Where does inspiration come from? How much influence does it have on you? And how does it help any creative get their work across the finish line? These are questions every artist has, and the answers can be wildly different. We interview a lot of composers and everyone has uniquely different stories, yet there is one constant we continually find baffling: they never have any time.
On this episode of The GoSeeTalk Podcast Experience we spent more than an hour with seasoned composer Andrew Kawczynski. Last year, he and Lorne Balfe produced the adrenaline-fueled, head-nodding score to Gran Turismo. If you thought young Jann Mardenborough was in for a rough ride getting into professional racing, the polyphonic pit crew of Kawczynski/Balfe had their own rough ride on this film…but the results were so worth it.
This was an incredibly fun interview and quite special for us as Gran Tursimo was, hands down, our favorite film and score of 2023 (sorry Dial of Destiny and The Covenant, it was a close race). It’s full of pulse-raising themes, hard-hitting synths, horns, dazzling drums, wicked electronic effects, and much, much more. It’s become my new Star Wars, and I’m not even joking. Andrew and Lorne delivered something to Neill Blomkamp‘s film that will impress for years to come. If you haven’t checked it out, do so ASAP!
For more than an hour, we talked about Andrew’s work on what seem like dream projects. But it all started with getting an internship with Hans Zimmer at age 19. I can somehow hear Napoleon Dynamite’s famous “Lucky” line ringing in my head. Anyway, once he got in the door, it became his life and led to contributions on some of the biggest films in the last 10 years: from Wonder Woman to Dunkirk to Dune and some really cool aspects of composing that didn’t even make it in the film. One of which were the multiple variations of Kenny Loggins’ immortal “Danger Zone” for Top Gun: Maverick. That must have been super.
But there’s something special that happened in this session…we got into some deep discussions about why there seems to be such short time frames for composers, and how, many times, the creative fires yield some earth-shattering films scores. Props to Andrew for giving such great insight into his approach, the trials of the job, and the industry as a whole.
But the one point he harks on is the collaborative aspect of music and how a second pair of eyes or ears can create some breath-taking results. He also throws lots of praise to his old boss turned frequent collaborator hinting at some even more impressive titles coming down the pike. So, start your engines, and enjoy this interview with Andrew Kawczynski!
Check out more about Andrew’s work at his official website, follow him on Instagram, and look forward to more of his awesome work on titles like Dune: Part Two and more.
