Michel Rubini (photo from here)
Michel Rubini in 1986,
photographed by Ann Summa
for "Keyboard Magazine".
About The Composer
Rubini is perhaps best known for his work on the sountrack to Tony Scott's film - "The Hunger" (1983), but in addition to that and "Manhunter" (1986), he also contributed score music for "The Hitchhiker" (HBO TV series) and many other projects.
- For a more in-depth biography of the work of Michel Rubini, please click here
Contribution to Manhunter
Rubini, along with The Reds, is credited as "Composer" during the opening titles for Manhunter. However, on the eventual MCA Records Soundtrack album, only one of Rubini's contributions made the album - that being the uplifiting and pivotal tune "Graham's Theme".
Fans of the film with recall that this 3 minute+ piece plays during the build-up to the moment when Will Graham effectively "cracks" the case, by realising just how the killer (Francis Dollarhyde) has been choosing his victims. The combination of Mann's slick direction, William Petersen and Dennis Farina's gripping acting and Rubini's powerful electronic music help, to create one of the finest scenes in the entire movie.
In a fascinating interview for an article published in "KEYBOARD" magazine (December 1986 edition), Michel revealed that in actual fact he composed his primary contribution - "Graham's Theme" in August of 1985 - in advance of the film being shot! (but at the request of Director Michael Mann)
- Michel Rubini:
“He [Mann] would rather create something new and fail at it than create something old and succeed.”
“That's the type of thing that has made him the epitome of the new approach to film. He played me cuts and said, 'That's what I want.' That was the job. He almost pre-scores his movies. He likes to have the music on the set while he films. I did the theme for Manhunter last August [1985]. I had never seen the film and he picked that music.”
“It makes me crazy. He took the theme and cut it up in little pieces, so that certain parts of it would hit certain actions on the screen. In the final analysis, he wanted me to take the piece of music I had originally done and add parts to it, so he could use the original track as a bed and bring up these other parts in different scenes to make it play the way he liked it. He really fell in love with the original [Graham's] theme. He got it in his mind so deeply that he couldn't get it out. That's the problem with pre-scoring and having directors and producers put temp [temporary] tracks in the picture. This plus is that if you send a producer a piece of music that he loves and he throws it in his picture, then he can't get away from it, so you're pre-sold for the job. The negative of it is that then you're stuck with having to do that music all the time!”
- Excerpted from an original article by Jeff Burger, Keyboard Magazine, 1986.
Discography (selected)
- "The Hitchhiker" (circa. 1984)
- "Band of the Hand" (1986) - Rubini composed a single piece titled "Theme from Joe's death".
- "The Hunger" (1999) - The soundtrack to the film starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve.
- "Secret Dreams" (1994) - Collection of Rubini's (mainly improvised) compositions from the series.
Trivia
- Rubini's contribution on the "Band of the Hand" soundtrack was included as a B-Side on the single "Band of the Hand" by Bob Dylan and The Heartbreakers (minus Tom Petty).
- Rubini shared the "Composer" credit with midi-pioneer Denny Jaeger on the soundtrack for "The Hunger".
Shopping_
- "The Hunger"
- Original Soundtrack album on CD.
- "Secret Dreams" - CD edition.
- "Band of the Hand" - Region 1 DVD (the film, not the soundtrack)
Links_
- The Hitchhiker - Detailed biography of the composer.
- Rubini Gallery - Discover one of Michel's other passions - that of painting.
- The Sunset Beach House - A rather splendid house owned by the musician!
Find out more_
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*The information on this page has been checked and personally verified as accurate by Michel Rubini himself.
