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Mark Mancina on ‘Juror #2’, ‘Moana 2’ & Clint Eastwood interrupting a ‘Mufasa’ writing session

Few Hollywood composers deserve the ‘veteran’ title as much as the three-time Grammy-winning Mark Mancina; an early collaborator with Hans Zimmer when the German only had a makeshift room for a studio, Mancina has scored beloved films including Twister, Bad Boys, Con Air and many more. He speaks to Headliner about simultaneously returning to the world of Moana to score its sequel, while also working on Juror #2, rumoured to be Clint Eastwood’s final film.

While Mancina has scored over 60 films and television series, he is a songwriter at heart, initially dreaming of being a rockstar — his love of writing, arranging and producing songs has stayed with him throughout his career, one of the reasons he can go from scoring a gritty film like Training Day to the multiple Disney films he has worked on, including Tarzan and Brother Bear.

He is such an experienced head that he is seeing films he has previously worked on being rebooted: he scored the original Twister in 1996 which saw the new Twisters released last year, and he is currently working on the live-action remake of Moana and is intent on not repeating himself musically, having been the composer for the original Moana film, not to mention this is coming straight from working on Moana 2.

He is speaking from his home in north California, where the Los Angeles fires thankfully haven’t reached. “I have been through several fires, and I used to live in Southern California where it was common. I really feel for those folks. And, a lot of people I worked with on Moana have been affected by this tragedy, so it's really terrible.”

Mancina steadfastly believes that his ability to wear lots of musical hats has been something that has firmly seen him through his decades-long career.

Hans (Zimmer) realised that my talent was that I could score a scene, but I could also write lyrics, or I could sing, or I could write a song...

“I realised in my early 20s that the rockstar thing wasn’t going to happen,” he says. “I played in several bands, and I was extremely versatile, which gave me opportunities. I played in Trevor Rabin's band, then I played with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and also Seal. I worked with an engineer who asked me if I had any instrumental music, and I had been doing these horrible documentaries. My instrumental stuff was really pretty strong, considering that back then we didn’t have the equipment that we could get our hands on now.

“He happened to be Hans Zimmer’s engineer. I didn't know who Hans Zimmer was or anything about Hans, but I got a phone call from him saying we needed to get together. So I went to his studio, and pretty soon I was working on Days of Thunder, and Hans realised that my talent was that I could score a scene, but I could also write lyrics, or I could sing, or I could write a song, or I could help with an arrangement, or I could play the guitar.”

Being such a consistent face in Hollywood and the film industry has many benefits, one of which being that Mancina has struck up a friendship with one Clint Eastwood, who also lives close by in California. Besides the obvious fact that there are few cooler brags than being able to say you’re friends with one of cinema’s greatest icons, it has eventually led to them working together.

Initially, Mancina wrote a few songs for some of Eastwood’s films, and then the actor and director visited Mancina’s home to show him early footage of Juror #2 and asking if he had any musical themes that might be suitable. This naturally led to him being the composer for the film.


Starring Nicholas Hoult, the film tells the story of a man on jury duty, who has a sudden and horrifying realisation that he may be connected to the case itself. Besides the incredible run of films Hoult is currently enjoying (Nosferatu, The Menu, The Order), the cast is bolstered with star power including Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland.

I did not want it to sound like a sequel where it’s the same story, same music, same themes.

“I went to dinner one night with Clint,” Mancina says. “We met with a guy, I had a whole dinner with him — a real nice guy! A few days later, Clint called me to watch an edit of the movie and I realised it was Nicholas Holt that I had dinner with! He is a wonderful actor. The great thing about scoring a movie with that level of acting from the whole cast, you don’t have to push the music too hard and help convince anyone that they're watching great performances.”

