Interview : Trumbo composer – Theo Shapiro

Theodore Shapiro is talking about scoring The Devil Wears Prada almost ten years ago. You might not know the name, but you’ve sure heard his work. (Tropic Thunder, Game Change, We’re the Millers.) This year, his work can be heard on the new Jay Roach film, Trumbo. He’s no stranger to working with Roach either, this is their fifth collaboration, Shapiro talks about reuniting with Roach and what techniques he used for composing the score.

Theo Shapiro: This is my fifth film with Jay. He had asked me to do it early on. It’s obviously a thrill to work on anything with Jay because he’s such a wonderful collaborator, a superb director, really smart, and an incredibly nice guy. Working with him is a real privilege.

Awards Daily: Tell me about the score itself and where you drew your inspiration from?

TS: Before Jay Roach was ready for me to start writing music, he asked me if I knew of any scores that would be good to use as temporary music for the movie. I had a clear sense of what I wanted the music to be, but I didn’t know of any scores that were like it. So, I sat down and wrote a suite of music that I had envisioned being an effective sound for the movie. It had different aspects of what I thought the Trumbo story and character would be. That really ended up serving as the template for the whole score. It was one of those things where my guess about what was going to work really ended up being in synch with what Jay was looking to do.

AD: How long did it take you to score?

TS: I think I worked on it for three or four months.

AD: Did you have to go back and redo any parts after?

TS: Once we recorded everything in the beginning of May, that was the end.

AD: One thing about the score is it’s really enticing, much like a lot of your scores. What’s your secret?

TS: That’s interesting. In this case, I’ve always tried to synthesize some kind of a sound of out disparate elements. I knew I wanted to do something with a prepared piano where you take a piano and turn it into a weird percussive instrument. I wanted to create dance thick harmonies that were evocative of the film’s era. I had a tune in my head and I put those ideas together, stirred them around, and hopefully it came out as something fresh and unusual. When I’m able to work on a movie where I feel I’m able to do something like that, and synthesize something new out of interesting parts, that’s the thing that makes me happiest as a composer.

AD: You’ve got a few songs in this film, do you approach a film differently that has a soundtrack?

TS: For sure. Although in this case, the songs were all period songs. Many of them occur as source music where it’s playing in a bar or on the radio, and so in this case, I felt like the score was doing something more specific  than what the songs were doing. Both had their own lived in space without fighting with one another. Sometimes it’s different and you really need to make the score blend with the songs. That wasn’t the case with this movie though.

AD: You mentioned that you had three months to put the score together, do you prefer working when you have a longer time-frame or do you work best under pressure.

TS: I’ve done things when I’ve done a score in a short amount of time, and I’ve been proud of that. For the most part, it needs to be in the sweet spot. If there’s too much time, it’s not actually a good thing because inevitably one’s work stretches out into the amount of time you have. If you’re on a movie too long you can forget the original impulses you have. The point of inspiration then becomes diffused. The core idea gets spread out. When you have too little time, it can be great, but it’s also a stress because you’re rolling the dice that everything’s going to click at once. You just want enough time, but not too much.

AD: Have you had a time when you’ve had to re-do a score after it’s been done?

TS: [Laughs] I did a movie called Heist. I did the scoring, we got to the mix stage and it was a pretty key moment towards the end of the film, and David said “I don’t really like this part.” There was no money to redo and go to the scoring stage. So, we deal with it editorially, we took pieces and it worked, but it was a terrifying feeling.

It happens. Sometimes it’s a situation where there’s no time to re-write, so you find a way to do it editorially and hope for the best.

AD: What’s been the most fun film for you to score?

TS: All my films are my kids in some way. I do love all of them. Along the way to name a handful, I loved working on Trumbo, I loved working on Spy with Paul Feig. I had a great time on Walter Mitty, and on The Devil Wears Prada. I enjoyed working on I Love You, Man, that was delightful. St. Vincent was also great. I love my job, and when you’re working on a movie that’s really good. I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

AD: Did you always want to be a composer?

TS: I was always a serious musician. My parents had hoped I’d find a more serious career than music. I’m very happy to say that I didn’t find a more serious profession. I went to college thinking I would have music as a hobby, but kept on wanting to do it. Thankfully, I was able to make it my life’s work.

AD: Do you listen to your music after you’ve done it?

TS: Never. I used to have a five year rule. I wouldn’t watch a movie that I had scored five years after I did it. When I watch a movie that I’ve worked on, all I see is what I perceive as the shortcomings of why didn’t I do something else. So, after five years when I’ve forgotten what I did, I’m able to watch things and think, “that’s not so bad.” It takes that much time to wipe out my anxieties.

AD: What’s next for you?

TS: I’m working on Zoolander 2. I’m about to work on the new Ghostbusters 2 with Paul Feig, so it’s all very exciting.

AD: Do you have a preference to scoring comedies over drama?

TS: I love doing comedies. I would like to do more dramas because I’d like to have variety. But, what’s enjoyable is working on good movies in any genre.