AN INTERVIEW WITH IRA NEWBORN

BY CHRIS GRAVES

CHRIS GRAVES: For those who do not know, what is your background and how were you introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith?

IRA NEWBORN: I was a studio guitarist in N.Y. and then L.A. who, after doing “American Hot Wax “ and then “The Blues Brothers,”decided to become a full-time film composer. I was asked to do the music for “Mallrats” by Sean Daniel, who was a producer at Universal and was acting for Kevin Smith.

CG: When did music become a part of your life? Were you in any rock bands during your youth?

IN: I started playing flute at 9, trombone at 10 and guitar at 12. My mother played piano, studied opera and was a coloratura soprano. My father played piano and trombone. I was in numerous R&R and jazz bands from the early 60’s on.

CG: How did you get the job of conductor / music supervisor on The Blues Brothers? Did you ever visit the set?

IN: I was known to producer Joel Silver as the musical director of “The Manhattan Transfer” as well as a studio guitarist and arranger. When Paul Schaeffer could not go to Chicago to be musical director of “The Blues Brothers”, Joel suggested me to Sean Daniel. It just so happened I knew everyone in the Blues Brothers Band. I visited many of the sets of the movie.

CG: Can you tell me about your professional relationship with director John Hughes? How did this begin and do you have a favorite film from this collaboration?

IN: I was recommended to John Hughes by Joel Silver while I was doing “Into The Night” for John Landis. I suppose I like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” the best although seeing Kelly LeBrock in her underwear in “Weird Science” was quite a thrill.

CG: The music you created for the Naked Gun trilogy, like most of your film scores, have gone on to become iconic in the world of cinema. What was the inspiration for the Naked Gun prequel tv series Police Squad?

IN: The inspiration was the mid-50’s TV cop show, “M-Squad” with Lee Marvin.

CG: Being that the score to Mallrats was basically a character in the film itself, did Mr. Smith or the studio give you any specific directions or notes in terms of the musical themes created for Mallrats?

IN: I really don’t remember but I suppose we talked generally about the tenor of the score and the character of the individual players.

CG: Did you ever visit the set of the film? Have you in the past, ever visited the set to a film you scored and if so are there any interesting anecdotes from these experiences?

IN: I think I visited the set. The most interesting anecdote is meeting Kelly LeBrock in her underwear on the set of “Weird Science”. I will treasure that memory always.

CG: Do you like how Mallrats turned out? And what was your reaction to the film’s poor theatrical box office?

IN: I think there were many good things in it and it certainly didn’t deserve the beating it took from many critics.

CG: Besides film scoring, you also have appeared in the films Junior, The Cowboy Way, and the 1970’s television series Manhattan Transfer. Is acting a field you’ve tried to branch off and explore as a possible second career?

IN: I was performing when I was 2 years old. I had the lead in every school play from 1st through 6th grade and always considered acting my first and true love, however, it’s even more disgusting a business than the music business so after a while I had to recognize that acting and acting professionally were 2 different things and I decided to be a professional musician. I love to act and have occasionally but not if I have to do cattle calls and the like.

CG: What did you think of the other View Askew movies and do you have favorite Kevin Smith / View Askew flick (Mallrats excluded)?

IN: I liked “Chasing Amy” very much. I thought that “Clerks” was a movie about an everyday bunch of people laboring under an enormous blow-job joke. I didn’t go to see “Dogma” because after having Kevin and Scott offer me the movie to score, I never was able to get either of them on the phone again to discuss it.

CG: Any new projects coming up?

IN: At this point? Who knows? Who cares? Maybe I’ll be surprised.

CG: And finally, do you still keep in contact with anyone related to the world of View Askew and would you like to work with Kevin again?

IN: As I said, after being offered “Dogma” (while I was scoring “Mallrats”), receiving the script and then never again being able to talk to Kevin or Scott, my down and dirty, non-Hollywood, real-life East Coast buddies, I probably didn’t see any use in “keeping in touch.” As far as working with Kevin again is concerned, you should ask him if he would like to work with me. Considering the typical Hollywood treatment I received with “Dogma”, I don’t imagine he does.

