Composer Cliff Martinez has carved a reputation as one of the most distinctive film composers in modern cinema.
Was this something you were keen to explore from an early stage?
Period dramas tend to have a sound thats derived very much from the time in which theyre set.
Are genre preconceptions something you take in to account when approaching a project like this?
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Yeah, I think it depends on the genre.
Ive never done a comedy.
So I think the dark, psychological stuff if thats a genre?
Thats how Ive been typecast.
What attracted you to The Knick initially?
Thats kind of one of the themes ofThe Knick.
I dont think that was an imperative.
It was pretty subtle, but that was a little thread of an idea.
It probably sounds good in theory, but you may not notice it musically.
Not the situations, not the exterior stuff, but the inside stuff.
So I think thats all kind of common.
In some ways it felt like a very familiar task for the music to accomplish.
How did The Knicks score develop?
Did you have long exchanges with Steven over the overall sound of the show as it developed?
No, Steven and I dont communicate very much.
He usually sends me temp score and I start sending him music.
He lets you know if he doesnt like something, but he was very supportive during the whole process.
He usually just sent a short email that says thats great, keep going.
Youve been working with Steven for over 25 years now.
How does that familiarity affect your work, having known and worked with each other for so long?
When you get kind of repeat work with somebody like Steven, hes always doing something new.
With Steven, Ive been able to do science fiction.
Ive done three period dramas.
Ive kind of done a horror movie, if you might callContagionthat.
So Ive got to do a lot of different genres by working with Steven repeatedly.
Musically, I know the Cristal Baschet has had a huge impact on your work over the years.
When did you first become interested in the instrument?
My parents took me to the Museum of Modern Art in 1965 and they had an exhibit.
I think I was nine years old.
I was pretty young and pretty impressionable.
The instruments werent performed on at all.
Has the way that people have taken to that score surprised you?
Yeah, Ive never really grasped quite why that particular score has gotten as popular as it has.
If I did I would repeat the experience as soon as possible.
But, yeah, I know its a good film.
Its a good score.
To me it seems like a descendant ofSex, Lies and VideotapeandTrafficand a lot of scores, musically.
Were you aware of the recent BBC re-score that took place?
I heard it was re-scored and it was broadcast on the BBC and thats about all I know.
I dont know who the artist is.
I read the name, but I dont know who it is.
A lot of people took it very personally that this was the film that they chose to re-score.
Yeah, I didnt really dig in to it.
I assume that this thing had the blessing of Nicolas.
Nicolas said he was honoured that the BBC had chosen to experiment with the film in that way.
I guess I didnt really have a reaction to it.
I was wondering how it happened.
Thats about the sum total of my response to it.
[Laughs] Yeah, Im sick and tired of it usually.
I know every molecule and every frame of the whole project.
Am I right in thinking that Solaris is your one exception?
Yeah, I listen toSolaris.
That ones got some longevity in my mind for some reason.
Yeah, I was surprised I didnt get more offers to do sci-fi afterSolaris.
Thats one of the things Id like to do.
But yeah, science fiction is on the list as well.
How did your background in the punk scene go on to inform your transition to composing?
Youve worked in some very disparate genres.
Well, I became interested in music technology.
I think that was what eventually led to film scoring.
I thought that this box was going to mean the extinction of the species of drummers.
But it was also kind of a profound instrument.
What it could do was fascinating to me.
It was where that music was accepted and heard and had an audience.
So that was probably the beginning of it.
Who else would you rank among your influences?
I think the biggest guys were Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrmann, probably those two composers.
So those were the earliest influences and Im still inspired by those two composers.
On a slightly different tangent, you recently completed work on the soundtrack for Far Cry 4.
How did that experience working on a video game compare to your work on The Knick?
Occasionally I would be sent some clips, but for the most part youre kind of flying on autopilot.
And the first said I hated it.
I hated not working with a picture, I just had no idea what I had to do.
So Im somewhere in between those two worlds.
So it was a pretty different process, but also very drawn out.
I think the whole gestation period of it was a year, so it goes on a long time.
Its a very different kind of a project.
You worked with Harmony Korine on Spring Breakers, which also saw you working alongside Skrillex.
Again, thats proven to be a hugely popular soundtrack.
Its recently been announced that Korine is working on another film, The Trap.
Can we expect another collaboration there?
Harmonys spoken to me about it.
What else do you have in the pipeline?
Theres also a Lincoln car commercial starring Matthew McConaughey and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Those are out here.
I dont know if those are being shown internationally.
We dont tend to get interesting commercials over here, unfortunately.
Oh, Ive seen some great European commercials that would never get shown here!
At the moment, no, theres nothing new that I can talk about.
What is it that you tend to look for in a project generally?
[laughs] Im not very selective.
But really I just pick up the phone and say yes for the most part.
But I do love independent cinema.
I love the rugged individualists like Harmony, like Nicolas, like Steven.
I do like that.
Cliff Martinez, thank you very much.
The Knick soundtrack is available now from the HBO Shop.
