A few months ago we reported that when the release of The Wolfman was put back from Novermber to February, one of the concequences was that composer Danny Elfman had to drop out of writing the music for the film. He mas already committed to working on other films (most notably Alice In Wonderland) and so didn’t have time in his diary to complete The Woldman score on the new schedule.
He was replaced by former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger, who wrote the forgettable scores for the likes Death Race, Underworld and Shoot ‘Em Up. However it now seems that Haslinger is out and Elfman is back in… sort of.
According to Cinemusic, Elfman won’t actually be personally working on the movie, but instead they’re going to take the music he’d already written for The Wolfman, and then bring in additional composers to stitch it all together and make it fit the finished film. One of those beavering away on the music will be Conrad Pope, who has worked extensively as an orchestrator for Elfman in the past, so presumably knows his style.
An additional 25-30 minutes of music will also be needed from the composers, who will presumably take what Elfman has done and create something on a similar theme.
Although it would have been good to have Elfman on the case personally, it’s probably better to use what he’d done for The Wolfman and adapt it rather than ditch it in favour of Haslinger, who’s work so far has been passable but unmemorable. We’ll have to wait and see whether it all comes together when The Wolfman is released on February 12th.