John Carpenter is a man of many talents, as we all know. On top of directing some of the greatest genre films over the past few decades, he also composed the majority of them, creating timeless scores that still haunt and terrify listeners. His work on The Fog honestly makes me look over my shoulder whenever I put it on because it actually scares me, something that I rarely feel and truly relish.
Joe Yanick of Noisey conducted an interview with the legend himself, focusing entirely on Carpenters compositions, his process, and other music related queries.
When asked about tackling a soundtrack, Carpenter replied:
I would have no preconception about what the score should be. I would come in just absolutely blank. Just sort of start fresh, it was kind of exciting. It was exciting, because you didn’t have to worry about if you had something good. You’d just try it out and it went from there. Occasionally, I’d have a main theme, or I’d have a sketch, of something that I’d worked out at home, that I’d try. Occasionally, I’d do that. But, for the most part, it was all improvisation.
Speaking about working with Ennio Morricone on The Thing soundtrack:
The studio wouldn’t let me do the music myself. They never thought about, I never asked, and he was available. He is just an amazing composer. I loved it; he was a wonderful man. We didn’t speak the same language, so we had interpreters, but it was wonderful. He did a great job.
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