John Powell is an English composer best known for his film scores. He has been based in Los Angeles since 1997 and has composed the scores to over 70 feature films. He is best known for composing score for films, including Face/Off, the Bourne film series, the Happy Feet films, United 93, X-Men: The Last Stand, Wicked, Evolution, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Migration, Drumline, Hancock, The Call of the Wild, Bolt, eight Blue Sky Studios films, and nine DreamWorks Animation films.
John Powell | |
|---|---|
 Powell in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | London, England |
| Origin | East Sussex, England |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor, producer |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | 5 Cat Studios |
| Website | johnpowellmusic |
His work on Happy Feet, Ferdinand and Solo: A Star Wars Story has earned him three Grammy nominations. He was nominated for an Academy Award for How to Train Your Dragon.[1]
Powell was a member of Hans Zimmer's music studio, Remote Control Productions, and has collaborated frequently with other composers from the studio, including Harry Gregson-Williams on Antz, Chicken Run and Shrek and Zimmer himself on Chill Factor, The Road to El Dorado, and the first two Kung Fu Panda films.
He has also collaborated with film directors such as Carlos Saldanha, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Benjamin Renner, Chris Renaud, George Miller, John Woo, Ron Underwood, Doug Liman, Charles Stone III, Simon Otto, Jared Hess, and Paul Greengrass.
Early life and education
editAs a child, he played the violin and viola. His skill in the violin allowed him to study at Trinity College of Music, central London (now the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, London). There, he met John Ashton Thomas, who orchestrated many of Powell's scores. Powell played for "Faboulistics", an amateur rock and roll band.[2]
After finishing college, he composed music for commercials, which led to a job as an assistant to the composer Patrick Doyle on several film productions, including Much Ado About Nothing.[3] In 1995, Powell co-founded the London-based commercial music house Independently Thinking Music with Gavin Greenaway,[4] which produced scores for more than 100 British and French commercials and independent films.
Career
editPowell's first score was for the Season 4 of the TV series Stay Lucky. He moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and scored his first major film, Face/Off. It was followed by Antz in 1998, the first film produced by DreamWorks Animation, which he co-scored with fellow British composer Harry Gregson-Williams, which also marked the duo's first score for an animated film. Two years later, Powell collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer on the score for The Road to El Dorado. Later that same year, he also teamed up with Harry Gregson-Williams again to compose the score to Chicken Run and then again the following year on Shrek. Gregson-Williams composed all the subsequent Shrek films and the sequel to Chicken Run himself. In 2001 he also scored Evolution, I Am Sam, Just Visiting and Rat Race.
In 2002 Powell was hired to score The Bourne Identity for director Doug Liman after Carter Burwell left the project. He also returned to score the series' other two films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, under British director Paul Greengrass.
Powell collaborated with Liman again to score Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). That year he also scored Robots for Blue Sky Studios, and went on to score many of the studio's subsequent films until 2017's Ferdinand.
In 2006, he scored Greengrass' United 93. He also composed music for his second Blue Sky film Ice Age: The Meltdown, following David Newman, who scored the first Ice Age film; as well as X-Men: The Last Stand and Happy Feet, for which he won a Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for an Animated Feature Film. The next year he scored The Bourne Ultimatum. In 2008 he reunited with Hans Zimmer and returned to DreamWorks Animation to score Kung Fu Panda, and also wrote music for Jumper, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, Hancock, and Bolt. In 2009 he scored the third film of Ice Age series; Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
In 2010, Powell composed the score to How to Train Your Dragon, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. It was his sixth DreamWorks Animation film, although the first where he composed the whole score himself. That year he also scored Greengrass's Green Zone and Knight and Day.
In 2013, Powell took a sabbatical year from film scoring. In April 2014, after completing his scores to sequels Rio 2 and How to Train Your Dragon 2, he announced he would take another break to compose concert music, including a 45-minute oratorio to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War I. The piece, "A Prussian Requiem", with a libretto by Michael Petry, premiered on 6 March 2016 at The Royal Festival Hall, London with José Serebrier conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.[5]
Powell composed the score for Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018),[6] collaborating with John Williams, who wrote Han Solo's theme. In 2019, Powell scored How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the final film in the How to Train Your Dragon series. In January 2024, it was announced that Powell will return to compose the score for the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon.[7] In August 2024, it was confirmed that Powell will compose and conduct the incidental score for the two-part film adaptation of Wicked, in collaboration with the musical's composer Stephen Schwartz.[8][9][10]
Filmography
editTelevision
edit| Year | Title | Creator | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-1993 | Stay Lucky | Geoff McQueen | Yorkshire Television | |
| 1996-1997 | High Incident | Steven Spielberg Michael Pavone Eric Bogosian Dave Alan Johnson |
DreamWorks Television | |
| 2022 | Ice Age: Scrat Tales[11] | Chris Wedge[12] | Blue Sky Studios (final animated production before shutting down) 20th Century Studios 20th Century Animation Disney+ |
Music by Batu Sener Writer and Composer for "Scrat Tales End Titles" |
Film
edit1990s
edit| Year | Title | Director | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Face/Off | John Woo | Paramount Pictures (North America) Touchstone Pictures (International) |
— |
| 1998 | With Friends Like These... | Philip Frank Messina | Miramax Films | — |
| Endurance | Leslie Woodhead Bud Greenspan |
Walt Disney Pictures | Music produced by Hans Zimmer | |
| Antz | Eric Darnell Tim Johnson |
Pacific Data Images DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Pictures |
Co-composed with Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell's first score for an animated film | |
| 1999 | Forces of Nature | Bronwen Hughes | DreamWorks Pictures | — |
| Chill Factor | Hugh Johnson | Morgan Creek Productions Warner Bros. Pictures |
Co-composed with Hans Zimmer |
2000s
edit2010s
edit2020s
editStudio Albums
edit| Year | Title | Category | Notes | Label | Catalogue Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Hubris: Choral Works by John Powell[28] | Classical | First release on John Powell’s own label, 5 Cats Studios.
