Without music, cinema couldn’t be the gargantuan industry that it is. Since the inception of the seventh art, when movies still didn’t have an audio track, we still presented films with a live orchestra to set the story’s tone. So, it isn’t an exaggeration to say a soundtrack can make or break a movie. Take, for instance,the biggest hit of 2023 so far,The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The movie would probably not pass the one billion mark at the box office withoutBrian Tyler’s masterful composition, which mixes musical cues from the game with brand-new tracks. And when it comes to theFast & Furiousfranchise, Tyler has been part of the family since the first movie, helping to build the sound identity of a franchise that approaches the end line withFast X. So, withThe Super Mario Bros. Moviestill jumping over box office records at theaters, andFast Xtesting the gears before racing towards another commercial success, we sat down with Tyler to discuss his essential work for some of our most beloved movies and TV shows.
From the very start of our interview, it’s clear that Tyler loves his job. The composer passionately talks in detail about the music he creates while his eyes are glowing and his arms mimic the beats of drums in the air. Music is part of who Tyler is, and it is just enthralling hearing him discuss his work in some of Hollywood’s most important productions. In 2023 alone, Tyler was behind anotherrecord-breaking theatrical release,Scream VI. And on the TV front, Tyler has been part of theYellowstoneuniverse while also composing the soundtracks for spinoffs1883and1923. Meanwhile, he works as a musician on different projects, including his immersive audiovisual spectacle,Are We Dreaming. Still, Tyler is pleased his work forces him to be as flexible as possible since the challenge of changing rhythms and tones helps him improve his craft. As Tyler tells us:
“The thing that I love about doing all these different projects – including Are We Dreaming, electronic music and bass music and things like that, drum and bass – is that they are so different from each other that it keeps it really interesting. I can be working on something, and then it’s almost like each one is a refresher from the other. I truly love all these kinds of music, and I love producing them and writing them and composing and performing them.”
RELATED:‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Review: It’s-a Everything You Could Hope for From a Mario Movie
Brian Tyler Used His Passion for Gaming to Create ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’Soundtrack
Tyler feels “very lucky that I haven’t been put into a box where I’m just doing kind of one type of music or the other.” By keeping his mind open to different projects, the composer has the opportunity to tackle wildly diverse projects. However, some jobs hit differently from others. For instance, as a longtime fan of theSuper Mariogames, Tyler was ecstatic to work on Illumination’s movie soundtrack. From the start, he knew he wanted to use many of the motifs and songs from theSuper Mariogames, but he also wanted to create something new and leave his impression of Mushroom Kingdom’s history. Of course, being a fan of Mario helped with his research. As Tyler puts it:
“You know, I’ve been a fan of Mario since, gosh, I mean, I’ve been playing the games forever. Even like arcade days. And then, of course, with Mario Kart and like N64 and all those things. I love games, and it’s kind of a part of my childhood all the way to growing up. So I knew this music just intrinsically. It was like it was in my mind, and it was all that music that was part of that world. And I really wanted to pay tribute to it while at the same time writing new music. And so the first thing I did was I actually went back and just played a lot of the different games again, and kind of it’s like visiting old friends.”
Tyler was not alone during the composing process, as Nintendo worked side-by-side with Illumination in the making ofThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. That is why Tyler worked together with Mario creatorShigeru Miyamotoand legendary videogame composerKoji Kondo, the man behind all the classic Mario songs you love. While Tyler was still coming up with his plan for creatingThe Super Mario Bros. Moviesoundtrack:
“I met with the creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, and the creator of all that music, Koji Kondo. And we talked through the process of what I was thinking should be the idea behind it. Since this movie is so cinematic and so big, going into that world of film, it needed to have its own new themes. You know, from Princess Peach to Bowser to the main Mario theme and the [starts making a beat] you know, all that kind of thing. And so I wanted to write something, but I wanted it to feel like it was actually a part of Mario already. I wanted to have built-in nostalgia, almost like when people watched it, even fans would be like, ‘Yeah, I know this, this feels like Mario.’ But at the same time, having support motifs that would be almost like counter melodies or support harmonies that would be from the original games that would go alongside it in a way that would be invisible to people that were new to the Mario world. So it just felt like great film music. It helped the scene, you know what I mean? But then also the fans would feel like they’re at home in that world. Just like someone like me.”
