# John Murphy (composer)

John Murphy (born 4 March 1965) is an English film composer. He is a self-taught multi-instrumental musician who began his career in the 1980s, working with fellow Liverpool-natives The Lotus Eaters and Thomas Lang, as well as Claudia Brücken. His early film score career saw him work David Hughes from the electronic group OMD, and he has collaborated with directors Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Michael Mann, Matthew Vaughn, Stephen Frears, and James Gunn.
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, both films by Boyle, have been featured in a variety of TV shows, commercials and film trailers. In 2018, he scored Les Misérables for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, beginning a collaboration that continued in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

## Background

Born on 4 March 1965 in Liverpool, England, Murphy's interest in music was sparked when he heard The Beatles rendition of "Twist and Shout", which was the first song he learnt on the guitar. Coming across a book in London, titled, How to be a Film Score Composer, he began composing music for films in the early 1990s and scored his first hit with Leon the Pig Farmer. Together with David Hughes, formerly of the Merseyside-based electronic group OMD, he worked on several successful films, enjoying particular success with the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie's 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Since Guy Ritchie's Snatch (2000), Murphy has worked independently and has been based in Los Angeles. His successes include Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic horror 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later. He also collaborated with Underworld to score Boyle's science fiction film Sunshine. In 2006, Murphy composed the score for Michael Mann's Miami Vice. 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 used for advertising, film trailers, television shows and video games, in particular "In the House – In a Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later, and "Adagio in D Minor" from Sunshine; the former has featured in a number of tense situations on TV shows, such as the BBC's Top Gear, Dragon's Den, The Apprentice and MasterChef.
In 2014, he released an album titled Anonymous Rejected Filmscore that had been, as the title suggests, composed for a film whose studio head had rejected for being too 'weird'. Murphy promised the director that he wouldn't name the film. The score was allowed to develop in directions unconstrained by the original film's narrative and the cover art is a photograph of Murphy's son, taken by his wife through her sunglasses.
In 2018, he scored Les Misérables for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, beginning a collaboration that continued in 2023 with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2024, he scored Gunn's Superman (2025), the first film of the DC Universe, for which he also incorporated nods to John Williams' "Superman March" from Richard Donner's 1978 film into the score.

## Discography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1992 | Leon the Pig Farmer | Vadim Jean Gary Sinyor | Composed with David Hughes |
| 1994 | Beyond Bedlam | Vadim Jean | |
| 1994 | A Feast at Midnight | Justin Hardy | Composed with David Hughes |
| 1994 | Dinner in Purgatory | Kerry Kieman | |
| 1995 | Clockwork Mice | Vadim Jean | Composed with David Hughes |
| 1995 | Proteus | Bob Keen | |
| 1996 | Darklands | Julian Richards | |
| 1997 | Behind the Mask | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film |
| 1997 | The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous | Robert Knights | Television film |
| 1997 | Stiff Upper Lips | Gary Sinyor | |
| 1998 | What Rats Won't Do | Alastair Reid | |
| 1998 | The Real Howard Spitz | Vadim Jean | |
| 1998 | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | Guy Ritchie | Composed with David Hughes |
| 1999 | One More Kiss | Vadim Jean | Composed with David Hughes |
| 1999 | The Bachelor | Gary Sinyor | Composed with David Hughes |
| 2000 | Snatch | Guy Ritchie | |
| 2000 | Liam | Stephen Frears | |
| 2000 | Chain of Fools | Pontus Löwenhielm Patrick von Krusenstjerna | |
| 2001 | Hang Time | Ngozi Onwurah | Short film |
| 2001 | Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise | Danny Boyle | Television film |
| 2001 | Strumpet | Danny Boyle | Television film |
| 2001 | Shooters | Dan Reed | |
| 2001 | Mean Machine | Barry Skolnick | |
| 2002 | All About the Benjamins | Kevin Bray | |
| 2002 | New Best Friend | Zoe Clarke-Williams | Composed with David Hughes |
| 2002 | City by the Sea | Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 2002 | 28 Days Later | Danny Boyle | |
| 2002 | Friday After Next | Marcus Raboy | |
| 2003 | Intermission | John Crowley | |
| 2004 | The Perfect Score | Brian Robbins | |
| 2004 | Millions | Danny Boyle | |
| 2005 | Guess Who | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | |
| 2005 | Keeping Up with the Jonesers | Craig Borders | Short film |
| 2005 | The Man | Les Mayfield | |
| 2006 | Basic Instinct 2 | Michael Caton-Jones | Themes by Jerry Goldsmith |
| 2006 | Miami Vice | Michael Mann | Additionally composed with Klaus Badelt, Mark Batson and Tim Motzer |
| 2007 | Sunshine | Danny Boyle | Composed with Underworld |
| 2007 | 28 Weeks Later | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | |
| 2009 | The Last House on the Left | Dennis Iliadis | |
| 2009 | Janky Promoters | Marcus Raboy | |
| 2009 | Armored | Nimród Antal | |
| 2010 | Kick-Ass | Matthew Vaughn | Composed with Henry Jackman, Marius de Vries and Ilan Eshkeri |
| 2021 | The Suicide Squad | James Gunn | Replaced Tyler Bates |
| 2023 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | James Gunn | |
| 2025 | Superman | James Gunn | Includes "Superman March" composed by John Williams |
| 2025 | 28 Years Later | Danny Boyle | |

### Documentaries

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1996 | Where the Bad Girls Go | Chris Bernard | Documentary short |
| 1996 | Eunice the Gladiator | Chris Bernard | Documentary short |
| 2000 | The Valley | Dan Reed | |
| 2013 | Love Never Fails/Forever Found | Kelsey Shaw McNeal | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1997 | Modern Times | Episode: "The Bubble" |
| 2011 | Dispatches | Episode: "The Battle for Haiti" |
| 2011 | Frontline | Episode: "Battle for Haiti" |
| 2018 | Les Misérables | Miniseries |
| 2022 | Peacemaker | TV series |
| 2022 | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Special |

### Charting discography

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | CZ Rock | FRA | Album |
| "In the House – In a Heartbeat" | 2012 | — | 89 | 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album |
| "Pumped Up Kicks" (featuring Ralph Saenz) | 2022 | 1 | — | Peacemaker (Soundtrack from the HBO Max Original Series) |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||