John Debney Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
John Debney
Sound
Biography
John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres, including comedy, horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, and action-adventure. He is a long-time collaborator of The Walt Disney Company, having written music for their films, television series, and theme parks. He has also collaborated with film directors such as Jon Favreau, Garry Marshall, Tom Shadyac, Peter Hyams, John A. Davis, Brad Anderson, Howard Deutch, Mark Dindal, Robert Rodriguez, and Paul Tibbitt. Debney has been the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), John was born and raised in Glendale, California, nearby to Disney. He began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. Debney earned his B.A. degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of Arts in 1979. After ending his career with Disney, Debney worked for Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training by working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. After this, Debney went on to score television projects as diverse as Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, SeaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Cape, The Lazarus Man, Piggsburg Pigs!, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who, Cagney and Lacey, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Young Riders, The New Yogi Bear Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Fame, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dragon's Lair, Freshman Dorm, Pop Quiz, and Dink, the Little Dinosaur, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor and It's a Small World (also used at Disneyland from 1993 to 2002) in Disneyland Paris and SpectroMagic at Magic Kingdom. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler. In 1994, Debney wrote Friends Forever with Greg Scelsa from Greg & Steve's album We All Live Together, Vol. 5. Debney has since gone on to have a career composing scores for many films, including Cats & Dogs, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries, and Predators. Debney has also composed scores for the video games Lair and The Sims Medieval. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas. He composed some of Disney Parks's Nighttime Spectaculars, including World Of Colour Celebrate! in Disney's California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories And You! and Celebrate the Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland, as well as an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" as a fanfare for the Walt Disney Pictures logo from 1985 to 2006. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Debney, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Sweatbox
Trudie Styler, a documentarian, had been allowed to film the production of 'Kingdom of the Sun'/'The Emperor's New Groove' as part of the deal that originally brought her husband Sting to the project. As a result, Styler recorded much of the struggle, controversy, and troubles that went into making the picture on film (including when producer Fullmer called Sting to inform the pop star that his songs were being deleted from the film). Styler's completed documentary, The Sweatbox, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2002. Disney owns the rights to the documentary and has not released it on home video or DVD.
In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover
Follow Elvira as she searches for the Sanderson Sisters, interviewing various figures who claim to have encountered or been influenced by them, including former classmates, fans, rivals, and descendants.
Score: A Film Music Documentary
Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks, 'Score' is an aural valentine for film lovers.
The Strongest Man in the World
Medfield College science major Dexter Riley and his classmates have been working on a new vitamin compound when a lab accident creates a supercharged mix that ends up in Dexter's cereal box, giving him superhuman strength. The powerful formula comes to the attention of the college dean and two rival cereal companies, touching off a hilarious chain of events.
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.
Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary Halloween Bash
Join us for a night of celebration, packed with celebrity guests and Hocus Pocus throwbacks, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Silent Night: A Song for the World
This documentary tells the story of the creation and cultural impact of the world's most famous Christmas carol, composed in 1818 in Salzburg, Austria, and since then translated into about 140 languages.
By His Wounds We Are Healed: Making 'The Passion of the Christ'
A feature length documentary on the film which runs for 1 hour and 40 minutes, broken down into 21 segments. It covers a lot of ground with a tons of input from those involved - the desired goal and its impact on the filmmakers.
Production
Sin City
Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.
Bruce Almighty
Bruce Nolan toils as a "human interest" television reporter in Buffalo, NY, but despite his high ratings and the love of his beautiful girlfriend, Bruce remains unfulfilled. At the end of the worst day in his life, he angrily ridicules God — and the Almighty responds, endowing Bruce with all of His divine powers.
The Passion of the Christ
A graphic portrayal of the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life.
Dragonfly
A grieving doctor is being contacted by his late wife through his patient's near death experiences.
Elf
When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic.
The Replacements
Maverick old-guard coach Jimmy McGinty is hired in the wake of a players' strike to help the Washington Sentinels advance to the playoffs. But that impossible dream hinges on whether his replacements can hunker down and do the job. So, McGinty dusts off his secret dossier of ex-players who never got a chance (or screwed up the one they were given) and knits together a bad-dream team of guys who just may give the Sentinels their title shot.
The Tuxedo
Cabbie-turned-chauffeur Jimmy Tong learns there is really only one rule when you work for playboy millionaire Clark Devlin : Never touch Devlin's prized tuxedo. But when Devlin is temporarily put out of commission in an explosive accident, Jimmy puts on the tux and soon discovers that this extraordinary suit may be more black belt than black tie. Paired with a partner as inexperienced as he is, Jimmy becomes an unwitting secret agent.
Hocus Pocus
After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.
Heartbreakers
Max and Page are a brilliant mother/daughter con team who have their grift down to a fine science. Max targets wealthy, willing men and marries them. Page then seduces them, and Max catches her husband in the act. Then it's off to palimony city and the next easy mark.
The Whole Ten Yards
Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski now spends his days compulsively cleaning his house and perfecting his culinary skills with his wife, Jill, a purported assassin who has yet to pull off a clean hit. Suddenly, an uninvited and unwelcome connection to their past unexpectedly shows up on Jimmy and Jill's doorstep; it's Oz, and he's begging them to help him rescue his wife, Cynthia.
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