Tyler’s approach was to use the classic songs and musical cues of theSuper Mariogames as building blocks for his masterful soundtrack. Meanwhile, he worked hard to create new music that would blend perfectly with Kondo’s original tracks. All his efforts paid off because Tyler got the biggest compliment any fan ofSuper Mariocould get. As Tyler tells it:
“And one of the coolest things for me with Mario [movie] is when I played that music for Nintendo, you know, Koji Kondo and Shigeru Miyamoto, and I hung out with them at Skywalker Sound after we played the whole film back, they were saying like, ‘Wow, your music is part of this universe as much as anything, we can’t distinguish it. We have film music over here and there’s like no turning back with how you hear it. You hear it as Mario.’ Which was such a compliment and really made me happy as someone as a fan of Mario.”
But how many sound cues and songs from the games did Tyler use inThe Super Mario Bros. Moviesoundtrack? According to Tyler, “I don’t remember how many references and things, but it’s, you know, it’s well in the hundred. And I forget the exact numbers, somewhere around 150.” That’s a lot of references to keep track off, especially since the composer wanted to use this material “in a way that wouldn’t be just Easter eggs. I didn’t want it to be just Easter eggs. I wanted it to be dramatically correct for the scenes and really help the movie and make it soar.”
While a compliment from Miyamoto and Kondo is one of the highest honors a composer can receive, Tyler is also overwhelmed by the love fans showed forThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. As the composer puts it, “I was really so pleasantly surprised to see how the fans of Mario really appreciated that and would search for them [musical themes] and really saw all the tender loving care that I put into the score to make it something that was really special.” Tyle was also “amazed at some of the really obscure references that people pick out.” In addition, Tyler says it’s excitingThe Super Mario Bros. Moviehelps to bridge the gap between generations by offering something that everyone loves. As Tyler explains:
“I have so many friends, a lot of like movie directors and people that I know that they sent me pictures of them with their kids at the movie saying, ‘This is the first movie I went to with my kids.’ It crosses over into two generations. We grew up with it. And then, those of us who have kids and they’re ready to go and they love it. It’s amazing to see all the Mario, you know, that hats and the gear and the shirts and all the toys and all that stuff kind of coming back in a way that was even bigger than when I was a kid.”
Of course, Tyler’s brilliant soundtrack is only one reason whyThe Super Mario Bros. Moviewas so successful. As Tyler reveals, everyone involved was willing to walk the extra mile to ensure the movie would turn out as it did. Tyler tells us:
“They’re really amazing. Illumination and Nintendo are, they’re a great pair. And, you know, with Universal, it’s exciting. It’s almost like they really, truly believe in making something cool and special. There was a lot of work that was done that normally wouldn’t have to be done. It was just out of love for Mario and for bringing it to fans that we kind of went the extra mile. Not just me, I mean, it was like everyone, the directors, you know, Illumination, [producer] Chris Meledandri is amazing, and Nintendo, and all up and down. The animators, you know, they’re incredible, and they just would not let any shot go without it being just right.”
In addition, Tyler had some help on the music front for one of the movie’s most beloved compositions,the single “Peaches” byJack Black., who voices Bowser in the movie. As Tyler told us, his contribution to the catchy song:
“Was more like making sure it fits into the whole, but that was Jack [Black]. And he’s awesome. And I was talking to him about, we talk about a lot of things, you know, but kind of how to do something that would be really funny, but like sincere from the care from the point of view of the character. The rest of the music that I wrote needed to feel true to the character, even though it was something new, you know? And so these were all discussions and really cool thoughts and Jack ran with that one.”
