Our Randy Newman interview below is our second of our behind the scenes features on The Princess and The Frog. Check out our interview with Disney animation boss John Lasseter here.
Most people will know Randy Newman as a film composer - he has composed music for many films, including Leatherheads, Awakenings and Meet The Parents. Before he was involved in film, Newman released numerous albums and was noted for his style of writing songs from the perspective of someone far removed from his own biography. For example, Short People was written from the perspective of a person with questionable mental health, who hates short people.
Arguably, Newman is best known for his contribution to five Disney Pixar films, perhaps most notably, Toy Story. Randy Newman was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2006. The award recognises his extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company.
Newman returned to The Walt Disney Company to write the score and songs for The Princess and The Frog. Newman's mother was born in New Orleans, and he spent his summers in the city as a child. As someone with strong connections to New Orleans, the setting of the movie, Newman seems to be the perfect choice to capture the sound of New Orleans in this new Disney adventure.
What do you think would be different about The Princess and the Frog if it was computer animated?
RN: I think there would be less scope to it and less conscious attempts to be beautiful and for the animation to be spectacular. I am sure that 3D animation is capable of virtuoso spectacle but it seems that one of the major differences is the depth and the traditional 19th century artistic levels that they can attain. There is some question whether people will like this kind of movie any more. It would be a shame if these animators didn't get more chances to show us their art, because it's a remarkable talent, I think. It goes without saying... So I won't say it! I don't think the Pixar movies suffer from lack of warmth... Maybe visually, it's not capable of that but god knows they are emotionally satisfying pictures. This film is set in 1925 and that is maybe another reason why it's not appropriate for computer animation. It is a soft story, it's not expressly for children, but it's closer to being so than Wall-E, The Incredibles or A Bug's Life. Kids appear to like it!
You have never been afraid of breaking barriers, would you agree that this movie, with the first African-American Disney princess is a big step?
RN: I guess it is, I mean, it seems as if it's a little far down the line for it to be a big deal but it is a big deal for some people, I guess. We can't treat it any differently, that would be wrong. I don't know how brave it is to do anything like that at this point; it should be a natural development, but I can understand why it wasn't. I hope that it's successful, for a number of reasons... Most of them to do with money! [laughs]
There are few cities in the US that have such a distinct character as New Orleans. Did that inspire you?
RN: Yeah. I have connections there, my mother is from New Orleans and maybe part of the reason why I got the job is that I have written songs about that part of the country before and I have an interest in it's music, so I didn't have to do much research, but I listened to Louis Armstrong, the Gospel music, Swan Silvertones... I can't really think of any Gospel group definitely from New Orleans, but it's such a great genre that you would have to do it really badly to screw it up. You've got to do something awful for it not to work. I hadn't seen it, really, with the full colour and everything until the other night and they really did a great job on that. I mean, I'll just sit back and take the praise, but they really did great.
Did your connection with New Orleans help you when you were writing the music for The Princess and the Frog?
RN: It helped me a lot, because the music down there appeals to me a lot, maybe because my mother was from there. The city is unbelievably different. I was in Antwerp or something and they had a big festival and it reminded me of New Orleans on that day. In New Orleans they have parades three times a week, the traffic gets stopped... Parades are more important to them than getting anywhere on time and that's why, if a flood or anything happens, they are not good at fixing themselves really. When my family down there have to get their cars fixed, they have to drive to Mississippi! The city is not a real efficient, American machine, but it's like no city on earth. I could live there! I'd never do anything though!
The Classical era Hollywood musical was all about celebrating what Hollywood did best at the time would you agree that this film is about celebrating what Disney does best?
RN: It does do that. It celebrates the skill of the people who put the whole thing together. The animation... I was always amazed when a kid could draw a bird or a tree. I had a teacher in the fourth grade who would hold me stuff up and say ‘This is supposed to be a tree' and everyone would laugh, and I was trying! So maybe I am particularly amazed by people who can do that. It seems remarkable to me.
The theme of money is quite strong in the film, but in the end it's the human connection that wins out. What do you think of this?
RN: That's true, god knows if kids realise that. Tiana's character is strangely driven. When I had to write a song, she doesn't express... She loves her father of course, and her mother and cooking, but she's really driven. Talking about this song Dig A Little Deeper, they said thy wanted to say it's not what you want; it's what you need. I said ‘I can't say that because the Rolling Stones have already said it!", but you don't think of it. Also, you don't think you are going to be talking about ‘how can we get this alligator to play the trumpet?'. It's one of the great things about this business, you find yourself devoting yourself, it's like yoga in way because it's so far outside the norm, thinking about an alligator playing a trumpet. What would be sound like?
