Robert J. Kral

For those who came in late: when Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman decided they wanted to marry Lois and Clark before DC Comics did, the publisher decided to offer its readers an epic storyline of even more massive proportions: the death of the Last Son of Krypton. America’s Boy Scout was not defeated by the dastardly evil intelligence of Lex Luthor but rather by the mindless fury of the creature known as Doomsday. In a cataclysmic confrontation that culminated in Superman #75, the Man of Steel and the homicidal creature kill each other in a double blow and the world is left to mourn its savior. An adaptation of The Death and Return of Superman storyline was recently released as an animated, direct-to-DVD feature, with a voice cast including Adam Baldwin and Anne Heche in the lead. The heroic and violent score was composed by Angel alumnus Robert Kral. SoundtrackNet had the opportunity to talk to the composer about how he scored the death of an icon.

First of all, where does this movie Superman Doomsday fall in terms of continuity? Was it made as a tie-in to the movie franchise or something completely independent of it?

Superman Doomsday is not connected to the continuity of previous shows. Bruce Timm [the co-director and co-writer] wanted this to feel like a new movie that stands on its own, something that works as a stand-alone presentation.

How were you brought onto the project?

Bruce Timm was familiar with my work on Angel and so I was chosen to be part of the short list of composers auditioning for the project. Warner Bros. provided each composer with two key scenes from the movie along with written directions from Bruce. The scenes were Superman getting pummeled by Doomsday and sacrificing himself, then the following scene of his last talk with Lois where he dies. The direction Bruce gave was extremely specific and detailed. I don’t know who the other composers were on this short list, but Bruce loved my work and also pointed out that I took every direction he gave (which was quite a challenge due to the detail!).

How much time were you given to deliver the score?

About five weeks. However, Warner Bros. is very good at choosing and notifying composers very early on about their projects. So I had some extra time in the back of my mind to think about it also, though I didn’t write anything until we officially began because I needed to be sure my ideas were in line with Bruce Timm’s.

Was there talk at any point of bringing John Williams’ themes in it or did they want something 100% distinct from the get-go?

Bruce was very sure about not bringing in Williams’ theme, nor did he want it to be even in that style. I had originally been incorrectly told by Warner Bros. that they were looking for a John Williams style theme. So I did this, but Bruce pointed out right away that this isn’t what he was looking for at all. He pointed out that this style reminded him of Korngold and very old-fashioned scoring. That’s not to put down Williams’ Superman Theme, but if you hear it in a certain way, it’s very peppy and happy and Bruce was looking for a totally different theme with a different feel. So I tried again, thinking more along the lines of Lord of the Rings, a sense of deadly seriousness and less rousing heroics. Bruce absolutely loved it. It’s such a different feel for Superman’s Theme, but we both really believe it works for this story. I do get a kick out of the fact that it really is different for Superman, rather than a rehash with the usual musical triplet, over-the top-heroics.

What made Williams’ Superman Fanfare and March so pure and noble was his repetitive use of the tonic and dominant, keeping the melody really simple. Did you use any such trick in your Superman Theme or did you go with your instincts?

This was much more about instincts. Williams’ style in Superman, as with Star Wars, is based on a musical technique that answers how to write a strong harmonic fanfare. This new theme is not a fanfare by intention. This is about emotion and the feeling of struggling against a force that could literally take your life away.

How did you tackle Doomsday musically?

Doomsday’s fight and the Clone fight are the two major action sequences of the movie, so Bruce had the idea to intentionally differentiate between them. So for Doomsday we went with a more tribal, primitive musical approach with lots of percussion and very bombastic gestures. Superclone’s fight is more grand and epic, like two gods fighting rather than the machine-like nature of Doomsday.

A sequence I found particularly moving was your treatment of the death of Superman, the way you voiced Superman’s Theme as he shoots up into space with Doomsday, only to come crashing back down into the ground in a last ditch effort to save Metropolis. How did you approach the scoring of that sequence?

This was one of the scenes I did as part of the audition process. I had Bruce’s notes so I knew he wanted it heroic, but in a sacrificial way, like you kind of know what’s coming. The key here is emotion. It’s Superman’s last effort, giving all he possibly can including all of himself. So the melody had to cry out with that emotion and the orchestra had to support the scale and size of the grand act he is undertaking. For the descent, I had originally tried some action, fast-paced material in the backing orchestra (the melody was still heroic/sad), but we later tried replacing it with pure emotion and no action and it worked so much better.

The four impostor Supermen that came forth following Superman’s death have been replaced in the movie by a single Superman clone whose moral sense is very black and white. How did you choose to represent him and is his theme related to the true Superman’s theme?

His theme starts actually with Lex leaving him in the dark when we first realize he’s not the real Superman. The theme came out of the emotion of that scene, this dark twistedness. I hadn’t intended for Superclone to have a theme, but that figure just came to me and it worked so well over the shot of him in the darkness, being left alone like an animal. In a sense, it’s like Superclone is Frankenstein’s creation: a creature left alone with no guidance. It occurred to me that the brass figure would work for him, so I used it again and again. Each time it’s stronger or darker as Superclone defines himself more and more as dangerous. It’s an interesting type of evil because Superclone thinks he is doing the right thing! The theme is not related to Superman’s theme in any way. At least I didn’t intend it to be. But now, I compare the two in my head (only because of your question) and they do sound related because the first phrase of Superman’s theme has a very similar shape.

Did you devise any new sound or technique specifically for this project?

For this story, the key is emotion and I was mostly focused on playing the right emotions and feelings. The orchestra is the palette, whereas with many of my other projects it’s orchestra and synths and effects and/or contemporary percussion, etc. As much as possible, I wanted this to sound purely orchestral and organic without the myriad of unusual sounds I use on Angel and The Dresden Files, for example.

What kind of equipment and sample libraries did you use to generate the music for Superman Doomsday? Have your libraries grown since your time on Angel?

The newest sound source for Superman Doomsday was the Wallander Brass (WIVI) instruments. This hadn’t even been released when I was in the middle of scoring and I asked for permission to use this new technology in the movie. Wallander offers extremely realistic brass-sounding instruments using modeling synthesis techniques. It really is a breakthrough product and I was able to write figures and gestures I normally wouldn’t do with samples due to the usual limitations. I still also used orchestral sounds (including other brass) from Roland, Garritan, Advanced Orchestra, Vienna, etc. But the Wallander discovery was the biggest news for me and a joy to use on the project. My main software is Digital Performer from MOTU, and TASCAM’s Gigastudio (seven machines).