"I was just watching a video from the Onion's AV club and at the end it says that Robert wrote a score for a scene in Ferris Bueller, but they decided not to use it. I'd never heard of this before and figured I'd share with you." (Thanks Steve)
Update: Thanks to Deadboycraved for pointing this out...In the 'Disintegration' deluxe booklet, Robert mentions being sent various movie clips from studios, hoping to get him to write music for them. And in Mojo's review of the set, they say that 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' was one of the films he was offered, though it doesn't say he wrote anything for it. Very interesting. If this truly exists, I'd love to hear it.
Hmm, interesting. I can't help but wonder whether the researcher is getting confused between Robert SMITH and The SMITHS (much like my mum often does) as the instrumental that appears in that scene is of course a cover of the Smiths song "Please, please let me get what i want".
ReplyDeleteThis is the Onion after all... Can you take anything they write seriously?
ReplyDeleteGood point, Ed. I'm hoping it's true, and there's this never before heard Robert Smith score that will be unearthed some day.
ReplyDeleteThe Onion's news stories are all satirical, but their A.V. Club on entertainment news is played straight and often has some really great interviews and bits. So yeah, you can trust what they are saying, but that doesn't mean their source didn't get the details wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the scene in question was changed after they test screened the movie. Apparently they changed when it happens in the movie and then they did change the music, so it could have been an instrumental song by Robert Smith.
Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteisn't there a classical composer called Robert Smith as well? just a thought.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of this. Dubious. He's often spoken about wanting to as if it hasn't happened yet & I doubt Ferris Bueller would have been the right film... also, think about when the movie came out... I doubt he'd have had the time.
ReplyDeletein mojos review of the disitegration reissue july2010 theres mention of robert talking of being offered film soundtracks including ferris'day off..so must be true:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, DBC! Had completely forgotten about that. And since they had an interview with Robert in that review, you have to figure he was the source of their info.
ReplyDeleteWhile this doesn't confirm it, it does add a bit more credibility to the AV Club report. Though it only says he was offered it, not that he actually wrote anything for it.
Hey, if anyone runs into Robert at Bestival, maybe you could ask him about this for us. : )
I believe he got asked to do something for Edward Scissorhands which in terms of timeline makes more sense. That film was released in 1990.
ReplyDeletebooklet is stealing artist i dont agree with this !!
ReplyDeleteAndrew - But in the liner notes Robert is saying he was sent these films several years BEFORE he wrote Disintegration, and that was what helped him think about writing longer, more cinematic songs for the album. Edward Scissorhands would have been offered after Disintegration, so I don't think that was one of the films he was speaking of. Unless he had his timeline all confused.
ReplyDeleteStay safe, my friend!
Craig, Tim Burton himself has said that he'd wanted The Cure to score 'Edward Scissorhands', but that Robert turned him down because they were busy with 'Disintegration'.
ReplyDeleteShawn, I know that. But the scenes he is talking about in the liner notes are from before he started working on Disintegration. No dispute at all about Edward. I'm just saying that it in no way proves or disproves anything about the possible Ferris work, since that would have been well before Disintegration.
ReplyDeleteCraig-there is a very good book about John Hughes called "You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried." Came out about a year ago and talks about this specific issue. It is true that John's music supervisor at the time of Ferris was close with Robert and sent him the famous scene where the characters are going through the Chicago Museum of Art and Robert did indeed write a piece of Instrumental Music for the scene. Apparently John Hughes wanted his music supervisor to work for him exclusively but this guy worked for a big record label and said that it was not possible. So John Hughes fired him and with him went the piece the Robert wrote for the film. A new music supervisor was hired with no relationship with Robert and a new band was brought in to score the scene.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for that update! I had never heard that story.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed true. It is mentioned in 2 bio's I have read: "You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried"- A bio on John Hughes and the making of his films- and in The Cures' bio "Never Enough." As you might know, music, especially the underground music scene of Great Britain, was very important to John Hughes. He truly felt music for his films was just as important as the script. Hughes would create a playlist for a film even before he worked on the script. Ferris Bueller was his biggest project, and he struggled making the classic more than any other of his films. Because most of his attention was towards directing, re-occuring issues during filming, and re-writing the whole script various times, he could not fully focus on the soundtrack and put two producers in charge of it. One he had been good friends with and had him work on The Breakfast Club, while the other was an older man of the buis who was hired by the executive producer. Hughes' friend appreciated and loved most of the genres Hughes' was into, especially what was happening in Great Britain. He was a big fan of The Cure and thought they would sound great for the film. During the time of filming, he took a trip to the UK to explore more music and got in touch with The Cures manager. Not even two days later, he met with Robert and got him to record a new song he wrote for the film. Hughes' friend was stoked and flew back to the studio instantly afterwards to share it with the other music producer- but he didn't feel the song would fit into what he had picked out for the film (Of course he felt the only way the film would get attention would be if their was mainstream groups on the soundtrack.). Since this man who had been in the buis longer and was more 'experienced' he was the one who got more control over the soundtrack. John Hughes' did not find out about Smiths' song until after the movie was released, and was disappointed that it along with other tracks were not used. Ferris Bueller is his only film that did not have an official soundtrack because of the mis management of the 'more experienced' man and Hughes' dis-interest and dis-satisfaction with the scores used in the film. I believe that the track was recorded on that one cassette. I don't even think Robert has a copy of it.
ReplyDeleteSorry this was a long bit of info. Hope this answered your question(: