ASCAP Henry Mancini Award Honoring John Debney

In recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the music of film and television

The 2005 ASCAP Henry Mancini Award recipient, is one of today's hottest contemporary film composers. Nominated for an Academy Award for his score to The Passion of the Christ (2004) and represented with current releases, The Pacifier, and the enormous hit, Sin City, Debney has become a huge force in film music. As the son of a longtime Disney Studios executive, John has a true childhood connection to the world of motion pictures and television.

In a recent, wide-ranging conversation with ASCAP, Debney addressed the exhilaration and challenges of a career in film and television music.

You had quite a year in '04 with The Passion of the Christ. Obviously, you haven't been typecast because here you are in 2005 with Sin City.
I am so fortunate in that regard. Last year was the ride of The Passion and it was great to go to the Academy Awards for the first time. This year, my friend Robert Rodriguez called - we worked on the first two Spy Kids movies - and he is a truly honorable guy. Sin City, I believe, is a really groundbreaking work. A lot of fun and visually, just stunning. There aren't really words to describe it. I also did The Pacifier this year with a new friend of mine, Adam Shankman. You couldn't have two films that are at such opposite ends of the spectrum.

The music you created for each of these has to be different, as well.
Night and day. With Sin City, Robert Rodriguez gave me the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do, which is to write a noir score that pays homage to all the great noir scores we've heard over the years, Bernard Herrmann being the king, for me, of that type of score. Yet, I was able to infuse it with some edge and some things that bring the score into right now. Robert gave me the opportunity to write a theme with great trumpet and sax solos, along with strings. The Pacifier is all over the map - in comedy, you can wear a bunch of hats, where you can write action music in one cue and a nice pretty theme in another cue.

Going back to your early days, you really grew up in the movies, in a movie business family.
I did. My dad worked at Walt Disney studios for 40 years from the time he was a youngster. I grew up in that Disney family. I remember going to the lot with my Dad on a weekend and Walt Disney would be there. I remember my dad bringing movies home when I was a kid. That's when I first became intrigued with how music works with film. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and Glendale and it's been wonderful to somehow gain a foothold here and have a career.

Your original intention was to have a career in rock.
That's true. I thought I would be the next rock & roll god. I was in many bands, but it just never quite happened. It was a tough road. In college I decided I would be a double major in drama and music, but by my junior year, I concentrated on just music. After getting my degree at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, I luckily began to work in television.

Who were your mentors in the film & TV music field? I know that Mike Post was helpful to you.
There are those key moments where certain people take that leap of faith. Mike was one of those people who, for whatever reason, heard something in my demo. He took a liking to me and I was able to work for him for a good year, year and a half. I learned a lot from him. He and a couple of other people saved my life in the professional sense. I was married and starting to have a family and Mike was there to give me a gig. I can never thank him enough.

You were already tuned into how music works with film. Was working in TV a difficult transition for you?
It was a learning experience. I wouldn't say that it was a very easy transition, but after doing it for a couple of years, you start to get your feet under you. For me, it was a question of getting an episode or two to score. If that worked out, you get a number of episodes. I just worked my way up and became quite prolific at composing for TV through the '80s and early '90s.

Do you have a favorite among your TV projects?
Yes, there was a program called The Young Riders, a western series from MGM (1989-1992). We did it for three years and it was a great weekly hang. We had a core group of three guitars, drums, bass and harmonica. We had so much fun doing it. And I received my first Emmy doing a score for that show, so The Young Riders holds a very special for me.

It wasn't that long a time from The Young Riders before you began working on feature films. How would you characterize the difference between movies and TV?
First, let me say that it's very difficult to go from being a television guy to becoming a film guy. I was at a crossroads in the early ‘90s - I could have stayed with television where I was making a handsome living. Yet, it is a grind and I always had a dream of working in features. With the help of my wife, who was very supportive of my decision, and my agents, I started to say no to a lot of TV projects and sat around for the better part of a year trying to get that first feature. I had done a lot of work for Disney over the years and had that family history. Well, in 1993, there was a picture called Hocus Pocus that James Horner was going to do, but at the last minute he had to bail out because of scheduling. I was lucky enough to get that job. It opened up a big door for me. I had two or three weeks to compose a rather massive score, which led to a three-picture deal with Disney. Other opportunities followed. It was a long road of me doing what I could, not knowing where it would lead.

Some years ago, I interviewed Elmer Bernstein and asked him about working on a major religious film, The Ten Commandments. Your religious film, The Passion of the Christ, was not only one of the biggest films of last year, but also the most controversial. There had to have been major challenges.
It was everything you can imagine. It was the hardest, but ultimately, the best thing I've ever done. As time goes by, the controversial aspect will fade. With the subject matter, there is a built-in controversial side to it. What Mel Gibson was able to get out of me was amazing. It was work I had hoped I could write, but I needed Mel to literally pull it out of me. At the end of the day, it's an interesting, bittersweet feeling I have about it. My fervent hope was that someone involved would receive some morsel of recognition for the work. All of us - people of different faiths and creeds - feel that it was the best work that we've ever done. It's like being a member of a club - a lifetime member. I don't know how this film will be viewed ten or twenty years from now in the entertainment community.

Your job, of course, was to express musically what was on the screen. That must have been very difficult.
The imagery is difficult to deal with, no matter what your faith or what you believe in or don't believe. So, there were days when I just had to remove myself from it and take a drive or a walk. At the end of the day, I've got a job to do and I'm a professional. So I realized that it's just a movie. Sometimes we all forgot. I trained myself that no matter what was on the screen, I'd faithfully express what we're seeing or not seeing. In other words, often the music had to take you away from what was on the screen and put you in a different place psychically.

Here you are getting the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award. What was your reaction to getting that news?
Hey, go figure! It feels great, though very humbling. When my friend, James Newton Howard, was presented with this honor a couple of years ago, I told him that night, "You are way too young to be getting this," and we laughed. Nonetheless, it is such an honor. I was quite surprised by it and then it sinks in and you start to contemplate what you've done in your life. I guess I've been kicking around and done enough work for ASCAP to honor me this way. Henry Mancini is one of my heroes.

- Jim Steinblatt

TELEVISION

2002
Christmas Rush (theme)

2000
Running Mates
G-Saviour

1997
Justice League of America

1996
The Pretender (first season theme)
The Cape ¥

1995
Kansas
In Pursuit of Honor

1993
SeaQuest DSV ¥
For Love and Glory
Class of ‘61
Jonny's Golden Quest
Praying Mantis

1992
Sunstroke
Still Not Quite Human

1991
Into the Badlands
Sisters

1990
The Face of Fear
Tiny Toon Adventures
The Eyes of the Panther

1989
The Young Riders ¥
Trenchcoat in Paradise

1988
Seven Hours to Judgment
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck
Not Since Casanova

1987
The Wild Pair
Star Trek: The Next Generation

1986
Jonny Quest

1984
Dragon's Lair

AWARDS KEY
ø - Academy Award Nomination
¥ - Emmy Award
# - Annie Award Nomination
+ - ASCAP Award