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The following is an article that appeared in Film Score Monthly Magazine. Special thanks to Lukas Kendall and Tim Curran for allowing us to reprint it here. [Return to 3,000 Miles to Graceland Page]
An Easy 3000 Miles
Graceland Hits Home for Composer Clinton
 George S. Clinton felt right at home
scoring 3000 Miles to Graceland, an edgy action-thriller/dark romantic comedy
that opened in theaters February 23. Not only did the Tennessee native
personally relate to a project whose heart and soul is rooted in the memory of
Elvis Aaron Presley, he also appreciated working closely with a director who
has directing, producing and writing credits on more than 225 music videos,
concerts, commercials and short films
3000
Miles to Graceland is the brainchild of Demian Lichtenstein, who made his
feature film debut in 1997 with the independent Lowball. Lichtenstein has
directed music videos for Sting and Eric Clapton, Grandmaster Caz, Shabba Ranks,
Queen Latifah, Cypress Hill and Gloria Estefan. "Demian is very savvy
musically, and his taste runs the gamut of all the videos he's directed,"
Clinton says.
While
Clinton says directors with a musical background tend to believe every scene
should be anchored by a unique piece of music, he praised Lichtenstein for
"relinquishing that tendency and realizing there's a cohesive element to
thematic things reappearing in the course of the film. He's very open and was
one of the most trusting directors I worked with in terms of letting me do what
it is I do."
From
Nashville to Memphis
Clinton
began his career as a songwriter, arranger and session musician in Nashville.
He has scored numerous films, including Cheech and Chong classics, the two
Austin Powers comedies, sexy thriller Wild Things and wrestling picture Ready
to Rumble. In addition, Clinton has written several concert works and
collaborated on three musicals.
With his most recent film credit, Clinton comes full circle - harking back to a Tennessee childhood filled with memories of The King. Posing as Elvis impersonators during an international Elvis convention, Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner portray ex-cons who - along with their three partners in crime - rob the Riviera Casino clad in rhinestone-studded jumpsuits and armed with guitar cases full of weapons and ammunition. It doesn't take long before dissension among the five thieves escalates into betrayal, greed and chaos.
The
film co-stars Courteney Cox, Christian Slater, Kevin Pollak, David Arquette, Jon
Lovitz, Howie Long, Thomas Haden Church and Bokeem Woodbine. Ironically,
Russell landed his first acting role at the age of 10 in the Elvis movie It
Happened at the World's Fair. In 1979 he portrayed The King himself in an
ABC-TV movie of the week directed by John Carpenter.
Ghost of Elvis
 Clinton
particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of Vegas showgirl choreography with an
exploding gas station in the Nevada desert and shots of bucolic mountain
scenery in the Pacific Northwest. But it was the Elvis factor that fueled his
appreciation for the film. "The ghost of Elvis Presley permeates the twisted
mind of the Kevin Costner character, Murphy, who believes himself to be one of
the illegitimate children of Elvis," he explains. "One of the fun things for me
to do was find that aspect of rockabilly music. I used a lot of harmonica in a
very surreal, abstract way, as if the ghost of Elvis was haunting this score."
Drawing
on The King for inspiration, Clinton imagined that Murphy had an Elvis cell in
his brain whose DNA would scream out in pain. The harmonica, which he found
symbolic of Murphy's pathology, "was sort of the manifestation of that aspect
of his nature."
The score is bolstered by source material that includes Elvis' version of "My Way" by Paul Anka, who appears in the film as a mob boss lamenting the temporary transformation of the Vegas strip "from Rat Pack to Fat Pack" - compliments of the Elvis convention. The song, which captures The King at the nadir of his career, serves as an appropriate backdrop toward the end of a scene in which Murphy tries shooting his way out of a warehouse. Surrounded by law enforcement officers, "Murphy realizes there's no way out," Clinton observes, "then looks in the mirror and asks Elvis, "Do you recognize me now because I recognize you?' At that point the song appears like a ghostly echo, but then it takes over and becomes much louder. We only do the first verse of the song before we get to the final shootout, but I think it's very effective."
Clinton
tried to contain the score within a sparse musical expression rather than
pursue an orchestral approach. His challenge was to infuse the score with the
same dramatic moments that unfold within the context of the film. "I didn't
want to use an orchestra because I didn't think it had anything to do with
essential elements of the film," he says. "So I basically used a rhythm
section, harmonica and samples. When I first saw this film the orchestral music
used as a temp dub seemed out of place to me."
Intense but Playful
Recalling
the film's playfulness, Clinton thinks back to a scene where Murphy, preparing
to launder money stolen from the casino, pretends to be the owner of an antique
shop. "He takes a sex quiz in a magazine asking if he ever masturbates and has
had rough sex with a man," Clinton says, "and at that point the harmonica
simply plays three notes that are lighter-hearted than it has ever been in the
score."
There
also were instances when he tried to be subtle by complementing the love scenes
between Kurt Russell and Courteney Cox in a way that wasn't syrupy. In
addition, funky up-tempo music was used to underscore the presence of the boy
who portrayed Cox's resourceful son.
Comparisons to his work on the Austin Powers franchise are inescapable. "My challenge with the Austin Powers movies was to be true to the genre but original at the same time, as well as not to send up Austin or Dr. Evil - to play it straight," Clinton explains. "With Graceland there was no genre that I was striving to be true to, although I was using elements of the sort of rockabilly ghost of Elvis and fit the score within a contained vernacular of the source music. I tried to make it hip, cool and fun - not just light and silly."
A Family Resemblance?
3000
Miles to Graceland is the kind of film whose source material very easily could
have included the music of funk icon George Clinton, founder of
Parliament-Funkadelic. Had that been the case, it would have been the first
time the two Clintons crossed musical paths. "I've never met him or worked with
him," says George S. Clinton, "although from time to time we have to make sure
our royalty statements don't include each other's work." He looks forward to
one day meeting him and even working with him. "I certainly respect how he took
funk and R&B music to a whole new level."
He
recalls how the occasional case of mistaken identity that has marked his entire
career nearly cost him a future with the woman he ended up marrying. "On one of
the first nights we spent together there was a knock at the door at 4 a.m. and
it was a U.S. marshal serving me a summons for alimony payments," he chuckles.
"It took a lot of explaining to my then not-yet-wife that I didn't have an
ex-wife somewhere suing me for alimony."
Next up for Clinton is an anthology series for Fox television along the lines of The Twilight Zone that's called Night Vision. The show, which will air in the fall, features two half-hour stories per episode and is hosted by musician Henry Rollins. In addition, April marks the release of a feature film Clinton completed called Speaking of Sex - a comedy starring Bill Murray, Katherine O'Hara, James Spader and Lara Flynn Boyle.
Bruce Shutan is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and
has been playing the drums since 1970.
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