What about the future? Is there anyThe Super Mario Bros. Moviesequel or spinoff being discussed? As Tyler puts it, “Oh, that, we’ll just have to see. Regardless, I wouldn’t be able to say anything about anything in that area. But as a fan of Mario, it would be great to see more.” And what a fan he is! Before we let Tyler go, I asked him what his favorite game in the franchise is, which led to an exciting discussion where Tyler mentionedSuper Mario Bros. 3,Super Mario World,Super Mario 64,Super Mario Galaxy 1and2,Super Mario 3D World,Super Mario Odyssey, and even the originalDonkey Kongarcade. As Tyler summed things up, all theSuper Mariogames are worth praise, so that “I wouldn’t be mad at someone just coming at me and saying like something like, ‘Oh,Super Mario Sunshine’ or whatever, you know.”
We couldn’t agree more, and after talking with Tyler aboutThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s easy to understand the movie’s success is also due to how the people involved in making it really love the franchise.
‘Fast X’ Is the Culmination of the Entire Franchise
WhileThe Super Mario Bros. Movieallowed Tyler to express his passion for gaming,Fast Xis the culmination of over two decades of work. And even though Tyler is proud of everything he does, theFast and Furiousfranchise holds a special place in his heart. As Tyler explains:
“The ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise is great because I have developed so many themes for the different characters. There are a lot of characters and tones in Fast and Furious. And this evolved so much from where it started. From a movie about cars and racing to, you know, big global consequences, to heists. Like, the drama gets really big and the characters all fit together in an important way. Funny enough, to me is closer to movies like ‘Star War’s and things like that because you have multiple villains, you have hierarchies, you have families, you have relationships and romances, and people come and go, and then people passed away on the franchise and real life. And the history is there. So, to have been writing all these themes all this time, not realizing where it was gonna go, is just incredible.”
Over the years, Tyler composed hundreds of tracks for theFast and Furiousfranchise, giving special attention to all each character’s theme evolve over the years. And since the story of theFast and Furiousmovies is all about how these characters relate to each other, the soundtrack of each movie had to follow a similar progression because:
“Characters come back in this big crescendo. So you have the main them, the ‘Fast and Furious’ theme, but have themes for Dom [Vin Diesel], and Letty [Michelle Rodriguez], and Brian [Paul Walker], Mia [Jordana Brewster]. And then Jason Statham comes on board and he has music. And when Hobbs [Dwayne Johnson] came on board. You have Charlize Theron’s character, and you have Mr. Nobody and Kurt Russell. And now there’s the daughter. So that theme relates to Helen Mirren’s character in this [Fast X].”
It’s a huge challenge to keep composing for the same franchise for over twenty years and ensure every theme fits perfectly into the whole. In addition, since the franchise changed so much over the years, the soundtrack also had to change while still keeping theFast and Furiousidentity. Still, on the audience side, we don’t always realize the amount of work this task demands. In Tyler’s words:
“I think sometimes people go, ‘oh, wow, this is a big entertaining movie, ‘Fast and Furious.’ That must have been fun doing the music,’ not realizing the kind of bar that I wanted to hit in that movie. It’s so extraordinarily difficult. I really wanted to nail it. I didn’t want to do just like a regular action score and just kind of be [like], ‘here’s some action music.’ It needs to be an identity in a way that movies like Bond have, you know? But it’s its own thing. I don’t want to sound like anything else. So it’s always a challenge and I throw myself into those.”
TheFast and Furiousfranchise grew so big and became so successful that it could be compared to big epic storylines such asStar WarsandThe Lord of the Rings. At least, that’s how Tyler felt while creatingFast X’s soundtrack. As the composer explains:
“It’s done in a way that I feel like I’m doing it with– it’s, stylistically, like a ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Star Wars,’ but in terms of how the structure of the music is. But the music itself, I conducted at Abbey Road with the Philharmonia of London, but it’s all this super produced. It’s really cool for me getting the nitty-gritty of recording, you know, synths and drums, live drums, but also 808s and breakbeats and drum and bass, and bass music, and hip hop, and music from around the world. There’s an Italian flavor to it since it takes place in Rome, all these different things. It’s one of the most complex scores I’ve ever done.”
