David Newman - following his father's footsteps

It would be an enormous task for David Newman to follow exactly in his father's footsteps as Alfred Newman made such a huge impression on an evolving industry. That David has managed to produce the goods under this shadow is testament to his own skills, and the fact that his CV is not as long is perhaps solely due to the fact that he has only been scoring for the last decade and a half. David's brother Thomas is doing very well as a film composer, and in comparison David is sometimes under-appreciated. However he is capable of some great scores such as "Galaxy Quest" and "Ice Age". Many of David's most recent movie scores have tended to be comedies, family movies or animations (sometimes all three) with a number of requests for sequels: "102 Dalmations", "The Nutty Professor II", "The Flintstones II", "Dr. Dolittle II" and the "Scobby-Doo" sequel. However, it should be remembered that comedy is not necessarily an easy genre to score, and the frequent requirement for pastiche demonstrates his flexibility.

Perhaps his soundtrack for Joss Whedon's "Serenity" will be the start of a trend into other genres. The well-crafted soundtrack for this is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Films by David Newman:

• Critters
• Vendetta
• Coneheads
• Wise Guys - orchestration
• Dragnet - orchestration and additional music
• Throw Momma from the Train - the music evokes Hitchcock thrillers just like the movie's visuals and storyline
• Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
• The War of the Roses
• Duck Tales: The Movie
• The Flintstones and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
• Galaxy Quest - lots of Star Trek like music for this Star Trek spoof
• Jingle all the Way
• Anastasia
• The Nutty Professor and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
• Matilda
• The Phantom
• Dr. Dolittle 2
• 102 Dalmations
• Ice Age - the family CGI animation movie
• Scooby-Doo 1 and 2 ("Monsters Unleashed")- lots of spooky goings on in these live-action cartoons
• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• The Cat in the Hat - the original score, with songs by Marc Shaiman
• Serenity - some similarities to the style of the Firefly TV series, with western sounds and some multicultural influences