It’s interesting that Juror #2 and Moana 2 hit Mancina’s schedule at the same time — not only are they polar opposite films, but they of course also required very different musical approaches. For the former movie, it quickly became clear that a piano-lead, minimalist score would suit this comparatively understated film, set against the big, bright colors of Moana. Besides piano, the score is characterised by tasteful dashes of strings, guitar, harp, and very subtle electronics.

“He [Eastwood] loves the piano,” Mancina says. “I have this Bosendorfer in my studio that he absolutely loves. Every time he comes over, he sits down and plays. So I knew he would want piano in the score. But the cool thing was that I worked with Clint's engineer, Bobby Fernandez, who's done all of his movies. He said to me, ‘We ought to set the orchestra up and put all the cellos in the middle of the orchestra, instead of on the side as usual’. The cellos have a pretty big voice in this. And if they're always coming out of one side, it's going to be a little uneven. But if we put them in the centre and put the violins around them, that would be a really cool effect.”

Mancina becoming involved with Moana 2 is a more straightforward story — having written the music for the first film as well as all the other skills he brings to the table, he was always going to be the obvious candidate for the sequel’s composer and co-songwriter.

With the voice talents of Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Scherzinger. Cravalho voices the titular Moana, with the film following her adventures as she assembles a wayfinding group to seek out the lost island of Motufetu, break its curse, and reconnect her people facing an existential threat if they fail.


“One of the things that I really wanted to do, which was my goal, and I think I achieved it, was that I did not want it to sound like a sequel where it’s the same story, same music, same themes,” Mancina says. “I wasn't convinced about the story, so I felt that if the music is a rehash of themes and the style of the first movie then I’d be cheating. Also, Moana was 16 in the first movie, and she's 22 or 21 in this movie, so the score needed to be more sophisticated and a little more grown-up. And I think it is, and I think that gave the movie its depth.”

Lin Manuel Miranda and Lebo M’s jaws dropped to the ground when Clint Eastwood walked in.

In an ideal world, most film composers like to work on one project at a time, but there are times where two films will set deadlines at the same time. For Mancina, he found himself working on Eastwood’s dark legal thriller while trying to keep up with the huge project that was a Disney animated sequel.

“It was kind of a mess,” he admits. “Moana 2 was moved up — it was going to be a TV series, and so the first year we started on it we were aiming towards that, and I was working on songs. Then all of a sudden, they moved the schedule up, and they made it a feature film. They got rid of some of the songs, and we find ourselves with six months to do what took us three years before. That was really intense. Also, Mufasa [the recent Lion King prequel film] was going on too. We were mixing the songs for that movie. In that regard, it was not fun, but I was really happy with the result.”

That said, besides the fantastic music results, this crunch period also produced a great anecdote. He says of a day working on Mufasa: “Some of the Disney people asked how we should approach it. I said, ‘We get Lin [Manuel Miranda, In The Heights, Hamilton] and Lebo M [the songwriter known for singing the iconic opening refrain of The Lion King] in my studio. I line up my studio with percussion. We push record. Me and Lebo start playing, Lin starts writing, and we're going to have something.

“I was a little worried because I had pushed for this and we had to get something. But it turned out great. And at the end of the day, this pickup truck arrives in my driveway and Clint gets out because sometimes he just drops by. He seems like he knows when something is going on. So of course, when he walked in, Lin and Lebo’s jaws dropped to the ground when Clint Eastwood walked in. We played him what we had been doing. Animated musicals aren’t really his world, but he really enjoyed it. And he enjoyed meeting Lin and Levo. I've got a picture of it that I will keep forever.”


The Juror #2 and Moana 2 soundtracks and score albums are available to listen to now, and if that isn’t enough of the Hawaiian adventures for you, Mancina reveals he is working on the series yet again, this time on the live-action remake being spearheaded by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Due out in a couple of years or so, Mancina concludes by saying, “I don’t personally like the Disney live-action remakes, but I do think Moana lends itself to it, and The Rock will bring such a presence to it.”

Mark Mancina photo by Larry Mah

Moana 2 images: ©Disney