In order to create the themes a good soundtrack needs, Tyler has to understand what each character represents in a story. In the case ofFast and Furious, that means exploring the psychological layers of heroes and villains.Fast Xis about to introduce a new antagonist Dante (Jason Momoa), who might be the biggest threat the Fast Family has ever faced. However, Dante is not just a big baddie, and Tyler promises people will even sympathize with the character. That’s why Dante’s theme song had to be so special, and Tyler thinks the villain:
“Has one of my favorite themes that I’ve ever done. It’s brand new for it [Fast X]. It has a really interesting harmonic chord progression, but with this melody that is slightly out in a way that it just feels really good. Like when you hear it, there’s a certain moment where it’s kind of a rotating, undulating, kind of building a piece of music. And every time it hits this one part, it off-kilter in a way musically that kind of hits you in that sweet spot. It kind of gives you that ‘ooh’ feeling that makes it feel different. It makes it feel special. It’s not just villain music. It’s smarter, in terms of his character. There’s an intelligence to him. You relate to this character in a way. You’re given enough story about this character to understand where he’s coming from and empathize with him. And there’s emotion to it. And in the way it builds, you can see how it’s just kind of almost like there’s a beauty to it, that you’re attracted to this character in a way. But you can see how it’s gone wrong, and it’s gone to the other side. It’s like, I’m really proud of it.”
InFast X, Dante is the son of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), the drug kingpin that Dom faced off against inFast Five.Fast Fiverevolves around a high-stake heist in Rio de Janeiro, which ends with Hernan being shot down by Hobbs on a bridge. The movie also represented the turning point of the franchise, as sequels became more intertwined and focused on explosive heists. Beginning inFast Five, the franchise also invested big in the idea of megalomaniac villains stepping out of the street racing scene. According to Tyler, fans would do well in watchingFast Fiveagain before catchingFast Xin theaters since that bridge scene is key to understanding the entire franchise. Tyler explains:
“Of course, when you see the trailer, you see that Dante’s character is an intrinsic part of that heist in Rio, the bridge and all that. […] But the idea of that heist, and then the chain of events that it set off all those years ago, that’s coming to fruition now. That was kind of a key, it’s the key moment in the franchise, which is so cool. We see in this [Fastx X] story now after all this time, we see that was the key moment since the very beginning when they all met, you know when Dom and Brian met. The key like plot point moment was what happened on that bridge and what happened at that bank [vault in the police station]. And now it’s all coming to fruition. Not even knowing when you watch ‘Fast Five’… And ‘Fast 10’ and the following finale is about how much that [heist] walked in everybody’s fate and their future.”
If that’s not enough to keep you excited, Tyler promisesFast Xwill be as game-changing for the franchise asFast Fiveonce was. The composer tells us:
“I remember when ‘Fast and Furious 3’ and ‘4’ came out, and they were kind of changing. And all of a sudden, Fast Five came out. It was a turn. It was like, ‘What!?’ And this [Fast X] kind of has that feel where you’re like, ‘Oh my God!.’ It’s so off the chart, what they’re pulling off, and just it really is going into high gear dramatically and story-wise. I think people are gonna really love it because I do.”
Unfortunately, Tyler couldn’t share any secrets aboutFast 11, which will supposedly end the franchise. “Anything with the future of ‘Mario’ and ‘Fast,’ I have to be like, ‘I know nothing.’’,’ Tyler says. However, when it comes to choosing his favoriteFast and Furiousmovie, the composer articulately replied:
“This is not a non-answer, hopefully. But I now see them, now more than ever, I see them as one. Basically, if you could take ‘Fast Five’ till now, that’s my favorite Fast. It’s almost like you have to watch ‘Fast Five’ through ‘Fast X,’ like it’s one thing. So to me, now it’s like one story. In fact, they loop around to each other and stuff. It’s so sick! So I’m gonna go with that. So everything since ‘Fast Five.’ I loved everything before. It was fun, but man, did it take a turn. And since then, I feel it’s like almost like its own single story.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movieis currently available in theaters.Fast Xdrives into theaters on May 19.
