[Interview] LIGHTYEAR’s composer Michael Giacchino goes from recording scores off the screen to recording the scores heard on screen

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

It’s been a long journey for composer Michael Giacchino. His key insights into character and story give the films and TV series’ he’s worked on an audibly identity, adding in layers through a compelling, capably crafted soundscape. His work on LIGHTYEAR is no different.

Looking back with reflection glinting in his eyes seen over Zoom during the film’s recent virtual press conference, the affable talent shared that working on this has made him think about how cinematic construction begins, starting with the words on the page and augmented by the symphonic compositions heard.

“One of the things I used to do was sneak a small tape recorder into the movie theaters when I was a kid – and I would listen to it. But the only way for me to sort of experience that movie again when it was out of theaters was to listen to [these tapes]. So I would record them and then I would sit at home. And every night, I would play them under my pillow. Because I loved to listen how the sound worked in these movies, and how music worked with sound effects and dialogue and all of that, it’s ingrained in my head in a massive way.”

He continued,

“I feel like if you didn’t have those challenges to get that kind of material to learn and learn from, I know personally, I wouldn’t have learned what I’ve learned. I didn’t know why it was learning by doing that. But listening back and looking back on it, I learned so much from just understanding what the great people did who were making movies at that time, in order to make the stories work.  And it was such a valuable, valuable thing. It was like the most early schooling I could have had for filmmaking.”

To perfectly shape this new iteration of a well-known, much beloved hero, Giacchino didn’t listen to past themes and music ascribed to the TOY STORY version of Buzz Lightyear. He started completely from scratch.

“It needed to be its own thing. It couldn’t be related to anything that has already been done. This was a new world we are opening up and but really, it always starts with just the emotions and the character – talking about the character and what’s going on with this person and what is happening. We talk about this idea of loss and loneliness and all of these things and these are the conversations that sort of that will spark whatever I do first. 

It’s important for me to understand what’s at the heart of this story for me to actually write something, it’s not about just sitting down and going, ‘This will be nice space music.’ It’s really about like, what feels like the emotions that these people are going through. And if we can tap into that emotion, that’s the truth of what we’re trying to do.  The other stuff is so much fun. And all of this splash of it is great, but the truth of it is, what’s happening inside the people.”

As is the case with many of his compositions, he delicately weaves sonic themes and instrumentations into a film’s tapestry, telling a message within the music. The sentiments he hoped his work captures in LIGHTYEAR centers on fearlessness: how to harness one’s anxieties and turn flaws into assets.

“My favorite character [is] Izzy because I just love this idea of embracing your fear and using it as a tool to move forward and progress yourself and not to let it paralyze you not to let it take over. It’s a big message that the movie pushes out into the universe is embrace your fear and use it as an ally.

For me, musically [and] emotionally, that’s really what I wanted to say was this idea of, yeah, there’s scary things around us every day, but you know, you can push through them, and you can use that fear to help you overcome it and learn something and then move beyond. Fear is something that’s never going to be absent from your life. The sooner you sort of take it in and use it to your advantage, the better off you’ll be.”

LIGHTYEAR is now playing in theaters.