Right before composer Ramin Djawadi began the European leg of the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, he sat down with SyFy Wire to discussed what it’s like composing music for two of HBO’s biggest shows: Game of Thrones and Westworld. Does he like writing for one show more than the other? “It’s really tied.”
"I love them both equally. While one has been shooting, the other one is on break, so I can work on one show and then it gets me excited to switch back to the other show. I feel very fortunate to be working with these amazing, creative people on these amazing shows."
The Game of Thrones theme song has become iconic, but its beginnings were pretty normal. Djawadi recalls that he had already begun writing music for the show when showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss brought him to the special effects house where the opening credits were being created. “The visuals were pretty close to being done, so I saw what it is now, the cities popping up and everything. It was just super inspiring. Then we just started talking about what this theme should capture, creating the overall mood for the show.” Given how much characters move around on Game of Thrones, the word Benioff and Weiss emphasized for the theme was “journey.”
"To be honest, the melody was kind of forming in my head when I was leaving the effects house. I guess I was driving back. Many times, the way I write my themes or melodies is that I hear it and then I sing into my phone or something, or I’ll scribble down on a piece of paper. For me, always, the big inspiration really comes from talking with my creators, my showrunners and my producers, and seeing what is their vision for their project."
Djawadi applies that same philosophy when creating music for individual episodes or characters. “Again, a lot of the characters, they travel, the families split, and there’s just a lot of movement. That’s what the show is all about. It’s a lot of adventure and exploring and discovery. That’s part of the mood it’s supposed to capture.”
Djawadi was diplomatic when asked if had a favorite show to compose for, and he’s no different when asked about favorite characters. “I’ll say, ‘I really like Daenerys’ and then I go, ‘Wait, but I like the Stark theme too, and I like the Lannister theme.’ I keep jumping around.” If it works for him — and it clearly does — we’re good with it.
If you write an iconic song, people are going to cover it, and plenty of people have covered the Game of Thrones theme song. Not only has Djawadi seen those covers, but it sounds like he enjoys them:
"I’ll never forget when the first episode aired and the next day David and Dan sent me a link of somebody doing a rock version of the theme. I was just blown away. Then all of a sudden another one pops up, and then the next one. People have been really creative with doing these covers. It’s absolutely amazing to see it."
Of the many covers he’s seen, some of his favorites include a western version, a cat version, and a digital hard drive version. That last one’s worth posting here, because geez people are creative:
Speaking of covers, Djawadi creates a lot of them for Westworld. Co-creator Jonathan Nolan will pick a song and ask Djawadi to arrange it for the show. “ super creative when it comes to music,” Djawadi said. “Fortunately, we have the same taste in music, so every time he comes to me with a song I always go, ‘Awesome! I would love to do a cover of this song.’ It’s a collaboration with him. We tweak it together. I love working with him.”
Just like with Game of Thrones, Djawadi has a hard time picking which character themes from Westworld are his favorite. “Ford’s scenes, for example, are so emotional and then mysterious, and then the Man in Black is badass. I don’t know. There’s this great contrast in music between the two characters.”
Djawadi has also composed music for film: he worked on Iron Man in 2008, Pacific Rim in 2013, The Great Wall in 2016 and A Wrinkle in Time in 2018. To hear him tell it, writing music for film and TV is basically the same, at least nowadays.
"On shows like Game of Thrones or Westworld, the post-production schedule is really stretched out. I get time to really get into the episode. I just look at them as 10-hour movies. If there’s 10 episodes, it’s a 10-hour movie."
Still, deadlines can be tight, but Djawadi says that just gets the creative juices flowing. By his own admission, he’s a “typical artist” in that if he isn’t given a deadline, he’ll end up procrastinating. “I’ll be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll work on this piece next week,’ and ‘Maybe I’ll finish it the week after.’ Having these deadlines really make you sit down and go, ‘Okay, I’m going to write this now and it will be done.'”
Ramin Djawadi is touring Europe with the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience as we speak. Tonight, he’ll appear at the Atlas Arena in Łódź, Poland.
Next: Season 8 filming: A fire blazes in King’s Landing
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