"Welcome to my life" - HGW

Excerpt from: "Blow it Up and Do It All Over Again"
Published in the New York Times, November 13, 2006
By Laura M. Holson

In October, ago Mr. Bruckheimer attended a music meeting for “Déjà Vu” at a studio in Venice. The meeting was to begin at 4 p.m., but he and Mr. Scott were late. The producer had spent the morning at a screening of “Déjà Vu” and, midday, had been whisked to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, where he introduced Mr. Scott to an eager crowd of Disney movie executives who had gathered for their annual meeting. (Later that night he attended a charity event honoring Mr. Iger.)

Mr. Scott and Mr. Bruckheimer were to review music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams for several movie scenes. Mr. Bruckheimer tends to work with the same people; this was his fifth movie with the composer. Mr. Scott, dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts, sat in a chair and tapped his foot nervously, while Mr. Gregson-Williams fiddled with a few keys on a monitor to bring up the scenes on a large screen. Mr. Bruckheimer, prone to long silences, sat quietly on the couch.

The composer showed a car chase where Mr. Washington followed a killer to a hideout. The music was loud and unrelenting. "It would help us if we had a melody, maybe his melody," said Mr. Bruckheimer, referring to a leitmotif that signaled when Mr. Washington’s character was onscreen. “You zone out. You need something over it that distracts you.”

The exchanges were polite — Mr. Bruckheimer rarely spoke above a loud whisper — but Mr. Gregson-Williams seemed unnerved.

For another scene, Mr. Gregson-Williams had created a haunting melody, but left out the last notes. "You didn’t finish it and if you did, I’d be happy,” Mr. Bruckheimer said.

“All right," said Mr. Gregson-Williams, dejected. "I’ll have another go at that."

As Mr. Bruckheimer and the crew were leaving, the composer turned to a guest and smiled meekly. “Welcome to my life,” he said.

Mr. Bruckheimer said afterward it was up to him to remind the composer of the audience. “I know what I felt it should be, and when he got it there, he loved it,” he said. “You don’t just not do it.”