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John Ottman Goes to Editing Jail for Valkyrie
Any moviemaker would jump at the chance to work on a Bryan Singer movie. However, editor and composer John Ottman, who has cut and scored every one of Singer’s flicks excluding only X-Men (which Ottman declined so he could direct his debut feature, Urban Legends: Final Cut), does not greet each opportunity with glee. In fact, he refers to going to work on each movie as going to “editing jail.” He says this in jest… well, mostly in jest.
So when Singer called up Ottman to ask him to work on his latest picture Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise and reuniting the creative team behind Singer’s breakout feature The Usual Suspects (with cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, writer Christopher McQuarrie), Ottman obviously accepted, if not a bit begrudgingly. Shortly before the movie’s December 25 release, Ottman talked with MovieMaker about the movie and his career.
Andrew Gnerre (MM): What were your intentions for the Valkyrie score?
John Ottman (JO): I wanted it to be modern yet an orchestral suspense thriller. Because at it’s heart, no matter how much of an historical piece it is in the backdrop, it’s basically a thriller. That’s the way it’s being marketed because that’s the way it is and that’s how the score is. That being said, the challenge of the score was to have it slowly lapse from a thriller into a tragedy—which it is—without feeling like it’s tacked on. So the score slowly evolved into the tragic end of it to come.
MM: You mentioned it being marketed as a thriller. The marketing has been sort of public for this movie. There’s been a lot of…
JO: There’s been a lot of bullshit about this movie. (laughs) It was actually one of the most interesting films to do, I was really having a blast doing it when we were seeing the footage and so forth. And then you start hearing this crap on the Internet and it’s very frustrating because I don’t have the right to go out and counteract it on the Internet. [The studio would] probably shoot me if I did. And they were saying, “Let’s be above the fray and not get down in the dirt with these people, these gossip sites.” So we just kind of let it go.
I felt like I was reliving the Dukakis campaign again, where all that crap was being said about Dukakis and he never said anything! (laughs) It was very frustrating, but you got to just keep doing your thing and hopefully it’ll go away. But it just started festering and I discovered that the Internet is one of the most hateful things in existence. It’s basically for sex and hate. Because I’d read the stuff and think, ‘Where’s this coming from?’
MM: The score is subtle and atmospheric; it doesn’t overwhelm the dialogue or any of the action.
JO: Well that was the idea behind the music, was to become literally the pulse of the movie. When I was putting the movie together, I don’t like to temp with anything [musically] until the very last second, so it was completely dry.
MM: That’s how you always do it?
JO: No. I did it for X-Men 2 and I did it for this one. I did it that way for Suspects as well. Superman Returns we temped while we went along and I hated it. But Bryan was so freaked out about me not using the John Williams theme—he was terrified that I wouldn’t do it—that we temped with stuff. And I’m like, ‘Don’t worry.’ (laughs)
But I hate doing that. I love cutting the film without music because one of my favorite things to do as an editor too is to do sound design, and [not using temp music] keeps me objective.
When we were putting Valkyrie together I thought, ‘Eh, maybe this thing will need 20, 25 minutes of music max because it’s really the gritty, realistic kind of thriller.’ As we screened, I realized the more pulsating stuff we put in, the more kickass the film became. (laughs) So there’s 100 minutes of score now and it never ends.
However, yes, the score was designed to be rather subliminal and to be intertwined with the sound effects and the dialogue. So a lot of times you don’t realize it’s there. That’s the power of film music. Composers would sometimes love for their music to be all expository, but sometimes the most powerful music in the world is music you don’t even know is there.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Vida on 12/29/08 at 12:18 pm
Valkyrie is a very intellectual film. I watched the film after Christmas. It’s done with taste and class. All the veteran actors who participated to make the film possible have performed their roles very convincing. I like the plot, music and timing, overall it is excellent movie. It brings us back to the reality where greed for power should not be tolerated in our society. It is really sad that most people would rely on the internet for negative reviews, as some editors would think the film Valkyrie as not such a good movie. I take it as lack of understanding about the film and history, and part of it because of Tom Cruise (who until now is not forgiven by some movie moguls and other editors who continue to make an issue out of his jumping on some sofa). But, people are not easily fooled by these hate propagandas and write-ups. We move on and forgive. In fact, the continuing support of the intelligent moviegoers makes the Valkyrie maintain its position in the box office movie hit. The film is excellent and it’s worth every dime to watch it.
- Comment by Kate Noelle on 12/29/08 at 4:08 pm
Well I did see the movie. Valkyrie was a poor to average film and I can explain why.
Tom Cruise’s American accent was very distracting around all of those European dialects. He was incredibly miscast in the role.
He has a bad habit; Producer Tom Cruise alters history and condenses the roles of his fellow actors to keep the spotlight on himself.
His supporting cast of brilliant thespians was virtually underused and they were carrying this film.
This is the same mistake he continues to use and he has way too many “yes men” around him to learn that.
- Comment by Gatweni on 12/30/08 at 12:02 am
I’m going to see this sometime this week and judge for myself. But I’ve heard the score is good and I bet that is part of what helps build the suspense.
- Comment by Bedava Oyun indir on 12/24/09 at 9:45 am
hmm , nice article
- Comment by kral oyun on 4/28/10 at 5:41 am
Good article
thanks..
- Comment by oyunlarz on 4/28/10 at 5:42 am
good news
thank you for informations.
- Comment by car coloring on 4/28/10 at 6:29 am
Thank you
Betty
- Comment by jimy on 9/15/10 at 1:08 pm
WOw, this sounds like a great cooking class/vacation! Anyone gone and want to share their experience on here?
Banner Prints- Comment by albert on 1/18/11 at 9:09 am
Does anyone else think he bears a resemblance to Quentin Tarantino?? just me then.
- Comment by Tony on 5/04/11 at 5:41 pm
I can totally see abit of Tarantino in this guy.. must be the chin! haha! computer repair braintree
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