James Newton Howard

James Newton Howard

Born: June 9, 1951
in Los Angeles, California, USA
American composer, orchestrator, and music producer James Newton Howard is an eight-time Academy Award nominee.  He is best known for his frequent collaborations with director M. Night Shyamalan. He is well known for his highly emotional and powerfully subtle music, supplying his talent to an array of films such as The Fugitive, The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, the two Christopher Nolan Batman films; Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with Hans After Howard left the University of Southern California, he toured with Elton John as a keyboardist during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Howard also arranged strings for several of Elton's songs during this period including on the hits "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word", as well as playing additional keyboards and synthesizers on several of Elton's studio albums, including "Rock of The Westies" (1975), "Blue Moves" (1976), "21 At 33" (1980), and "The Fox" (1981). After his tenure with John, Howard toured briefly with Crosby, Stills and Nash before moving into film music in the mid-1980s. Howard scored the blockbuster Pretty Woman (1990). He received his first Academy Award nomination for his score for Barbra Streisand's drama The Prince of Tides (1991). Howard achieved four more best original score Oscar nominations, for the Harrison Ford action feature The Fugitive (1993), the Julia Roberts romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004) and most recently, Michael Clayton (2007). In addition, Howard received Best Song nods for scoring the Western epic Wyatt Earp (1994), Kevin Costner's Waterworld (1995), and Primal Fear (1996).   Howard scored Space Jam (1996), Dante's Peak (1997) (theme only - score was composed by John Frizzell), and Collateral (2004). Howard has  scored three Disney films which are Dinosaur (2000), Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Howard also earned an Emmy nomination in 1995 the theme and pilot to the television drama, ER. He also won an Emmy for the them to Gideon's Crossing.  He went on to win a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score for the feature King Kong. He went on to receive Oscar nominations for the features Michael Clayton (2007) and Defiace (2008).

Movies for James Newton Howard...

The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Title: The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Character: Self - Original Music Composer
Released: March 6, 2015
Type: Movie
Documentary film about the making of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. An impressively in depth assortment of seven featurettes that look at a variety of subjects, from casting to visual effects. - Hope and Rebellion: Continuing the Saga - Designing Dystopia: Visual Aesthetic - Rebels and Warriors: The Cast - Fusing Form and Function: Costume, Make-Up and Hair - Fighting the System: Shooting on Location - D13: Rebellion Tactics: Stunts and Special Effects - Perfecting Panem: The Post-Production Process
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The World Is Watching: Making the Hunger Games
Title: The World Is Watching: Making the Hunger Games
Character: Self - Original Music Composer.(archive footage)
Released: August 18, 2012
Type: Movie
A feature length, eight part documentary that covers everything from pre-production to adapting the source novel to casting to shooting to post and marketing. This is an amazing in-depth piece and it's notable how many women were involved in this production, from several Lionsgate executives to novelist Suzanne Collins herself. Jennifer Lawrence talks about her "hypocrisy" in not wanting to do a big budget blockbuster after having devoted herself to indies (despite X-Men, which she seems to discount somewhat). There's also a nice sequence on the strength and weight training the actors went through and the stunts that are so notable in the film, as well as having to dance around the violence implicit in the story due to the planned PG-13 rating the filmmakers were aiming for.
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Title: Hollywood in Vienna
Character: Self
Released: September 25, 2011
Type: TV
Hollywood in Vienna is an annual film music gala hosted in the Vienna Concert Hall where the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award is presented.
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Starz Inside - Unforgettably Evil
Title: Starz Inside - Unforgettably Evil
Character: Self
Released: July 26, 2009
Type: Movie
Documentary about evil heroes
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The Eighth Blunder of the World
Title: The Eighth Blunder of the World
Character: Self
Released: November 14, 2006
Type: Movie
Blooper reel for Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005)
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Deconstructing 'The Village'
Title: Deconstructing 'The Village'
Character: Self
Released: January 11, 2005
Type: Movie
In this making-of documentary, we see movie snippets, shots from the set, and interviews. We get notes from the crew and cast. We learn about the movie's genesis and development, the choice of time period and setting, finding a location and creating the sets, the flick's visual design and cinematography, working with the actors and bonding on the set, the costumes, problems with the weather, shooting in the woods, casting, the actors' "boot camp", editing and storyboards, audio design, the score, and the movie's creatures.
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City of Night: The Making of 'Collateral'
Title: City of Night: The Making of 'Collateral'
Character: Self
Released: December 14, 2004
Type: Movie
This documentary chronicles the making of the film Collateral (2004). We get to see Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx training for their roles, as well as Jada Pinket Smith's Audition. Michael Mann also informs us on his preparation for the film, as well as some more behind-the-scenes looks at the 17 special camera-ready taxis and the taxi crash.
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Making 'Signs'
Title: Making 'Signs'
Character: Self - Composer
Released: January 7, 2003
Type: Movie
Nearly every possible aspect of fimmaking used to produce the motion picture Signs (2002) is closely examined here. This serves as a good companion to the film, normally where a commentary track would. Though it does feature a portion of promotional value, it is still very informative and interesting to watch director M. Night Shyamalan at work.
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Music and Sound Design of 'The Sixth Sense'
Title: Music and Sound Design of 'The Sixth Sense'
Character: Self
Released: March 28, 2000
Type: Movie
This making-of piece features Shaymalan and composer James Newton Howard sharing their insights into the film's powerful score and unique sound effects.
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Crosby, Stills & Nash: Daylight Again
Title: Crosby, Stills & Nash: Daylight Again
Character: Self - Keyboards
Released: January 1, 1983
Type: Movie
This is a 1982 concert by Crosby, Stills and Nash, in support of their "Daylight Again" CD release. Neil Young is not part of this tour, which simply means that this is a CSN concert rather than a CSNY concert.
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Title: The Oscars
Character: Self
Released: March 19, 1953
Type: TV
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.