EXCLUSIVE: BELTRAMI "T3" INTERVIEW!Will Beltrami be back for "Terminator 4"? Reported By: Randy Jennings Wednesday, August 20, 2003 TheArnoldFans.com spoke with Marco Beltrami, the man behind the "Rise of the Machines" soundtrack and he was happy to give us the exclusive to why he was chosen and what he thinks of Brad Fiedel. Over the past several months, I've encountered a huge shift of fan acceptance of Beltrami’s work. At first I've heard nothing but complaints since the original Terminator composer, Brad Fiedel, was not on board with this film. Many stubborn fans were saying if Fiedel did not come back, they would accept NO ONE. Because Marco was nearly typecast only for his earlier horror genre fame, the fans were ready to close the doors on this new composer and never give him a fair chance. TheArnoldFans: We loved what you did with T3 but we are curious if you know why Brad Fiedel was not asked back? Or was he asked but then turned it down? Marco Beltrami I don’t THINK so. That would be a question for Jonathan Mostow. All I know is they temped the old scores of mine and it seamed to work well so Jonathan really pushed to have me on the project. I liked what Brad did in the first two Terminator films. He has a strong theme and I like the way he had a mechanical sound: non-orchestral, but I thought it worked well. So it’s not like I had anything against that (his style) it’s just that this movie was different – we were trying something new with it. I actually TRIED to work his theme into the movie with the director and producers and we tried it in a few places and on quite a few occasions but the thing was – was that is seamed that strong T2 theme seamed to take the audience out of this movie and transport them right back into T2 land and the director was dead set against that. If it was UP TO ME, I would have somehow wanted to pay homage to the original... so we put it at the end credits. I did an orchestrated version of the old theme. TheArnoldFans: Did you know Mostow earlier or did he call you up and seek you out? Marco No, the first I heard about it was he (Mostow) called up and said “I’d like to have a meeting with you. I’ve heard your music on this temp and I want to see.” Then I met with him and he said “well, you know, it’s going to be very political... everyone wants to do this movie like Zimmer, Danny Elfman and all these people” and I didn’t really have any expectations that I’d be chosen but Mostow pushed for me and that’s how it worked out. TheArnoldFans: Did you also do the score for the additional footage that was shot for the video game? Marco Well, not that you’ll see with it (the game). I wrote a piece because we weren’t sure at the time if it was going to be in the movie but then when we were in the scoring session, they said it was NOT going to be in the movie and we never ended up recording it. TheArnoldFans: Can you describe some scenes that you orchestrated but were cut from the movie? We know of the one scene where Arnold, as Sergeant Candy, gives the Terminator his likeness. Maybe you saw this scene or others? Marco: The only scene I know of is the Sgt. Candy one. Of course parts of scenes were edited down throughout the process, but I can’t think of another complete scene. These days the tides have turned and TheArnoldFans has received dozens and dozens of emails of new Marco fans who feel this soundtrack is by far the best of the three. Unfortunately there are still a small handful of Marco bashers and MOST of them dismiss his talent out of ridiculous loyalty to Brad Fiedel. These are some hard-core Terminator fans who are AFRAID of change and they shut their eyes and ears to anything new. Shame on your acts of such "low forehead-ism"! To the more open-minded Terminator fans, who can sit back and give the soundtrack an unbiased review, we salute you. I know it is hard to except that there is no T2 theme song to open the credits to T3 - but if we can get passed that, it is obvious Marco has raised the bar. TheArnoldFans: Are you a Terminator fan? How badly did you want to do T3? Marco: Yes, I loved the first two movies so I was totally psyched... That’s why I didn’t want to get too excited about it. Because I’m such a huge fan of the Terminator movies. TheArnoldFans: Favorite Arnold movie? Marco: The Terminator! The staff of TheArnoldFans also feels Marco Beltrami's T3 score is THE BEST Terminator soundtrack. T1 was excellent for the heart pounding rhythms but has become a bit dated now with so much '80's synthesizers. The Score for T2 was improved upon greatly. Here we were given the greatest intro theme song EVER (Sorry Marco) and we also got one or two other nice tracks. However, most of T2's soundtrack is filler. They work great on screen but as individual songs to listen to on our headsets, they don't exactly give you "the pump." In other words, it's for Terminator fans... but it's not a soundtrack for music appreciation scholars. Finally, T3 comes out and Marco delivers a COMPLETE score without filler. This is a masterful soundtrack with such wide ranges of intensity, emotion and talent. Listen to this CD and you'll feel like a "choir boy" when crying your eye's out to the tear-jerkers but then you'll "be back" for the epic action themes! Every single track is a winner and we at TAFs are damn proud to have such a talented man contribute. TheArnoldFans: Have you heard what Brad Fiedel thinks of your score? Marco No. I don’t know, I hope there’s not bad feelings about it - but no, I haven’t spoken to him. I’ve never met him. Jonathan is extremely complementary. From what I understand, Arnold likes it too but I’ve never spoken to him about it myself. TheArnoldFans: Was Mostow sitting down with you? How involved was he? Marco He was pretty involved. He’d come over to my studio once or twice a week and I’d play him some stuff I was working on and he’d have a lot to say and we’d try new things. He’d say, “This scene needs some emotional support so you might want to try this from John Connor’s perspective rather than play it as an action scene” and so on. TheArnoldFans: What’s next? Marco: The next movie is directed by Guillermo del Toro called Hellboy. It looks real good. They just started sending some footage over and it will be a big Summer release for next year. TheArnoldFans: What about T4, if they ask you to come back and we hope they do? Marco: I’d love to. I’m not sure if Jonathan is directing it but if he is, I’d imagine I’d probably be doing it.” There you have it music fans! Personally, I don't really know the exact reason why Brad Fiedel was not asked to come back but I’m certainly NOT complaining. TheArnoldFans.com is extremely happy with Mostow’s pick! Bring on the talent for T4: Stan, Mostow, Arnold, Nick, Claire, Patrick, Loken, the T-One Million and MARCO! For more information on Marco Beltrami and the movies he has scored (The Faculty, Resident Evil, Scream, Mimic, Joy Ride, Blade 2, Hellboy and more), visit his website HERE! "T3: Rise of the Machines" Soundtrack: 4.75 out of 5 stogies! ---------- |