Batman: Danny Elfman Reveals He Originally Walked Away From Composing Tim Burton Movie

Danny Elfman recently turned 70, and the iconic composer is about to return to one of his most popular scores. He has been a longtime collaborator of Tim Burton’s, having scored Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and more. Recently, Elfman broke down some of his biggest music in an interview with GQ, and talked about creating the score for Batman (1989). Turns out, Elfman originally walked away from the movie, but things worked out in the end. 

“I’ve never done anything harder than Batman because first off, I had to prove myself,” Elfman explained. “You know, it’s like, okay, he’s the quirky comedy guy, and here I am doing like this Batman movie. Understandably, I think they were like, ‘We need somebody who knows how to do this kind of music.’ But nobody knew what kind of music it was. There really was no superhero music. There was just Superman. And we said we know we don’t want it to be Superman, John Williams. And then there was an element with the producer in the studio of wanting it to be a pop score. There was definitely this moment of like, ‘Danny, we want you to collaborate with Prince and co-write the score.’ And I go, ‘I can’t do that. People, ‘You really said that?’I love Prince, but not for that score. I already knew what the score was, and I knew that if I collaborated, he’d be writing tunes, and I’d be orchestrating his tunes, and I would be essentially a glorified arranger rather than a composer, you know, because he was world-famous, and I was still nothing. I had to walk away.”

Elfman continued. “I was so depressed. I felt like I just blew up my own career. And then a month later I got the call saying, ‘Danny, you’re back on. We gotta get moving. Come on, come on.’ It’s like [heavy sigh] this gamble paid off. But it was a miserable period of time. On the other hand, I already heard the music in my head. I knew what it was, and I was determined that that was gonna be the score. The producer was so hard on me, John Peters, and then there finally he’s in I think it’s the third presentation. And I didn’t know how to do presentations. I was playing this weird music stuff that was all like inspired, you know, crazy. And then Tim says, ‘Play the march, play the march play the march.’And that’s what he called the titles. I go, ‘Oh yeah, I got this piece here.’ And of course, now I know, you lead with your headline, obviously. I didn’t really know, understand that back then. And I put this piece of music on and John starts conducting in his chair. And then at a certain point he stands up, and he’s going like this. And I, and Tim looks at me and he’s like, ‘Yeah, we got it,’” he added with a laugh.

Danny Elfman on Returning To Beeltejuice:

After decades of rumors about a sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 classic, Beetlejuice, it was officially announced this year that the movie is in motion with original stars Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder expected to return, and Jenna Ortega joining to play the daughter of Ryder’s Lydia Deetz. Burton is returning, and it looks like Elfman is, too.

 “To get a chance 35 years later to do it again, that’s the weirdest sequel ever,” the composer told GQ. “I’m really excited to get back into that.”

“I love being a fly on the wall when he’s shooting. I’ll be doing that in a couple of months, as you may know, on another Tim Burton project,” Elfman shared with Deadline in regards to collaborating with Burton on both Wednesday and the Beetlejuice sequel. “That is very exciting, to return to that world.”

“I said, ‘He’s not even going to look that much different. That’s the beauty of the Beetlejuice makeup. He already looked like he was 150 in the first one,’” Elfman said of Keaton’s reprisal of the eponymous ghoul.

He added, “It’s perfect, you know? Everybody else has to play the next generation, except for Michael. I mean, he’s still like really fit and really active and really on it. And with the Beetlejuice makeup, I can’t even imagine it’s going to look like he’s changed practically at all. So, I can’t wait for that.”

What’s your favorite Danny Elfman score? Tell us in the comments!