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The last time we saw Feathers McGraw he was behind bars having committed a brazen diamond heist using\u00a0The Wrong Trousers<\/em>. But the slippery character (a penguin, not a chicken don’t forget) is out and back for revenge on the pair who saw him locked up, over 30 years ago: Wallace & Gromit. Their latest adventure,\u00a0Vengeance Most Fowl<\/em>, premieres on BBC One on Christmas Day (dropping on Netflix on 3 January) and is set to be one of the highlights of the festive television schedule.<\/p> There\u2019s nothing \u2018small screen\u2019 about this brilliant little epic, though, as Aardman (the studio behind all of the duo\u2019s prior adventures, including 2005\u2019s feature film,\u00a0The Curse of the Were-Rabbit<\/em>) have thrown their heart and soul in to making\u00a0Vengeance Most Fowl<\/em>\u00a0as cinematic as possible. That goes for the music, too, which is composed by\u00a0Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Mission: Impossible<\/em>\u00a0composer Lorne Balfe and Wallace & Gromit\u2019s original maestro, Julian Nott.<\/p> I caught up with the pair for a chat about Wallace & Gromit\u2019s long-awaited return, working with one of the most iconic themes written for the screen and just what it takes to deliver music for a painstaking, detail-filled production like\u00a0Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl<\/em>.<\/p> Well, I have been part of the world of\u00a0Wallace and Gromit<\/em>\u00a0once before, having written some additional music for\u00a0The Curse of the Were-Rabbit<\/em>, but as a fan and as an audience member it has been part of my world. It\u2019s so quintessentially British, it has been part of my life and so has the theme (by Julian); it lives outside of what you\u2019re watching. So, it has now become part of folklore now.<\/p> No, not at all. I mean feature films are getting longer and longer now; if they don\u2019t last four hours, the audience feels they\u2019ve been cheated or something.\u00a0<\/p> Julian: And it\u2019s not a short film like the original\u00a0Wallace & Gromit<\/em>\u00a0films, it\u2019s a good hour isn\u2019t it?<\/p> Lorne: Yeah, I think we\u2019re on 78 minutes or something like that.<\/p> Julian: It\u2019s definitely more like a feature; it\u2019s big and bold, and it\u2019s long.<\/p> Julian: I think Lorne is the detail man, he\u2019s the expert at making these exciting, vast musical soundscapes. I\u2019ve done more of the thematic work on it.<\/p> Lorne: This world on animation is so different to any of the other form, because it\u2019s a far more complicated process. You\u2019re working to sketch drawings that aren\u2019t finished, and it has been a long process. I think that the way movies are now, to do something by yourself is just next to impossible. If somebody says they do, I think they\u2019re telling porkies! It\u2019s just impossible; you\u2019re having to work as a team, and we were very lucky that we\u2019d had an experience before on\u00a0Were-Rabbit<\/em>, so we knew each other. There\u2019s a trend in sequels to not be loyal to the past, and no matter what there\u2019s a trend to drop themes and not use them, and I said to Julian from the beginning that their music is part of their characters, so we have to be connecting to the past and we had to use the themes, because it\u2019s part of their legacy. It has been very much about keeping it in the past but making it for a newer audience.<\/p> Lorne: The Feathers McGraw theme is very much there, and yes Wallace\u2019s theme is back. I think what\u2019s back is that style that Julian created; it\u2019s very much that feeling of, when required, film noir, quintessential British sound and classical style. There are new themes, too, but they\u2019re all very much still connected to the past.<\/p> Lorne: Well, there\u2019s the gnome theme for one of the new main characters! That doesn\u2019t give anything away\u2026<\/p> Julian: It\u2019s very much in the Wallace & Gromit style of music and it does, to me, feel like it\u2019s Wallace & Gromit. It\u2019s a bit more fast paced; it\u2019s got Lorne\u2019s Hollywood slant to it, so it\u2019s big, it\u2019s fast and its exciting, but it still feels like you\u2019re in the Wallace & Gromit world I would say.<\/p> Well there\u2019s quite a history there, because what Nick intended to do with Wallace & Gromit was quite different from what it ended up being. He wrote a very long script, but he had to animate it in the evenings; and he discovered that he\u2019d only got to about page ten of the script after five or six years! So what was originally intended never quite materialised and it became a sort of compromise. Nick is from up above Manchester and he came down to us in the south, and I think he thought that none of us knew that there was such a thing as \u2018the North of England\u2019, and that we were all very \u2018home counties\u2019 down here at film school. The main thing he wanted was for me to give it a \u2018Northern flavour\u2019, that was his big thing, so he wanted a brass band. If you remember the advert for Hovis (bread) with the brass band and the colliery in the town, he just wanted it to remind the audience of that kind of thing. When we got to\u00a0The Wrong Trousers<\/em>\u00a0(1993) he wanted a brass band to score it, and it turned out that a brass band was the most expensive option. So, we couldn\u2019t afford it and just had a few brass instruments.<\/p> I sure did! I should be at the top of many composer\u2019s Christmas lists, because I bring them royalties regularly.<\/p> Very rarely do I have a conversation with the composers, because there\u2019s an argument of \u2018why weren\u2019t they brought on to do it?\u2019 Also, there\u2019s normally a lot of problems with ownership; just because you work on a franchise it doesn\u2019t mean you can use the theme, so there\u2019s always an issue with restrictive use which we obviously don\u2019t have here as it\u2019s all part of the Aardman family. But I always just try to think about what it\u2019s like to be the audience; if I\u2019m playing a\u00a0Harry Potter<\/em>\u00a0videogame and I don\u2019t hear the theme, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018why haven\u2019t you used the theme?