Daft Punk in a Disney Movie?!?
For over twenty years, the French duo Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, better known as Daft Punk, have blazed a unique trail within the music industry. Both their music and their personal style of wearing futuristic metal helmets creates a fusion of human and machine elements and a signature sound. Club anthems and electronica with great rhythm and hooks have always been their calling card and many musicians, from Kanye West to Pharrell to The Weeknd have either sampled their songs or collaborated with them. “Get Lucky”, the incredibly catchy song featuring Pharrell’s smooth vocals and Nile Rodgers showing why he is one of most iconic guitarists ever, was recently named to Rolling Stone’s list of the Best Summer Songs of All Time. Daft Punk epitomize a mysterious kind of cool. So how the hell did they end up in a Disney movie?
Let’s look through the retrospectascope back to 2008. Joseph Kosinski had been tapped to direct Tron: Legacy, a sequel to Tron, which was one of Disney’s hit movies in the 1980s. Video game fans may remember Kosinski’s award-winning commercial for Gears of War in 2007, which featured the song “Mad World” but this was going to be his first feature film. Recognizing Daft Punk as kindred spirits sharing an interest in the intersection of humanity and technology, Kosinski thought they would be the perfect musicians to compose the score for the movie. Music supervisor Jason Bentley was brought on and after Daft Punk agreed to the project, Disney gave them the resources to realize their vision. Disney’s original website for the soundtrack touted the fact that the score features “a symphony of eighty-five world-class musicians in London and recorded the orchestra at AIR Lyndhurst Studios, Britain’s premier scoring facility.” Daft Punk, Kosinski, and Bentley collaborated for over two years and the result is a spectacular blend of electronic and orchestral music that won numerous awards and was nominated for a Grammy.
In a 2010 interview with KCRW about the film, Mitchell Loeb, who was serving as Disney’s President of Music, described the process of bringing the score to life:
“It was just a fantastic experience. It was about the brass, it was also about the string players and their attack, their particular attack, the kind of strokes that Daft Punk and Joseph had in mind. It was such an amazing experience to go into that big former church, that big room to watch Joseph working with Daft Punk, making changes on the fly, communicating to this brilliant 85-piece orchestra, we had the greatest conductor, Gavin Greenway. A great recordist. Really just an incredible thing of a merging of these electronic tracks that had been laid with the orchestral top put on it. It was a very special thing.”
Tron: Legacy was released in 2010 and received mixed reviews from critics and a slightly warmer reception from audiences. Having recently re-watched it, I agree with NPR film critic Ian Buckwalter’s take on the film: “Despite all the gloom and grandiosity, this can be a fun movie, particularly for those willing to sit back and let it wash over them.” Jeff Bridges is always great and in this movie, he does a more high-tech performance of “The Dude” from the Big Lebowski, saying things like, “You’re really messing with my zen, man.” Olivia Wilde gives a strong performance while looking amazing in a futuristic, skin-tight body suit and bold make-up. Michael Sheen is a scene-stealing albino club owner with a Bowie-esque wardrobe and clearly revels in the campy role. It’s a big budget movie that still manages to have a laugh. Daft Punk actually appear as DJs in a club scene. But the real reason to see the movie is Daft Punk’s music.
They create sweeping soundscapes that enhance the film’s neon, vibrant digital world. During several different battle scenes (the disc Games, the light bikes on the Grid), they use strong percussion and some synth elements that really heighten the energy and tension. At other points, they have a lighter touch that is beautiful and moving while still being undeniably Daft Punk in style. “Derezzed,” the relatively short song that is among the ones they play in the club scene, is the kind of song that is perfect to play when you need to get pumped up. They created a great music video featuring Olivia Wilde for the song:
In 2011, Disney released the album Tron Legacy: Reconfigured. It featured a number of producers including Moby, Paul Oakenfold, and Crystal Method manipulating tracks from the film. Daft Punk were not involved and the album reveals how even top producers couldn’t capture the singular nature of their work, even when given pieces of it to remix.
Unlike many soundtracks that don’t age well, Daft Punk’s music for Tron: Legacy is even better and more relevant today. Whether you watch with your eyes open and take in the stunning combination of the music and visuals or you close your eyes and listen while imagining your own digital world, this is a musical trip worth taking.
