It has been 20 years since Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man” changed Hollywood forever, proving that the superhero movie genre offers the opportunity for massive box-office success while also garnering critical appreciation.
“The world that they’ve created since ‘Spider-Man,’ which is the last time we have worked on a Marvel film together, look what’s happened! It’s exploded! It’s become this insane universe,” composer Danny Elfman told Variety at Monday night’s premiere for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in Los Angeles.
“Sam stepped right into this universe with Dr Strange and took it so to the next level,” Elfman continued. “Yet, he brought his own sensibility. It’s like a perfect fusion of Sam Raimi world and Marvel world.”
Elfman, the well-revered composer of numerous iconic scores including “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Men in Black,” returns to work with Raimi for their ninth feature film. The last time they worked together was on 2013’s “Oz The Great and Powerful,” Raimi’s last directorial effort before “Doctor Strange 2.”
“These are all my friends so they know to say good things about me or I’ll beat them up in the car afterwards,” Raimi said jokingly in response to Elfman’s flattering words.
The duo has nothing but good things to say about each other, and their work is already being lauded in early reactions to the blockbuster. Variety’s chief film critic Owen Glieberman singled out one scene in which “Elfman’s ‘Night on Bald Mountain’-meets-doom-rock score excels.” Raimi and Elfman pulled out all the stops and worked tirelessly for this massive, multiverse-hopping film.
“He kept working forever on the movie,” Raimi said of Elfman. “We kept making changes and he would rewrite, rewrite. And, even when I was in the mix after he was all done with the movie, he was off doing some concerto in Europe. And I said, ‘Danny, I need you to do another piece! One more! The hardest piece of the movie!’ And he did! He did so great with that.”
Elfman added: “We had to record it within 48 hours of that phone call. It had to be written and recorded. And we did it! That was the last real thing [we worked on]. And that was only three weeks ago!”
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, is now playing in theaters.
