John Murphy (composer)
John Murphy (born 4 March 1965) is a British film composer. He is a self-taught multi-instrumental musician who began his career in the 1980s, working notably with The Lotus Eaters, Thomas Lang, and Claudia Brücken. Since the beginning of his career, he has collaborated numerous times with several directors, mainly Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Michael Mann, Matthew Vaughn, and Stephen Frears. He has received praise through the years and some of his awards include the Silver Award (1st Prize) at the Cannes Film Festival, a British D&AD Award, and a BMI Award.
John Murphy | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Murphy |
| Born | 4 March 1965 Liverpool, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Film score, video game score, electronic, instrumental, alternative, post-rock |
| Occupation(s) | Film composer, musician, video game composer, music producer |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Website | johnmurphyofficial |
Murphy gained recognition in the film industry while working with Guy Ritchie on his film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Michael Mann's Miami Vice, Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass and scoring various films by Danny Boyle. His instrumental tracks "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later and "Adagio in D Minor" from Sunshine have been featured in a variety of TV shows, commercials and film trailers.
Background
Born in Liverpool, England, Murphy began composing music for films in the early 1990s and scored his first hit with Leon the Pig Farmer. Together with former OMD member David Hughes, he worked on several successful British movies, enjoying particular success with the soundtrack to 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Since 2000's Snatch and Shooters, Murphy has been mainly based in Los Angeles. His successes include City by the Sea and Danny Boyle's box-office success 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later. He also collaborated with Underworld to score Danny Boyle's science fiction film Sunshine. In 2006 Murphy composed the score for Michael Mann's Miami Vice. In 2009, he composed the music for the 2009 remake of the 1972 film The Last House on the Left, followed by 2010's Kick-Ass, based on the comic book of the same name. Other excerpts from his scores have been released for advertising, in particular "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later, and "Adagio in D minor" from Sunshine.
In 2014, he released an album Anonymous Rejected Filmscore[1] that had been, as the title suggests, composed for a film whose studio head had rejected it.[2][3] Murphy promised the director that he wouldn't name the film,[3] but described it as being 6 or 7 years previous, so around 2006–07.[2] The score was allowed to develop in directions unconstrained by the original film's narrative[3] and the cover art is a photograph of Murphy's son, taken by his wife through her sunglasses.[3]
Discography
Film work
| Feature films | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| Leon the Pig Farmer | Vadim Jean Gary Sinyor |
Composed with: |
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| Beyond Bedlam | Vadim Jean | |||
| A Feast at Midnight | Justin Hardy |
Composed with:
|
||
| Dinner in Purgatory | Kerry Kieman | |||
| Clockwork Mice | Vadim Jean | |||
| Proteus | Bob Keen | |||
| Darklands | Julian Richards | |||
| Behind the Mask | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film | ||
| Stiff Upper Lips | Gary Sinyor | Miramax Films | ||
| What Rats Won't Do | Alastair Reid | |||
| The Real Howard Spitz | Vadim Jean | New Line Cinema | ||
| Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | Guy Ritchie |
Composed with:
|
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Gramercy Pictures | |
| One More Kiss | Vadim Jean |
Composed with:
|
The Mob Film Company | |
| The Bachelor | Gary Sinyor |
Composed with:
|
New Line Cinema | |
| Snatch | Guy Ritchie | Columbia Pictures Screen Gems | ||
| Liam | Stephen Frears | Lionsgate Entertainment | ||
| Chain of Fools | Pontus Löwenhielm Patrick von Krusenstjerna |
Composed with:
|
Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| Hang Time | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film | ||
| Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise | Danny Boyle | Television film | ||
| Strumpet | Danny Boyle | Television film | ||
| Shooters | Dan Reed |
Composed with:
|
||
| Mean Machine | Barry Skolnick | Paramount Pictures | ||
| All About the Benjamins | Kevin Bray | New Line Cinema | ||
| New Best Friend | Zoe Clarke-Williams |
Composed with:
|
Tristar Pictures | |
| City by the Sea | Michael Caton-Jones | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| 28 Days Later | Danny Boyle | 20th Century Fox Fox Searchlight Pictures | ||
| Friday After Next | Marcus Raboy | New Line Cinema | ||
| Intermission | John Crowley | Buena Vista Pictures DreamWorks Pictures | ||
| The Perfect Score | Brian Robbins | Paramount Pictures | ||
| Millions | Danny Boyle | Pathé Distribution Fox Searchlight Pictures | ||
| Guess Who | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Keeping Up with the Jonesers | Craig Borders | Short film | ||
| The Man | Les Mayfield | New Line Cinema Columbia Pictures | ||
| Basic Instinct 2 | Michael Caton-Jones |
Themes by: |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Entertainment Film Distributors | |
| Miami Vice | Michael Mann |
Composed with: |
Universal Pictures | |
| Sunshine | Danny Boyle |
Composed with: |
Fox Searchlight Pictures | |
| 28 Weeks Later | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | 20th Century Fox | ||
| The Last House on the Left | Dennis Iliadis | Rogue Pictures | ||
| Janky Promoters | Marcus Raboy | Third Rail Releasing | ||
| Armored | Nimród Antal | Screen Gems | ||
| Kick-Ass | Matthew Vaughn |
Composed with: |
Lionsgate Entertainment Universal Pictures | |
| Love Never Fails/Forever Found | Kelsey Shaw McNeal | Short film | ||
| The Suicide Squad | James Gunn | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Documentaries | ||||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| Where the Bad Girls Go | Chris Bernard | Short film | ||
| Eunice the Gladiator | Chris Bernard | Short film | ||
| The Valley | Dan Reed | Suspect Device Films | ||
Television work
| TV series | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Notes | |
| Modern Times |
Episode:
| ||
| Dispatches |
Episode:
| ||
| Frontline |
Episode:
| ||
| Les Miserables | |||
Charting discography
| Year | Single | Peak position | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [4] | |||
| 2012 | "In the House – In a Heartbeat | 89 | 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album |
References
- Kaya Savas (26 September 2014). "Anonymous Rejected Filmscore by John Murphy (Review)". Film.Music.Media. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- Gergely Hubai (August 2014). "Torn Pages: An Anonymous Exclusive". Film Score Monthly. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017. Alt URL
- Kaya Savas (13 October 2014). "Composer Interview: John Murphy". Film.Music.Media. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- LesCharts.com: John Murphy page
External links
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