In a Film Scorer first, a repeat guest joins the show! Daniel Pemberton (the Spider-Verse films, King Arthur) comes onto the show for a second time, after chatting with me back in 2023 about his score for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Even though we’re just over halfway through the year, Daniel’s already scored about a half dozen projects, so we had plenty of things to talk about. With so much to pick from, we primarily talk about his recent work on the Black Mirror episode USS Callister: Into Infinity and Eddington – two extremely different projects with very different scores (with the latter quickly entering the ranks of my most-listened-to scores of the year). Of course, even though our chat clocks in at just under half an hour we cover plenty of other ground too, including trends in modern film scoring, how Daniel keeps up such a frantic pace, and a big detour into Anton Karas’s score for The Third Man (which Daniel calls “the Axel F of the 1950s”).
At this point in the year, Daniel’s had four films come out, one series, and two episodes of Black Mirror (almost films in their own right), not to mention the next season of Slow Horses coming out in September. I’ve always been in awe about how quickly he works, made even more impressive by how diverse his scores are – it’s not like he’s just doing the same sound again and again (seriously, just from this year, compare the sci-fi sounds of Callister to Eddington‘s experimental Americana to the touches of exotica in Materialists). Luckily for me (and you), it provides plenty to talk about.
Daniel’s score for Eddington and Callister, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms. Eddington is still playing in select theaters and is available on demand while Callister is available on Netflix.
Have a listen to our conversation below or wherever you get your podcasts (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts). You can also check out our prior interview here. Enjoying these interviews? Show the love by subscribing and leaving a rating or review!