Interviews
Timothy Williams (Composer)
Turtle Bay: How did you become involved with Stephen
King's Gotham Cafe?
I was asked by Julie Sands if I was interested in scoring her new film. I was very excited to do it and have enjoyed being a part of this great project.
Turtle Bay: Are you a fan of Stephen King?
Yes. I think so often people think of Stephen King as just a horror writer, but I think some of his finest work are the great stories like Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile
Turtle Bay: Tell us about your background as a composer. How do you go about scoring a film?
I have been scoring films since I was 16, when I began with Prep School. I was asked by the director Paul Almond, if I would like to work with the film composer after he heard me playing piano. I co-wrote one of the songs for the film and was hooked ever since. I find that as a composer I react most to the visuals and emotion of a scene. I enjoy reading film scripts before the film shoots, but it is not until the final cut of the film is done that I really begin to start hearing the kind of score a film needs. I try to find the central sound and theme for the film.
Turtle Bay: What types of themes did you address and what was your musical approach for Stephen King's Gotham Cafe?
With Gotham Cafe, Julie had temped the film in an unusual way, using a classical string quartet. I found it worked so well against the picture that I wanted the core score to be based around a string quartet. It played so well in contrast to the characters!
Turtle Bay: How did you get started in this business?
After the first film, I actually moved into theatre music for a while in England, scoring for some of the major West End Theatre. I came back to film later, but I still keep up my theatre background. The last 3 years I have created 9 shows for Disney which range from Aladdin, Snow White to Cinderella. It is a world apart from the film work I do, but great fun!
"Lunch at the Gotham Café" © Stephen
King
Used by permission. All rights reserved