the garbage that's in the film. (and ironically, the "screaming" singing that people complain about now is something that Horner stole from Yared and did a shittier version of)
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I can not for the life me understand why Warner Bros. And Wolfgang Petersen rejected this score. It is one of the biggest and most crucial mistakes the studios in general have deliberately made in a long time. I agree with all of you. This score would have made the difference in the world. It is so huge and emotional at the time time, so dramatic and so soulful that you can not believe the director
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May 20, 2004 11:10:18 AM CDT
Why can't we "morph" music (through computer technology) just a
by jdanielp
How awesome it would be to "morph music" to a film (if the style of the film warrants it). Sure, ... musicians can transition the style instrumentally, ... but I'm talking a smooth transition that you could ONLY get through "morphing" with computer technology. Somebody who has real opportunity (unlike me) will "pioneer the idea" and take all the credit. But that's how this unfair world of ours works. (I may not be alot of things, ... but I know I'd be a great filmmaker if I ever had the opportunity.) Anyway, ... I suppose I was a bit loose earlier, in suggesting that there are many "BAD" musical scores, ... but I know there are many mediocre ones. But I understand that there are budgets to consider. And when a filmmaker has to choose between a big special effect or a full orchestra score, it can be (at times) a tuff decission. That may be a simple way of putting it, as I'm sure it can get WAY more complex than that. Hopefully a director will have room for his "vision" along with the incredible musical score he dreams of, ... all contained within his given budget, ... and be able to stay within it.
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Troy was great...the music was fine. In time you will see the error of your ways. Trust me...I know film. Poor bastards.
Uhh, by the way, Gladiator sucked balls. I bet you thought that crapfest was good, eh?
Peace. -
go fuck yourself.
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I tried clicking on the above link but it doesn't work...was the site taken down? Is there any other way for me to hear Yared's music?
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I had it bookmarked, and haven't been able to get it up for the last couple of days, either. Grrrr.
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Nevermind, I found it. :)
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