And now, in the spirit of fairness, Kevin’s reply and comments in response to this interview:

KEVIN SMITH: So weird: I don’t even remember offering Ira “Dogma” to score. Maybe it was something we talked about during the two or three days I ever worked with the man - a guy whose body of work I truly respected (”Sixteen Candles”, “Weird Science”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) - but how do you “offer” someone a movie to score when the movie wasn’t even shot, and wouldn’t be for another three years?

If it was, indeed, however, something we’d mused about during that three day stretch on the “Rats” scoring stage, he put a bullet in it by being a total rag during the session: aside from addressing both Scott and I with dripping condescension, the guy went out of his way to mock a small request I made in front of his entire orchestra.

Y’know that “Pink Panther”-like orchestral fall-off during the Gramercy logo, right before Brodie starts his Cousin Walter narration story? I’d asked for that without using the proper terminology (”fall-off”). I tried to describe it to Ira for about two minutes before the dude’s blank stare morphed into an expression of abject disgust. First, he scoffed at me for not knowing what I was asking for was called, and then he turned to his orchestra and blasted me - like I wasn’t there - for having shit taste in music. Ultimately, he made the massive concession of giving the director something simple and small that he (politely and with the respect due a guy of Ira’s musical stature) asked for - but you’d have thought I’d grabbed a pen, spread out his cue sheets, and rewrote his entire score. I mean, it was a slight musical sting during the fucking studio logo, for Christ’s sake.

But even though he finally gave me what I wanted, he made it painfully clear how much he disagreed with it: Ira conducts his orchestra during the recording of that particular cue… how does one put this… sarcastically - complete with rolling eyes, over the top gestures and faux-yawning. It’s such an obnoxious display, it prompts a woman in the session to giggle aloud at his antics. That giggle can be heard in the cue (right before the fall-off, I believe); I opted to leave it in to remind me of what working with Ira Newborn was like.

So, I ask you: would you wanna work with a guy like that more than once?

Well I’m stupid, so I tried to work with him again, a decade later.

Scott and I were working on the tenth anniversary “Mallrats” DVD, creating the extended cut of the flick. Since there was all new material, we needed new score bits. The studio said they could just do an in-house cut-and-paste job with the score, but Scott and I pushed for them to go back to Ira - so that the man who scored the picture in the first place could add on to his own compositions.

Normally, when you work on the bonus features of a DVD, you do it for nothing. I’ve never gotten paid for any of the commentary tracks, deleted scenes compilation, intro recording, or doc-making I’ve done for any of the DVDs: it’s just something you do for the love (and to make a kick-ass DVD for anyone who’s interested in your bullshit). For the, roughly, twelve minutes of new score we were needed, rather than simply doing some loops of what already existed or doing a quick jam of new stuff that’d complement the picture, Ira quoted the studio a price way beyond their comfort level for a re-issued DVD. When Ira priced himself out of what was gonna be an easy gig, we, instead, sought the aid of our guy Jim Venable to pinch-hit.

It’s all a shame, really. While there weren’t many score cues in “Mallrats” (it was largely driven by soundtrack), I dug ‘em all; just wasn’t too crazy about the attitude of the guy who crafted them. He was the first composer I’d ever worked with and he made it the worst experience I’ve ever had scoring a movie.

I find it strange that he called Scott and I “Hollywood” - when the next flick we made had a budget of $250,000 and was shot in the Jersey ‘burbs.

And there ya have it, folks. Thanks to everyone involved. Just goes to show you, there’s always some Askew stories to tell from the world of Hollywood, even things stretching back as far as ten years ago. And for the record, that “fall-off” is memorable, isn’t it? Crazy that there was such a fuss made about Kev’s requesting it. Huh.

We’ve got plans for a page here at the new News Askew that will house ALL of these wonderful inteviews in one place. Watch for that, coming soon, right here. And as always, we thank Chris for the excellent work he’s continuing to deliver.