In a bustling BAFTA Princess Anne Theatre, Michael Nyman discussed his work as a film composer and more recently as a film maker with Geoff Andrew (Head of Film Programme at BFI) and the audience.
When Holly Hunter received her Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for The Piano, she thanked Michael in her speech saying that his music gave her a veritable instruction manual into the character of Ada McGrath. Michael was equally praising of Holly’s piano playing. As the piece was written for his hands and the way they move, her ability to replicate that for numerous takes was wonderful.
Michael also talked about his relationship with film directors. When doing both Wonderland and Gattaca he asked the directors why they wanted him as does neither urban or sci-fi music respectively. However, for both directors’ that was the point. Michael Winderbottom (director of Wonderland) wanted inspirational music and Andrew Niccol (director of Gattaca) wanted the music to depict the emotions of each scene.
The night ended with a Q&A session. One of the questions was “music can trigger images for people, when watching the films do they trigger music in you and is that how you compose?” Michael responded it was rarely the images that constructed the song but the idea behind the scene and the script. When composing for The Piano he asked director Jane Campion “If Ada did speak, what would she be saying in this scene?”.
With clips from his own short films, as well as The Draughtsman’s Contract, The Piano, Wonderland, Gattaca and The Man with a Movie Camera, the audience left with a great insight into his work and the man.