At the beginning of February, director Jon Favreau reported that he was in London, overseeing the scoring of "Iron Man 2." While the first "Iron Man" film was scored by Ramin Djawadi, John Debney has stepped in to compose the music for the sequel. Debney has previously worked with Favreau on "Elf" and "Zathura: A Space Adventure" in addition to dozens of other films, including "Sin City" and "End of Days."
"The score to this film is quite different in many ways from the last score," said Debney during an interview with Metal Insider. "This score while employing much guitar and more contemporary elements, it is also much bigger and darker in tone and scope. This film has a much deeper story arc to it than the first, and I think fans will be quite pleased by both the film and the score. We’ve included a large choir for some of the more dramatic moments even singing in Russian to capture the dark Russian soul of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke)."
Debney also spoke about collaborating with "Rage Against The Machine" guitarist Tom Morello on the "Iron Man 2" score, at Favreau's suggestion.
"Having been a fan of Tom’s for quite awhile, I was thrilled when our director Jon Favreau asked me if I’d consider having Tom play on the soundtrack," related Debney. "My answer was a very enthusiastic 'yes' and [I] was thrilled with what Tom brought to the score. Tom and I worked closely together as Tom added his unique guitar sound to the score. I would write the pieces and then Tom and I would work on guitar parts. I’m thrilled with the outcome as Tom’s personality shines through."
Back in January, it was announced that AC/DC would be releasing an album of their songs which will be used throughout "Iron Man 2." However, Debney indicated that their songs will not play a part in his score.
"The songs and score play two very different roles in the film," said Debney. "Although I’m a huge AC/DC fan, the songs did not influence [the] score."
"I love the idea of major rock bands being involved in the making of film music," added Debney. "However, the craft of creating score differ greatly from the craft of songwriting. To really create a great film score, moods and action must many times be carefully highlighted and it is very helpful to have a good knowledge of the mechanics of film scoring. I feel the most successful blending of these two worlds can occur with the pairing of major band and major film composer, just like I did with Tom Morello. I would craft the piece of score and then bring Tom in to create and work on the guitar textures."
What are your feelings on the merging of rock and film scores? Are you eager to hear Debney's take on "Iron Man"? Let us know what you're thinking in the comment section below or on Twitter!