Danny Elfman Reveals His 'Best Accomplishment' in Justice League

Screen Rant

By Ana Dumaraog

Published Nov 26, 2017

Veteran composer Danny Elfman shares his favorite piece of work from the Justice League soundtrack and his revelation might surprise you.

Danny Elfman opens up about his work on Justice League and even reveals his favorite part from Warner Bros.' first superhero team-up film. The composer is not a stranger when it comes to working on DC properties, since he previously composed themes for Batman, Batman Returns, and the main music for Batman: The Animated Series.

Elfman entered late in the Justice League production process, having come in when the principal photography was almost done. But the veteran was still able to deliver just in time for the DC epic's release this month. Despite the limited time, the 64-year-old composer was able to enjoy his time working on the project, even revealing his favorite moment from the movie on which he worked - and his answer may surprise a lot of people.

Sitting down with DC All Access, Elfman candidly talked about his most recent project and even revealed which part of the film he had the most fun working on. He said:

"It was fun. It was a huge puzzle coming into it. It was like a science project, but there's a sequence at the end that really I think was the most fun for me, where it ties all the characters together and you have a moment with each of the characters, and using a single thematic throughline tying it all together was, I felt my best accomplishment for bringing something to the film."

While the culmination of everything in the film is definitely heightened by Elfman's interconnected score, the use of Batman's 1989 theme was also a memorable moment in the film when it comes to melding scores with action set pieces. It was a great nod to the Caped Crusader's storied history on the big screen and the guitar riff felt appropriate for Ben Affleck's battered, yet still very determined version of the superhero.

Unfortunately, while Elfman was able to evoke nostalgia with his use of iconic themes, especially for Batman and Superman (he also used John William's original theme), the score proves to be divisive for fans. Some are simply not impressed with his work while others are still wondering about what it would have been if the original composer, Junkie XL, was retained for the film. When Zack Snyder had to step away from the project after the end of principal photography, the Dutch musician, who also had a hand in creating the score for both Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, was replaced by his more veteran counterpart. Fans are currently petitioning for the release of Snyder's original cut of Justice League, which is reportedly complete with Junkie XL's theme, but that might never come to fruition.