So, I said to him, ‘That should be pretty easy, because that’s me.’ The goal was to keep the traditional element of Beatrix Potter, and by that, I mean when we think of Beatrix Potter we think of green pastures and fluffy bunnies and pastoral music and more classic orientated music. And I sort of gestured to myself because I’m 6 foot 2, 240 pounds and British. My first conversation with Will was, he wanted it to be big and British. What did you set out to do with Peter Rabbit? What were the preliminary discussions about the film like and did they change as the process unfolded? It’s nice to have that juxtaposed against scoring Nazis. It’s nice to do animation where a lot of it is aimed at making children laugh. I score The Man in the High Castle, so I have to get pretty dark at times. It’s part of my personality, which I think helps to go to those places. It’s easier to go to those places when it needs to be more silly or slapstick for me, as I am silly and slapstick. It’s more about not changing your headspace and reacting to what the picture is giving you and what the director wants to tell the audience at a specific moment. If you need more darker emotions and more serious things in the music you should. It’s important to treat it not like kids’ animation and come at it from a light and fluffy angle. So in terms of getting in the headspace to write that kind of music, I think it’s more important you treat it as not an animation but as an ordinary film dealing with day-to-day issues and emotions and bumps in the road and obstacles and how we get round that. You know the Lion Kings and the Zootopias and even in Peter Rabbit there’s a lovely message in that too. I have gravitated towards cartoons and animation and more childlike… actually that’s unfair to say because a lot of this animation deals with some very important lessons in life, if they’re doing the right thing. Which sometimes causes friction with the wife when she wants to have serious conversations and I’m always joking. I think it helps being a big child myself. Not everyone can do it and I’m very lucky that I can do it. ![]() That’s what really gets me going as a composer – to be more traditional with the orchestra and find a way of not being cheesy, but creating this wonderful orchestral palette. Whereas in animation, because more often than not it’s geared towards children, you are allowed to do those more traditional methods with the orchestra. When you are scoring live action you’re constantly being forced to push the envelope and try things that are new and not necessarily rely on those traditional orchestral techniques. ![]() I feel animation is an avenue in which you’re allowed to explore those techniques more so than the world of live action now. And being able to explore different techniques, and write in a way that I can sort of get closer to my classical idols – the Strausses and the Ravels and the Debussys of the world – it’s something that really is my favorite thing to do. Well, coming from a very classically-trained background, both my parents being classical musicians and studying composition at the Royal Academy of Music – living with the orchestra for so much of my life – it’s become the closest to my heart really. Why is that? How do you ready yourself to approach creating scores for playful fare like Peter Rabbit and Duck Tales? You’ve said you love scoring for animation most. Currently perfecting the score for the series’ third season, Lewis took some time to talk with BMI about banging on pots for Peter Rabbit, what to expect for The Man in the High Castle and his next big project: a new baby. And while Lewis’ catalogue contains copious compositions for cartoon and CGI creatures, he’s also adept in crafting music for more somber material, as proven by his 2017 BMI Streaming Media Award for work on The Man in the High Castle. Lewis went on to study underneath greats including Rupert Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer, racking up credits for film ( How to Train Your Dragon, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and television. ![]() Lewis takes composing very seriously – a passion inexorably linked to being the child of working musicians, and early memories of falling in love with his father’s lush orchestral film music. Dominic Lewis has delighted millions of children with scores for Kung Fu Panda 2, Disney XD’s DuckTales and, most recently, Peter Rabbit, but for the British-born, 33-year-old graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, his work is anything but child’s play.
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