Godzilla vs. Kong composer Junkie XL reflected on how the long history between the two monsters had a huge impact on his process and approach to scoring the film.
"I was brought up with Kong and Godzilla, I have all of Godzilla and Kong’s movies and especially with Godzilla, it's more so a secret pleasure," Holkenborg shared with Discussing Film. The composer added that his personal history with the stories, along with the impact Godzilla and Kong have had on pop culture, definitely raised the stakes.
Holkenborg discussed the immense pressure he felt scoring the first movie to feature both of the Titans since 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla, noting, "Godzilla vs. Kong is so much more than any other big anaconda and a big dragon just fighting it out in a movie."
"I suggested to the director to write themes for both of them that are new," he continued. "And they're very cutting edge in what they're trying to do, but they are rooted in a rich history of Hollywood films all the way back to '33 and Godzilla all the way back to when 1954's [Gojira] came out."
The composer also discussed the types of instrumentation he decided to use in Godzilla vs. Kong, explaining, "For this movie, I had a super big bass drum made to do the percussions." He added, "I found an incredibly huge bass amplifier, it was like 10 meters high. I was like, 'Let's make some basic instruments with that amplifier.'"
When it came to creating theme music for the half-reptilian Godzilla, the composer specifically wanted to make the sounds "a little bit more synthesized."
"With Zack Snyder's Justice League and Godzilla vs. Kong, it was never my intention, or Hanz Zimmer's, to revisit the themes of John Williams, or Danny Elfman," he continued. "Or in my case, the few Godzilla themes written by incredible Japanese composers, or to use stuff from Max Steiner or from James Newton Howard." He concluded, "The point is that it fits in the language that was designed over the last eighty years."
Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, Godzilla vs. Kong stars Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31.
Source: Discussing Film
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