\u2019 It\u2019s hand I hand. We saw it with things like the\u00a0Terminator<\/em>\u00a0franchise, some of them would just never use the theme and you\u2019d wonder why. There are egos, and also the feeling that it\u2019s a different story and needs different themes, but I never understand that. It\u2019s about what the audience want to hear and want to feel, because that\u2019s what the themes are there for; it\u2019s for us to connect automatically to the character, even if it\u2019s a different story.<\/p> Yeah, thankfully you know it. But it\u2019s then about how do you use it in a different way, so that the audience doesn\u2019t necessarily feel that it\u2019s there, but the essence of it is. I\u2019ve been hearing that Wallace & Gromit theme since 1989, and as a composer you\u2019re always humming things and you\u2019re always trying to think of other ways to do it. It\u2019s the same as when I started on\u00a0Mission: Impossible<\/em>, I had a step ahead, because I\u2019ve known of it for over forty years. It\u2019s part of our heritage in some way.<\/p> Julian: Of course, what often happens is that producers want to modernise things and want to make it relevant for the day. We don\u2019t really have that problem with Wallace & Gromit because they\u2019re always in the same world and the same place in time that they always were. I don\u2019t have the same need to bring it up to date, that you might have with some older themes.<\/p> Lorne: If you\u2019ve got a good theme you can make it sad, or you can make it happy. I think that\u2019s what it comes down to. I mean look at\u00a0Star Wars<\/em>\u00a0for goodness sake; there\u2019s fine examples of Luke Skywalker\u2019s theme being manipulated to do both things. So I think a good theme makes it easier for you to be able to do these mood changes.<\/p> Julian: There\u2019s a theme in this film which Lorne has one moment it\u2019s a happy comedy theme and the next it\u2019s used as if it\u2019s horror music!<\/p> Lorne: It\u2019s about arranging and orchestration, and that\u2019s been part of film underscoring since the beginning; to take lines or melodies or hooks and change the emotion but still feel connected.<\/p> Lorne: I\u2019m the last person to ask regarding re-focusing! I think it\u2019s fair to say that I work on multiple emotions constantly. But we have to these days; the way of film, TV and game-making, composers have to be able to multitask. Especially with games; sometimes people will be on it for two years and there\u2019s not necessarily things to do. As much as some people like to go, \u2018artistically I can\u2019t do this\u2026\u2019 it is a job and you have to be able to\u2026 it\u2019s not like being a character actor where even leaving the set you have to be in the zone. I think a composer has got to multitask more and more; it\u2019s a long process.<\/p> Lorne: Yes! Because as composers there will be nothing to do for spells of time, and you just have to\u2026 I think the hardest thing is cracking the nut of style and approach, and we had that from Julian. We knew what the approach and style was going to be; it wasn\u2019t a different headspace; you could start by already knowing it.<\/p> Julian: It\u2019s good to be working on different jobs at the same time, because it\u2019s boring to be doing the same thing. Far from it being a problem I think it\u2019s a benefit; one day you can be doing some dark music, the next comedy. That keeps you happy.<\/p> Lorne: We both know composers who just stick in one genre, like horror or something. The tricky thing with that is how do you reinvent yourself, if you\u2019re always emotionally telling the same musical story? How do you discover something else? It\u2019s no different to a songwriter; if they just only wrote the same tempo and mood of song, they\u2019d run out. The difference is you have lyrics, so there\u2019s different expression there, but I think if you do a horror film, there\u2019s things you learn from that and then you go in and do a romantic comedy, you still use those things you\u2019ve learned. Our job is to help be part of the storytelling; it\u2019s not necessarily about the style of the music, it\u2019s about how to write something to help tell a story. I think being able to go between genres, as Julian said, is essential because it makes us progress.<\/p> Lorne, this is not quite the Hollywood epic canvas you\u2019ve been used to lately; what was the draw of this project for you?<\/strong><\/h3>
Working on something slightly shorter form, after the likes of\u00a0Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>, is no less stimulating for a composer I imagine?<\/strong><\/h3>
What was the process like between the two of you working on the score?<\/strong><\/h3>
What is returning, musically, other than the classic Wallace & Gromit theme?<\/strong><\/h3>
Are you allowed to tell us what some of the new themes are, and what they\u2019re connected to?<\/strong><\/h3>
Julian, do you recall what Nick Park asked of you, musically, back when you were first talking about 1989\u2019s\u00a0A Grand Day Out<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h3>
Photo: Photo: Wallace & Gromit<\/em> composers Lorne Balfe and Julian Nott (Getty Images)<\/h6>
Lorne, you\u2019ve worked with a fair few iconic themes by other composers of late \u2013 Harold Faltermeyer, Lalo Schifrin, Mark Mancina\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>
And what is that process like, when you first approach existing material? Do you ever speak to the original composer?<\/strong><\/h3>
I imagine with a theme as iconic as this one by Julian, you know it instinctively in order to work with it?<\/strong><\/h3>
Part of the job must be working out where you\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0use those themes\u2026 and whether they\u2019re versatile enough to be used in whatever way the story requires?<\/strong><\/h3>
I imagine, given the length of time a film like this takes to make, you\u2019ll be working on it alongside other things. How do you pivot or re-focus between projects like that?<\/strong><\/h3>
So is it more about scheduling and time management then?<\/strong><\/h3>
Your filmography is really varied, Lorne. You really have honed the ability to jump from one genre to another\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>