John Powell's 1st original project. Performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra. |
5 Cat Studios | FCS001 |
| 2020 | Piano Solos from "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"[29] | Solo Piano | Music by John Powell.
Piano solos performed by Batu Sener. |
FCS005 | |
| Piano Solos from "The Call of the Wild" | FCS007 | ||||
| Film Suites, Vol. 1 | Classical | Performed with Jose Serebrier, Philharmonia Orchestra, and The Philharmonia Voices. | FCS010 |
Archival soundtrack albums
edit| Year | Title | Notes | Label | Catalogue Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Forces of Nature (Music from the Motion Picture) | Released on Audio CD.
Limited 1000 copies. Co-composed with Oliver J. Lieber The first awaiting official score album since the 1999 film debut. Includes 2 bonus tracks/demos. |
5 Cat Studios, La-La Land Records | |
| How to Train Your Dragon (The Deluxe Edition)[30] | Deluxe Edition of the 2010 film score.
Includes alternate versions and demos. |
5 Cat Studios, Varèse Sarabande | ||
| Solo: A Star Wars Story (Deluxe Edition) | Deluxe Edition of the 2018 film score.
Includes over 2 hours of original/unedited music as written for the film, and an end credits suite. Han Solo Theme & Original Star Wars Music by John Williams. Additional Music by Batu Sener, Anthony Willis & Paul Mounsey. |
5 Cat Studios, Walt Disney Records | ||
| 2021 | Paycheck: The Deluxe Edition (Music From The Motion Picture)[31] | Deluxe Edition of the 2003 film score.
This Deluxe Edition greatly expands the playing time to over 95 minutes.[31] |
5 Cat Studios, Varèse Sarabande | |
| 2022 | How to Train Your Dragon 2 (The Deluxe Edition) | Deluxe Edition of the 2014 film score.
Includes alternate versions and demos. |
5 Cat Studios, Varèse Sarabande, Back Lot Music | |
| The Bourne Identity (Tumescent Edition) | Expanded score with alternate versions of cues. | 5 Cat Studios, Varèse Sarabande | 888072412774 | |
| 2024 | How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (The Deluxe Edition)[32] | Deluxe Edition of the 2019 film score.
Includes alternate versions and demos. |
5 Cat Studios, Varèse Sarabande |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "From Gigli to Oscar: Composer John Powell Reacts to His Nomination". Movieline. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
- ^ "John Powell - Composer Biography, Facts and Music Compositions". FAMOUS COMPOSERS. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ "Much Ado About Nothing · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ "John Powell receives IFMCA Award for The Call of the Wild". IFMCA: International Film Music Critics Association. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "John Powell's 'A Prussian Requiem' to be performed live in London". SoundtracksAndTrailerMusic.com. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ "John Powell On Scoring The "Completely Absorbing World" of Solo: A Star Wars Story". Star Wars. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ Gearan, Hannah (16 February 2023). "How To Train Your Dragon Live-Action Movie Bringing Back Key Original Creator". ScreenRant. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked'". Film Music Reporter. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ^ Sharpe, Josh (8 July 2024). "John Powell Scoring WICKED Movie With Stephen Schwartz". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Giere, Carol de. "The Schwartz Scene updates on the Wicked Soundtrack from Stephen Schwartz". The Schwartz Scene. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Batu Sener Scoring Disney+'s 'Ice Age: Scrat Tales' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ "Ice Age: Scrat Tales". ComicBook. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ V., Erin (2 April 2012). "Interview: Dean DeBlois, director of 'How To Train Your Dragon'". One Movie, Five Views. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
- ^ "John Powell to Score Untitled Han Solo Movie". Star Wars. Lucasfilm. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ "How to Train Your Dragon 3 Pushed Back to 2017". ComingSoon.net. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
- ^ "Soundtrack.net".
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Doug Liman's 'Locked Down'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling". Film Music Reporter. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Illumination Entertainment's 'Migration' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ "IMDb Full Music Credits". IMDb.
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Lynn Wang's & Jared Hess' Thelma the Unicorn". Film Music Reporter. 5 December 2023.
- ^ "IMDb Full Music Department Credits". IMDb.
- ^ a b "John Powell Scoring Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked'". Film Music Reporter. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ^ Powell, John (30 November 2023). "Scoring my 25th animated film and my first Xmas movie at Abbey Road Studios this week 🎶 Coming next winter! ❄️ #JohnPowell #soundtrack…". Instagram. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "John Powell Scoring Locksmith Animation's 'That Christmas'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "IMDb Full Music Department Credits". IMDb.
- ^ "John Powell to Score Dean DeBlois' 'How to Train Your Dragon' Live-Action Film Adaptation". Film Music Reporter. 15 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ "Hubris: Choral Works by John Powell (192kHz / 24-bit)". John Powell. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ "Film Music Reporter".
- ^ "How To Train Your Dragon: The Deluxe Edition (CD)". Varèse Sarabande. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Paycheck: The Deluxe Edition (Music From The Motion Picture) (2-CD)". Varèse Sarabande. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ "Powell's announcement of the Deluxe Edition of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World".
External links
edit- John Powell – official site
- John Powell discography at Discogs
- John Powell at IMDb
- John Powell biography at SoundtrackNet
