Danny Elfman: Superhero Franchises Need To Learn From 'Star Wars'

Let’s face it, nothing about “Justice League” feels fully formed. The collision of Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon‘s work neutered both their directorial touches and the film feels like it was patched together into something that would run two hours long. Nothing about it feels like a complete vision. So, it’s not a big shock to hear that Danny Elfman was left to run and gun when it came to replacing Junkie XL and delivering the score.

“I got the call from Joss very last-second,” Elfman told THR. “I got the call and it was, ‘You have to decide now and then go to work tomorrow.’ ”

Since there was little time to waste, interestingly, Elfman was given a rough cut of the final movie. Even though unused scenes from the movie have leaked online, the composer put music exactly to the scenes that made the theatrical version — no more, no less.

“I had a lot of storyboards in place of action. There would be full scenes and then a five-minute sequence of storyboards. Honestly, it was like working on an animated film,” he said. “I didn’t score any of the unused footage — the movie that came out is the movie I scored, it was just in very rough form.”

Elfman has been through this before with Whedon. When he scored “Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” he was replacing Brian Tyler, and wound up rescoring “either half or two-thirds of the film.” This time around, he had a “blank slate,” with the only piece of music he had to work around being the atrocious cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “Everybody Knows” by Sigrid.

There has been much chatter about the composer repurposing John Williams‘ classic Superman theme, and his own Batman theme from Tim Burton’s 1989 film, but Elfman defends his decision, with some pretty sound reasoning.

“The whole concept that every time a superhero franchise is rebooted with a new director, then you have to start the music from scratch, is a bullshit idea. It’s only for the ego of the director or the composer,” he explained. “They need to learn the incredible lesson that ‘Star Wars’ and James Bond have known for ages, which is that keeping these musical connections alive is incredibly satisfying for the people who see those films.”

Elfman points to his work on “Mission: Impossible,” which saw him incorporate the original theme by Lalo Schifrin, as another example of not forgetting the past. “It would’ve been crazy to exclude it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a decade old or 70 years old,” he said. “Give me a reboot of any old film and I can take the themes and use them in a way that feels fresh.”

Again, it makes a lot of sense, and Elfman further underscores his point that Spider-Man — which has been through a few different versions already — doesn’t have a signature sound (and let’s face it, we all still remember the classic animated show song).

There are lots of lessons that DC Films are likely taking away from this weekend, but hopefully, Elfman’s words aren’t forgotten.