I recently collaborated with a very talented animator named William Levin in a new episode of his webseries: He Shoots, He Scores:
The premise is a little eccentric: Hollywood composers are interviewed by someone impersonating comedian Richard Lewis and hilarity ensues. Levin produced one last year featuring an actor playing “John Williams,” but this episode is the first where the composer is played by the actual composer in question: yours truly.
The original interview was entirely unscripted so some awkward topics came up, with hilariously honest reactions. Who would win in a fight – John Williams or Hans Zimmer? What about me versus Stu Phillips?! Can I actually remember who Richard Lewis played in Robin Hood: Men in Tights? The conversation flowed naturally and was then edited and animated by Levin.
My favorite part of the whole process was getting to write a parody of “Kara Remembers” from Battlestar Galactica, entitled “Richard Remembers.” (“Just write a theme that sounds exactly like all your other stuff like all the other composers do!”) In fact, Levin staged the entire interview to be a parody of the climax of the BSG episode “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Doing this was a surreal experience for me – I can still remember working with the cast, crew and writers on that episode (click for that episode’s blog entry), and yet here it is being parodied in the pop culture subconscious!
Special thanks are due to William Levin for coming up with this crazy idea and for inviting me to be a part of it!
-Bear
_
PS: On an equally geeky topic, check out this great article from Io9 – The Physics Behind Your Favorite Science Fiction Theme Tunes. They interviewed me discussing the common intervals found in our favorite Science Fiction themes. I love that Io9 covered this topic with such in-depth analysis. Fun stuff!
