John Powell (film composer)

Early life and education

Powell was born in London, England. As a child, he played the violin and viola. He studied the violin at the Trinity College of Music, central London (now the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, London). There, he met John Ashton Thomas, who orchestrated many of Powell's scores. Powell played for Faboulistics, an amateur rock and roll band.

After finishing college, he composed music for commercials, which led to a job as an assistant to the composer Patrick Doyle on several film productions, including Much Ado About Nothing. In 1995, Powell co-founded the London-based commercial music house Independently Thinking Music with Gavin Greenaway, which has produced scores for more than 100 British and French commercials and independent films.

Career

Powell's first score was for the Season 4 of the TV series Stay Lucky. He moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and scored his first major film, Face/Off. It was followed by Antz in 1998, the first film produced by DreamWorks Animation, which he co-scored with fellow British composer Harry Gregson-Williams, which also marked the duo's first score for an animated film. Two years later, Powell collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer on the score for The Road to El Dorado. Later that same year, he also teamed up with Harry Gregson-Williams again to compose the score to Chicken Run and then again the following year on Shrek. Gregson-Williams composed all the subsequent Shrek films and the sequel to Chicken Run himself. In 2001 he also scored Evolution, I Am Sam, Just Visiting and Rat Race.

In 2002 Powell was hired to score The Bourne Identity for director Doug Liman after Carter Burwell left the project. He also returned to score the series' other two films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, under British director Paul Greengrass.

Powell collaborated with Liman again to score Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). That year he also scored Robots for Blue Sky Studios, and went on to score many of the studio's subsequent films until 2017's Ferdinand.

In 2006, he scored Greengrass' United 93. He also composed music for his second Blue Sky film Ice Age: The Meltdown, following David Newman, who scored the first Ice Age film; as well as X-Men: The Last Stand and Happy Feet, for which he won a Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for an Animated Feature Film. The next year he scored The Bourne Ultimatum. In 2008 he reunited with Hans Zimmer and returned to DreamWorks Animation to score Kung Fu Panda, and also wrote music for Jumper, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, Hancock, and Bolt. In 2009 he scored the third film of Ice Age series; Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

In 2010, Powell composed the score to How to Train Your Dragon, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. It was his sixth DreamWorks Animation film, although the first where he composed the whole score himself. That year he also scored Greengrass's Green Zone and Knight and Day.

In 2013, Powell took a sabbatical year from film scoring. In April 2014, after completing his scores to sequels Rio 2 and How to Train Your Dragon 2, he announced he would take another break to compose concert music, including a 45-minute oratorio to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War I. The piece, "A Prussian Requiem", with a libretto by Michael Petry, premiered on 6 March 2016 at The Royal Festival Hall, London with José Serebrier conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Powell composed the score for Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), collaborating with John Williams, who wrote Han Solo's theme. In 2019, Powell scored How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the final film in the How to Train Your Dragon series. In November 2023, it was announced that Powell would compose the musical score for the 2024 Netflix and Locksmith Animation film That Christmas. In January 2024, it was announced that Powell would return to compose the score for the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. In August 2024, it was confirmed that Powell will compose and conduct the incidental score for the two-part film adaptation of Wicked, in collaboration with the musical's composer Stephen Schwartz.

Filmography

Film

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Television

Albums

Studio albums

Archival soundtrack albums

References

References

1. "John Powell Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More...".
2. "John Powell {{!}} Artist {{!}} GRAMMY.com".
3. (25 January 2011). "From Gigli to Oscar: Composer John Powell Reacts to His Nomination". Movieline.
4. "John Powell – Composer Biography, Facts and Music Compositions".
5. "Much Ado About Nothing · British Universities Film & Video Council".
6. (20 August 2021). "John Powell receives IFMCA Award for The Call of the Wild".
7. (5 November 2015). "John Powell's 'A Prussian Requiem' to be performed live in London". SoundtracksAndTrailerMusic.com.
8. (10 September 2018). "John Powell on Scoring The "Completely Absorbing World" of Solo: A Star Wars Story".
9. Gearan, Hannah. (16 February 2023). "How To Train Your Dragon Live-Action Movie Bringing Back Key Original Creator".
10. (3 July 2024). "John Powell Scoring Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked'".
11. (8 July 2024). "John Powell Scoring WICKED Movie With Stephen Schwartz".
12. "The Schwartz Scene updates on the Wicked Soundtrack from Stephen Schwartz".
13. V., Erin. (2 April 2012). "Interview: Dean DeBlois, director of 'How To Train Your Dragon'". One Movie, Five Views.
14. (26 July 2017). "John Powell to Score Untitled Han Solo Movie". [[Lucasfilm]].
15. (2 September 2014). "How to Train Your Dragon 3 Pushed Back to 2017". ComingSoon.net.
16. "Soundtrakd - Discover Songs in Movies & TV Shows".
17. "John Powell Scoring Doug Liman's 'Locked Down'". Film Music Reporter.
18. (6 January 2022). "John Powell Scoring Olivia Wilde's ''Don't Worry Darling''". Film Music Reporter.
19. "John Powell Scoring Illumination Entertainment's 'Migration' {{!}} Film Music Reporter".
20. "IMDb Full Music Credits". [[IMDb]].
21. (5 December 2023). "John Powell Scoring Lynn Wang's & Jared Hess' ''Thelma the Unicorn''".
22. "IMDb Full Music Department Credits". [[IMDb]].
23. Powell, John. (30 November 2023). "Scoring my 25th animated film and my first Xmas movie at Abbey Road Studios this week 🎶 Coming next winter! ❄️ #JohnPowell #soundtrack…".
24. "John Powell Scoring Locksmith Animation's 'That Christmas'".
25. "IMDb Full Music Department Credits". [[IMDb]].
26. (15 February 2023). "John Powell to Score Dean DeBlois' 'How to Train Your Dragon' Live-Action Film Adaptation". Film Music Reporter.
27. "Batu Sener Scoring Disney+'s 'Ice Age: Scrat Tales' {{!}} Film Music Reporter".
28. "Ice Age: Scrat Tales".
29. "Hubris: Choral Works by John Powell (192kHz / 24-bit)". John Powell.
30. "Piano Solos from ‘How to Train Your Dragon: A Hidden World’ Released".
31. "How To Train Your Dragon: The Deluxe Edition (CD)".
32. "Paycheck: The Deluxe Edition (Music From The Motion Picture) (2-CD)".
33. "Instagram".