Danny Elfman is the man behind some seriously iconic scores like Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton's Batman and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. He’s also the man behind The Simpsons theme. It’s safe to say he has an incredibly impressive resume, and he is more than fit to take on any musical challenge. Well, his latest project proved to be his greatest challenge as he scored a full TV series for the first time. However, it wasn’t just any series, he composed the score for the mega-hit Wednesday, a show that has now gone viral on TikTok for it's music, outfits and more.
Elfman has scored lots of Tim Burton’s work, so it made perfect sense that he’d be the man behind the musical magnificence of Wednesday. However, the hit series proved to be a big challenge for the legendary composer because he was expected to make a lot more music than he would for just a film. In an interview with IndieWire Elfman opened up about how challenging composing Wednesday was, saying:
I brought on a partner, Chris Bacon, to work with me because I’d never done episodic television. I was afraid that there was going to be a learning curve that was going to be kind of crushing. And it was. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, you’re dealing with delivering full scores, almost as long as a film score actually, every 10 days.
Between Elfman and Chris Bacon the two composed 48 songs for the Wednesday soundtrack to go along with preexisting songs like “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps (the song behind Wednesday's viral dance moves). While Jenna Ortega worked in nods to the classic Wednesday through her performance, dancing and costumes, Elfman also worked subtle Addams Family references into his score.
He explained that while working with Burton in the past on preexisting intellectual property, like Batman and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the director didn’t want hints back to the film’s original scores. However, for Wednesday they couldn’t help but give a little nod to the classic snaps from The Addams Family theme. Elfman explained that while the score was hard to produce:
There never was an easier thematic piece to pay homage to.
Along with Wednesday’s iconic fashion, the incredible cast of the Addams Family spin-off, and the gothic set pieces, Elfman’s score helped contribute to the aesthetically pleasing show that also paid homage to its altogether ooky predecessor.
I’d say that even though this proved to be quite the challenge for Elfman, the hard work paid off. His cello-heavy opening credits and the chilling score he created with Bacon fit Wednesday perfectly, and truly add to the incredibly unique atmosphere that is Wednesday's world.
To listen to Elfman’s score at work, you can check out the 2022 TV schedule hit with a Netflix subscription.
