Elfman Announces Box Set Commemorating 25 Years with Burton

At his first Comic-Con appearance, composer Danny Elfman announced that a collectible box set commemorating his 25 years of working with director Tim Burton will be coming out soon, says Gamespot. The box set will include a DVD, 14 CDs (presumably of the soundtracks from the various Burton films that Elfman has scored), a book with interviews of both Elfman and Burton, and artwork from the director. Retail price and release date for the box set have yet to be announced, but it is supposed to be released round Christmas this yet.

You can sign up at BurtonElfman.com to receive official updates regarding this limited edition box set.

One of the first questions that the moderator first asked Danny Elfman was how this legendary partnership began. Elfman joked that he was likely the only composer that Burton had a cell phone number for, and that he kept losing the numbers to other potential candidates.

“I’m not sure why he kept calling back,” said Elfman, who mentioned earlier that he was embarrassed and had a fear of public speaking. (He also has a fear of tidal waves, apparently.)

Elfman said that one of the most difficult projects that he ever worked on was Batman. Not only was the score to be a huge, grandiose one, but the producer, studio, and basically ever other than Tim Burton wanted Elfman to score the film. Elfman also said that two of his most rewarding composing experiences was on Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, because no one was looming over his back.

He said that Nightmare was also the most fun film to score, because there was no script yet. Instead, Burton would come by every three days or so and tell him a little bit of the story. When he was done, Elfman would compose a piece for that scene, and Burton would return in three days time and they would repeat the process for a month. No project has ever been that organic or easy since then, said Elfman, including Alice in Wonderland.

In fact, Alice in Wonderland was especially stressful for Danny Elfman. It was the first time that the composer was watching a film that was mostly shot on green screen, and so he had to compose the music with little knowledge as to how the film would ultimately look.

Elfman's music had to keep the film grounded because the crazier the movie got, the more Burton wanted the score to keep everything anchored.

At the end of the day, Elfman aspires to do a bit of everything.

"I had many opportunities to express myself with Tim," he said. "Everything in my career was defined by him. Every one of his films allowed me access to everything…do what I needed to do, which is hopefully get to the point to where I can write any kind of score."

When asked what his favorite song that he had composed was he replied with, "I hate every song I've written and I never want to hear them again.” But if he did have to pick one, it would be "Jack’s Lament."

Click this link to read more of what Elfman had to say, including why he did not score The Simpsons Movie, why he's happy that he hasn't won an Oscar yet, and why there are no plans to do an Oingo Boingo reunion.