Elfman replaces Williams on Indiana Jones; Shaiman and Newman team up to write songs (APRIL FOOLS)

Posted on April 1, 2008 by Dan Goldwasser



Shocking news from Hollywood, where Academy Award-winning composer John Williams’ score for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been tossed out, and a new score by composer Danny Elfman has just been recorded. It is unclear why director Steven Spielberg replaced the score, but we’ve got the exclusive pictures from the replacement session.


Out goes Williams’ gear; in comes Elfman’s!

Pete Anthony conducts Elfman’s Indiana Jones score as Spielberg looks on

French horns play on Elfman’s Indiana Jones

In the booth, Elfman’s usual scoring team was busy working away, including scoring mixer Dennis Sands, orchestrators Steve Bartek and Edgardo Simone, MIDI programmer Marc Mann, and ProTools recordist Mike Atwell.


Auricle click-track operator Richard Grant also cross-posts to Ain’t It Cool News as "Scorekeeper"

Just in case it was forgotten, a handy-dandy guide to conducting 5/4 (and the celli are to the right)!

With the tone of the film shifting heavily during post-production, screenwriter David Koepp was required to make some alterations. Accordingly, songwriters Randy Newman and Marc Shaiman were brought in to collaborate and write new melodies for what has turned into a musical extravaganza that will rival Moulin Rouge.


Randy Newman conducts a song from Indiana Jones as co-writer Marc Shaiman stands by him

Cellist Steve Erdody falls asleep during a boring moment in the score, wearing his favorite Fedora hat

The woodwind section on Elfman’s Indiana Jones

Bets were collected to see how long it would be before the score was replaced again!

Director Steven Spielberg speaks with replacement composer Danny Elfman

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: The Musical Extravaganza will not be released on May 22, 2008. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, featuring music by John Williams, will be released then. Happy April Fools.