Down To Earth Music:

Thomas Newman & Peter Gabriel Create Cosmic Compositions

Andrew Stanton and composer Thomas Newman got along swimmingly on their first collaboration, "Finding Nemo," so it seemed a natural that the two would come together for an encore on "WALL-E." With its emphasis on visual storytelling and less dialogue, music plays an even greater role than usual in helping the filmmakers create moods and communicate their story. Newman collaborated with rock-and-roll legend Peter Gabriel on a song called "Down to Earth," providing an entertaining musical epilogue to the film.

Stanton observes, "Working with Tom has always been a dream for me. I've been a fan of his music for a long time because he is such an original. I remember first telling him about this new project on the night of the Academy Awards® in 2004 when we were there for 'Nemo.' I said that I have this idea for a film and it involves 'Hello Dolly' and science fiction. I was wondering if he would still speak to me after that. It turns out that the score for 'Hello Dolly' was composed by Tom's legendary uncle, Lionel Newman, so in a sense, we were keeping it all in the family."

"The one thing that's guaranteed when you work with Tom is that you're going to get something that isn't conventional," adds Stanton. "When you request something that comes from a conventional place, like a sci-fi genre, you know you're going to get something with a slight left turn to it. His score always gives the film its own special stamp of identity and it doesn't feel like anything you've ever heard before. For 'WALL-E,' he really found a whole new level of beauty and majesty and scale that was beyond anything I could have imagined."

"In animation, mood happens in smaller increments of time,

seconds sometimes."

~ Thomas Newman, Composer

One of the things that Stanton most admired about Newman's work on "WALL-E" was its ability to capture the big sweeping outer space themes as well as all of the intimacies of the relationship between the two lead robots.

"Tom was able to communicate a sense of the world we were creating with his score," notes Stanton. "There's a scene in the first act where we see WALL-E going about his daily routine and there's a mechanical clockwork aspect to it. The score has a factory-like rhythm to it with almost a faint whistle, almost like whistling while you work. Tom is always able to find the truth of these moments. And with his unique style of overdubs and mixing after he's recorded with the orchestra, he comes up with a fresh palette of sounds. He has a real natural ability to find the intimate emotion in a scene. I think that's why we fit together so well, because my natural inclination is to emphasize the emotional aspect of storytelling."

Newman adds, "Writing music for an animated film is very different than working in live-action. In animation, mood happens in smaller increments of time, seconds sometimes. Here's a mood, and then 'boom,' an action takes place. I learned with 'Nemo' that you couldn't just create a prevailing mood and let it sit very long. Working in animation requires making transitions, and it's about how the music moves from one feeling to another.

"My music tends to be patterned or repeating, so I like to get together with a percussionist or a guitarist who can take these patterns and add to them to make them sonically interesting," says Newman. "If you have repeating phrases oftentimes it allows the ear to hear colors that widen your perception of sound and music. What interests me about music is the depth of it."

"Tom went to London to jam with Peter and it was like this whirlwind romance."

~ Andrew Stanton, Director/Co-Writer

For the song "Down to Earth," which is heard at the end of the film, Stanton had the opportunity to collaborate with another of his musical heroes -- Peter Gabriel. A huge fan of the rock-and-roll legend since he was 12 years old, Stanton contacted Gabriel about writing a song that would be integral to the conclusion of the story.

Stanton recalls, "Working with Peter has been one of the biggest highlights of my professional career. When it came to the ending for our film, I knew that we needed to add some additional story points and create something with a global feel to it. And it suddenly dawned on me that Peter is the father of world music to much of the Western world. I got completely seduced with the idea of putting him and Tom in a room together and seeing what they could come up with. Tom went to London to jam with Peter and it was like this whirlwind romance. Suddenly, there was this amazing Thomas Newman/Peter Gabriel song called 'Down to Earth,' that is just beyond my wildest dreams. Peter's lyrics are so deceivingly simple, but they're spot-on. I was so moved when I heard the lyrics because they were so clever and fit so well. They felt completely indicative of Peter Gabriel, and knowing that it was based on the story I had written and that I had any association whatsoever with -- it really blew my mind."

"It feels very much like a Peter Gabriel song, but it has a connectivity and sensitivity that is Tom's," adds Stanton. "Tom was so inspired by the song that he went back into the movie and rescored some key moments to include some of the same themes. It really feels completely organic and integral to the film."

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