On Harry Gregson-Williams, Composer

Wild about Harry
By Jeff Bond
May 2, 2007

My first impression of Harry was a small bundle of energy," director Andrew Adamson says of his composer collaborator on 2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" and Buena Vista's planned 2008 release "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

He might be on to something. [...]

Adamson, too, praises Gregson-Williams for his creative flexibility. The pair first joined forces for 2001's "Shrek," which the New Zealand-born filmmaker co-directed with Vicky Jenson, and subsequently partnered for 2004's "Shrek 2" and the "Narnia" films.

While both franchises appeal to family audiences, they couldn't be more different in tone. But Adamson says he didn't hesitate to bring Gregson-Williams onboard for the live-action fantasy films, noting that Gregson-Williams is just plain fun to work with. [...]

"To him, the music comes first, and then he almost finds the application," Adamson continues. "On the 'Narnia' series, when we started with that -- before he'd even seen anything -- he said, 'I've got this big heroic theme that I'm imagining at a coronation or something,' and he sat down and played it for me on piano. It was beautiful, and it became one of the strongest themes in the film. He seems to have a very intuitive approach to film music."

The composer will debut a concert suite of his "Narnia" music with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on May 19, and he already has begun thinking about the second film in the series, "Prince Caspian." "I've read the script, and there are a couple areas that I'm researching, but really it's a very different story," Gregson-Williams says. "Hopefully, we'll be able to hang on to one or two of the cues and develop them, but it's quite dark, actually. I'm really looking forward to it."