Henry Jackman On Composing For a New, Otherworldly Realm for Disney’s ‘Strange World’

Creating the sound of a new world has to be a dream for any composer. It is an opportunity to inspire an entire generation of families both visually and aurally. Disney’s Strange World is a throwback to the kind of movies we love to see with a big crowd. It has towering action, bursting colors, and humor to spare. Composer Henry Jackman was thrilled to write music for an new, enduring adventure

We immediately get a sense of nostalgia when we listen to Jackman’s score. It pairs with the picture in such an exciting way, and you can hear the loving nods to John Williams and James Newton Howard’s work. Jackman wanted to compose a bold, orchestral score.

“I have a profound love for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, and Adam Silvestri’s Predator, and the orchestral scores,” he said. “It’s not often that a big, ambitious, adventurous movie comes along and hits the Jumanji-esque sweet spot for families. We all honed in on unleashing a symphony orchestra in a historical, virtuoso context. Why don’t we wheel out the big, symphonic sounds? If you can write that style, it’s great to use a big, thematic, [John] Williams-esque score in an unadulterated, sincere way. There hasn’t been that kind of films like that lately, and it makes you think of the work of the late James Horner or James Newton Howard or John Williams. It was nice to pay a bit of homage.”

Before we dive into a strange, new world, we are introduced to Avalonia, and Jackman gives as much respect to home as he does Strange World. In Avalonia Part I and Avalonia Part II, the music is more relaxed and warm. It’s nostalgic in an entirely different way. We have to immediately love the world we are trying to get back to.

“Like all good films where you have to go to another world, you have to establish the safe world begin,” he said. “It’s true of Jumanji and Tron, so Avalonia represents the pastoral, agricultural utopia before there is something wrong and the adventure begins. The harmonic language that gets used once you enter Strange World is deliberately a little “otherly” and represents a mysterious place. Avalonia musically has two things about it that is different that Strange World. Firstly, those are the only cues where there’s dulcimers, guitars, and a bass line and more pop percussion. The chords being used are safe, and the overall feeling is meant to present homeliness. The Pando world of Avalonia has a bit of technology to it, so that’s why there are some instruments that aren’t traditionally classical. There are shakers, marimbas, and some acoustic guitar. There’s a touch of pop music to it.”

There are rich textures throughout in relation to the history of the Clade family. Jaeger Clade is reminiscent of Indiana Jones, and he is cocky, doofy, and fun-loving while his grandson, Ethan, is sweet and tentative. In a rather genius move, Jackman colors music depending on the qualities they share. As Ethan grows more confident, we hear notes that remind us of his grandfather.

“A thing that I learned is that you don’t want an endless list of themes for characters,” Jackman said. “For the Jaeger Clade song at the beginning, I wrote the melody, and then the music got expanded for the adventure theme of the film. Jaeger’s music has a tenacity to it–it’s very male and you can feel the greatness of the man. The adventure to having an adventure theme rather than having specific cue for Searcher or Ethan is that you can use permutations in different ways and plant it onto different characters depending on what is happening. With Ethan, that is more mysterious since he’s  fish out of water, and it has a bit of the Strange World theme to it. When he pulls himself together a bit more, he can get some of the adventure theme added to it.”

There are thrilling music motifs throughout Strange World, and a highlight is definitely when the family is being chased by squid-like creates named Reapers. There is a perpetual motion to Jackman’s cue that flood your ears with danger and anxiety.

“With ‘Attack of the Reapers,’ there is some of the DNA of the world churned into a speeded up ostinato,” Jackman said. “Instead of long notes sustained like in the overture, I take those notes and speed the tempo since they are being chased. Another thing that keeps is grounded in that moment is not just the jeopardy permutation but there are bursts of heroism. So you will get a burst of Jaeger or Calisto fanfare while they are being chased by these creatures.”

How do you not go off the rails when we see things we have never seen before? It would be tempting to make the score for Strange World wonky with dozens of dissonant cues. Jackman points out that he used more orchestral music to aid the strange images. It’s been part of our world all along.

“To be honest, the thing that really delivers of the mystery and otherworldiness of Strange World isn’t so much on relying odd sounding textures,” he said. “It’s more about the actual composition. There is a track called ‘Strange World Overture’ that is a piece of music that I composed away from picture that I wanted to represent the film. A lot of what makes it otherworldly is the type of chords used and the arc of the melody. It’s unusual chords, but there are some extended colors. I use some choir in the film, and it’s half real choir and half synth choir with some effects on it so it feels not of this earth. When there are arpeggios in the orchestra, there is a little bit of synth arpeggios that go with it. It’s a version of augmented reality with that subtle synth. Just to make it a bit odd.”

Strange World is in theaters now, and it will debut on Disney+ on December 23.