MRH: In regards to Willis’ character, there’s one cue – “I Want You” – that I think is the only really gentle cue on the album, and what I liked about that particular track is its warmth, but at the same time, every so often you drift into chords that are a bit dissonant; they’re a little close to being uncomfortable and hinting at a lurking danger, but they don’t quite cross-over into that, and I thought that it was a very clever cue because you’re  obviously expressing a moment of affection and longing, but at the same time you’re also hinting at some surrounding danger.

RM: I’m glad that that came across, because that was exactly what we were going for. Willis’ character is just longing for his wife to not be in her surrogate form but as a human; he just wanted her to be herself.

In her story they had lost their son, and as a result, the human wife did not want to come of a room except in surrogate form, so there was a real tension between them, and a longing for Willis to just connect with her in a human way, but John also wanted to make sure that there was tension always between them. We felt that there was some sort of ominous quality underneath their relationship.

That was a tricky little cue… We added piano at the very end of the scoring process because some of the people involved didn’t feel that it was warm enough; they felt that the tension was there, but it didn’t have enough emotion, so I added that little piano melody late in the day.

MRH: One aspect that’s very strong throughout the score is a driving ostinato that’s primarily played by the strings, and it seems to remind audiences of an unstoppable, almost mechanical force, whereas there’s some sly, groovy rhythms that seem closer to the dogged, independent-minded FBI character, and both converge in the powerful action cue “Warrant and Foot Chase.”

RM: The idea behind the ostinato was that there was always what we call ‘the motor’ going through everything. That was a long, long chase…Trying to keep it so it didn’t sound monotonous was a real challenge. I don’t know if the piece really stands up on its own, but underneath all the cars and helicopters and explosions and everything, I think it held up really well.
 
In that case in that cue, all the percussion - all the hits and everything  - was done electronically…There was no live percussion on this score at all. It was all generated electronically.

MRH: I noticed in some recent scores – Tyler Bates’ Doomsday (2008), for example – where composers have gone back to some vintage synth sounds. Bates’ followed director Neil Marshall’s desire for a retro John Carpenter sound, but there were also a few moments where you heard a bit of Tangerine Dream, and I think it’s perhaps a testament to the original musicians who created these sounds that they still hold up well in a dramatic context, if not selectively.

RM: I think that’s something I’d like to get into. I used to have racks and racks and keyboards all over the place. Everything comes in a box now, but I agree with you. There’s some value to the Jupiter 8’s and all those Prophets and all those things that we used to have. That’s just interesting and great that they’re still around. It’s hard to keep all those things working, though.

MRH: My next to last question deals with your flexibility in working in various genres and formats. Do you find moving between films and TV refines your skills in tackling various genres and dramatic situations?

RM: Absolutely. I haven’t done a film in several years – I’ve been in TV land until Surrogates - and what I found is [because of] the pressure and the nature of the TV businesses, I create probably thirty minutes of music a week, and I’ve gotten very quick.

I remember in the early days of Surrogates, when we were doing our temp and demos and stuff, John would come over and say, ‘I need a three minute cue for a preview screening’ or something, and I said, ‘Okay, you’ll have it this afternoon,’ and the music editor and he were just amazed that I could create that stuff so quickly.

I actually think that TV has been really great for me, as far as perspective of maybe going to things that I know are going to work, and one of the challenges of working on a film was to sort of slow down… and try to not go to the tricks that you know. That was a big luxury to do. Six minutes in a week was a total luxury.

MRH: Lastly, will there be a soundtrack album?

RM: Yes. We’re right in the midst of getting ready to master it. Looks like Lakeshore is going to be releasing it. They’ve released a couple of scores of mine along the way, so hopefully this good relationship will continue.