Did you have trouble picking out where you wanted a song to go in the movie?
RN: They picked, essentially, for where the songs would be. I think maybe I picked where one of them went, but they were natural song places. It isn't like the songs were grafted on. There are often worries with musicals... The studio worries that there is no reason to break into song, but a situation like this seemed perfectly legitimate and everything seems to fit alright and hopefully the songs move the story along and aren't just ‘numbers'. Personally I like musical numbers wherever they are, I love that kind of stuff and I wouldn't care, but it's story that kids are interested in. The first time I saw Toy Story with an audience was with kids from 5-9. They really have it down to a science; I'm telling you [laughs]. So I am watching Toy Story and the first laugh happens and nothing. It goes the whole picture, and they don't laugh unless someone gets hit in the head with a hammer or something. Kids look at it for the story, that's what they are looking at, they'll think it's funny in a while.
You wrote songs for so many different characters in The Princess and the Frog. Do you have a favourite?
RN: I like the Dr Facilier song, because it's sort of complicated and it succeeds, in part because the animation was just spectacular, but it covers some ground with story. The song is that whole scene - with the cards and the transformation - it covered a lot of script ground. I am kind of proud of making that work.
How much footage did you see when you wrote the songs?
RN: They animate parts of it needed for the songs. That song that Tiana sings while she is gathering the plates, the rhythm is part of the arrangement of the song, and the animators have to hit it. With the score, it's already animated and I have to hit stuff like that.
The film focuses a lot on Tiana's dream of owning her own restaurant. What are your dreams?
RN: Actual dreams, I never remember. They say that you can remember if you write them down right when you wake up but I never did. Or if I did, I don't remember! [laughs] I always had things I wanted to happen. I have never liked to write much, I have never liked to write much. I have always hoped that I would reach a point where I would. You get to that point, but as we all know, when there's nothing and you have to write something and you have a deadline, it's kind of a drag! There is the old saying ‘Only a fool ever wrote for anything but money', now that's not necessarily true. I always wanted to have that joy in my work; get up in the morning and just spring to the piano. I am better that I used to be when I was a kid but still... That's such a grim dream! I should have saved that one for Eastern Europe! [laughs] This is beyond my wildest dreams. If you know my songs, I am such an un-Disney-like songwriter and for me to have done about seven pictures for Disney is remarkable. Walt would have had someone shot for hiring me! [laughs]
Why do you think Disney has gone back to the format of the musical after such a long hiatus?
RN: One of the reasons is that John Lasseter, even though he was the initiator of computer animation - he made the first viable films and has had enormous success - he has a great affection for the form and he has a deep affection for this picture. There is something about it that he really likes. Part of it is that all these people who are employed are very good at what they do, and if they don't do these any more, they don't have anything to do... It's in no sense a welfare project - ‘let's keep them busy, they deserve to be busy' - but it would be nice if people with that kind of talent could stay in the motion picture business. Say we are in another city, with no musical history, it might be a very different kind of picture. The fact that they picked New Orleans, where music is in the air, sort of, and it's out on the streets - they have trumpet players going through the streets - I think it makes it legitimate. I mean, there is no problem with people singing in this picture. There was none of the usual ‘how are we gonna get away with this?' kind of thing. Could you make West Side Story, as great as that is - the best musical music there has ever been - could someone stick their head out of a window in Harlem and start singing...? Maybe [laughs] They could, especially in an avant-garde kind of picture, especially animated... Tah dah! [laughs]
You wrote It's a Jungle out there for Monk, how was that?
RN: It was to be a minute long, and that's exactly what it is. It was just a song for the TV show that tried to depict this hypochondriacal, cantankerous mindset.
Are you old fashioned in the way that you compose, or are you always looking for new technology?
RN: I don't know if technology has helped me or hurt me. I used to write at a piano and write everything down... I still write everything down, but being at a synthesiser there will be a place where I will try to decide between trumpet and clarinet and I will test it out. You can spend too much time getting it good on your machine... I do. Kids now... The next generation of composers - the ones I see at universities - they are very good at making mock ups on synthesisers. On television in the US, there is no real music in any show but The Simpsons, King of the Hill and maybe lost occasionally have real music. So kids starting out are not going to have a real orchestra to work with.
Words - Brogen Hayes
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG opens in Irish cinemas on Feb 5th 2010
Stay tuned for more Princess and The Frog features later this week.