Eric Serra's GoldenEye

I realized there doesn't seem to be a thread dedicated to Eric Serra's score, so thought I'd start one up. Especially after having ready this passage from the book "Some Kind of Hero" that gets into the dysfunction behind the making of the score. Would have preferred to start such a thread on the news of a complete soundtrack being released by La La Land Records, but beggars can't be choosers.

Quote :

Luc Besson's regular composer, Eric Serra fresh from scoring LEON (1994) was suggested by Campbell, "I got it into my head that we are in the nineties, we've got to update this musically." Serra visited Leavesden and noted eighty percent of the temp track on the rough cut was his LEON score, "proving that they really were fans of my work." However, due to album commitments, Serra declined. Barbara Broccoli would not take no for an answer, "She told me I would have the end title song and that I could choose the record company. I couldn't say no anymore!" Beginning work in summer 1995 Serra was given "cart blanche", Serra felt he captured all the musical moods within the first twelve minutes of score which he played early for filmmakers:

Serra: I wanted feedback, I needed to know if I was going in the right direction. For the whole time Martin Campbell and the editor were kind of talking about their own work, clearly they were not really listening. At the end they turned to me, "It's great Eric. We love it, it's fantastic. Keep going." And they left.

Later, editor Terry Rawlings had reservations, "When we came to the big scenes, like the tank chase, I asked Barbara and Michael and Martin to come over. 'We cannot mix the music he has given us because it doesn't work'". Serra was chagrined, "C'mon, if you wan to do something completely new and modern, you don't let a 65 year old guy [Rawlings] be the master of it." The cue in question, a version of the James Bond Theme entitled "A Pleasant Drive in St. Petersburg" was for Serra "completely new, completely modern, every half-second there was something effectively synced between the image and the music." Following an alternative tradition established by George Martin, Marvin Hamilisch, and Bill Conti, Eric Serra updated Monty Norman's theme for the new decade - Bond '95, if you will. Serra felt, "You could have taken all the foleys and the sound effects out", and the music would have perfectly punctuated the action. However, for Campbell that was the problem, "The tank and the rumble of the synths were all in the same tonal range." The french composer declined the request to re-score, but, with his approval, Serra's orchestrator, John Altman, conducted a more traditional version of the James Bond Theme for the sequence. This was at Cubby Broccoli's request only one week before the final print was completed and screened.

Serra was extremely disappointed with the sound mix when he saw GoldenEye for the first time at the premiere. Voicing his frustration to Michael Wilson, while on a press tour in Japan, Serra remembered the response, "He was looking at me almost like I was talking Chinese. He said 'Eric, you are the Number 1 movie at the box office on the planet and you're not happy?' I was talking to him about an artistic wound that I was feeling".

One last bit is that apparently Serra pitched a song to Tina Turner, but ultimately Bono and the Edge did the collaboration. Makes me wonder if Serra had worked with Turner we would have had that song integrated into the score. Oh well.


What really surprised me reading it was learning that before being hired, EON had his LEON score used as temp tracks. So it’s fairly obvious they knew what they wanted and what they were asking for from Serra, but once he delivered on it they seemed to have gotten cold feet.

Interesting read.

Certainly was the most distinctive of all Bond scores.

Some Kind of Hero is a beautifully structured and key companion book for any Bond fan. However, I recall reading that passage and thinking it was somewhat at odds with Altman's version:

https://bondandbeyond.forumotion.com/t3250-john-altman-explains-the-tank-chase-score

But yes, there's a distinct sound to GE that perfectly fits the film.

I don't mind Serra's tank chase track, but it might have been more fitting as an end credits cue rather than for the action sequence itself. That said, I 100% back The Experience of Love as the chosen piece for the end of the movie.

You said the original Serra track would have taken the tension out of that scene, except I'd argue there's no tension during that chase because it's not supposed to be tense. It's James Bond in a tank plowing through the streets of St. Petersburg like an unstoppable force. That's why Serra's track is the way he composed it, he was complimenting the tone. And that's why Altman's rescore featured a more jaunty rendition of the Bond theme, triumphantly blaring.

Bond is trying to rescue Natalya from Ouromov. Altman captures the outrageousness, sure, but the percussion especially underlines that tension, the reason why Bond's in pursuit. What Serra provided could have made it feel cartoonish.

It already feels cartoonish with Orumov taking swigs off his flask ("use the bumper, that's what it's for!") and seeing policemen crawl out of their crushed vehicles as if it was Looney Tunes, Bond adjusting his tie, etc.

Some might argue the original cue would have been distracting but I've often wondered what it would be like if placed back in the mix against all the effects. I LOVE the track as it is and "Bond 95" is a perfect moniker.
However the Altman quick redo is more fanfare filling and spacious-though it sticks out as being different like a sore thumb. As it goes on some parts have always felt a bit off and the foley is definitely rushed in a few places-the falling smashed pole is too loud etc.

They hired Eric Serra. They didn't like the result. What were they expecting?

They could have gotten Barry here but chickened out IIRC or he was busy. Then on TND they simply wouldn't pay his usual asking fee.

Makeshift Python wrote:

It already feels cartoonish with Orumov taking swigs off his flask ("use the bumper, that's what it's for!") and seeing policemen crawl out of their crushed vehicles as if it was Looney Tunes, Bond adjusting his tie, etc.

Nah. The swigs lighten the mood, sure, but it's never cartoonish. Bond adjusting his tie is classic Bond and the policeman crawling out of the vehicle, well... I'm always in awe of that shot of the tank rolling over the car that it amazes me someone survived it.

HGTB wrote:

Some might argue the original cue would have been distracting but I've often wondered what it would be like if placed back in the mix against all the effects. I LOVE the track as it is and "Bond 95" is a perfect moniker.
However the Altman quick redo is more fanfare filling and spacious-though it sticks out as being different like a sore thumb. As it goes on some parts have always felt a bit off and the foley is definitely rushed in a few places-the falling smashed pole is too loud etc.

They hired Eric Serra. They didn't like the result. What were they expecting?

They could have gotten Barry here but chickened out IIRC or he was busy. Then on TND they simply wouldn't pay his usual asking fee.

I'd love if they could provide an "alternate version" of the tank chase but with Bond 95 (it is a very good moniker, I agree!) and the foley mix on the special features of a future DVD release.

Altman's track didn't really feel out of place. Only once you know that it's a different composer for that sequence do you realise how the sound has changed. But then again, after hearing We Share The Same Passions and glimpses of That's What Keeps You Alone prior to the tank sequence, as well as the percussion-heavy Run, Shoot and Jump, it's seamless.

As much as I love Barry's work, I wouldn't change a thing about TND's score.