# Graeme Revell

Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial rock/electronic rock group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer.
Some of Revell's best known film scores include Dead Calm (1989), The Crow (1994), Street Fighter (1994), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), The Craft (1996), The Saint (1997), The Negotiator (1998), Bride of Chucky (1998), Titan A.E. (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Daredevil (2003), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), and Sin City (2005). He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director David Twohy, having scored Below (2002) and the Riddick franchise. He is an eight-time recipient of the BMI Film Music Award, including the Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award, and an AACTA Award winner.

## Biography
### Early life

Revell attended Auckland Grammar School, where he finished his final year in 7A. As an orderly in an insane asylum in Australia in the late 70's, he and one of the patients formed one of industrial music's first bands, SPK, as an outgrowth of his interest in music therapy. He spent the next decade making music that ranged from extreme to beautiful to academic and earning a reputation for wild stage stunts that included accidentally setting an audience member on fire with a flamethrower. Revell's break came in 1989, when he scored the Australian film Dead Calm. A Hollywood agent, Richard Kraft, heard it and tracked him down. Since then, he moved to Hollywood, working with everything from 85-piece orchestras for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, to Tuvan singers and Armenian stringed instruments for The Crow, to brassy jazz and hip-hop rhythm loops for Fled, with Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin.

### Education and training

Revell is a classically trained pianist and French horn player, but also graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in economics and political science.

### Vocational pursuits

He worked as a regional planner in both Australia and Indonesia, and was also an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital.

### Musical career

Revell was a founding member of the industrial music band SPK, playing keyboards and percussion. The SPK single, "In Flagrante Delicto", was the basis for the Dead Calm film score (his first) that won him an Australian Film Industry award in 1989.
Most of Revell's subsequent projects were film scores. But in 1997, he teamed up with Roger Mason to create a non-film music album Vision II – Spirit of Rumi, released through New York based Angel Records. The two coproduced, supplied some of the instrumental accompaniment, and set to music 11 poems by renowned 13th century Persian poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī. Vocals were provided by Noa, Lori Garson, Esther Dobong'Na Essiene a.k.a. Estha Divine, and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
In 2002–03, he assisted the rock band Evanescence on their debut album, Fallen, in which he is credited for doing most of the string arrangements. He has also done string arrangements for Ludus, Stefy, Biffy Clyro and The Wombats.

## Style

Revell's musical style is predominantly electronic and computer-based, yet often utilises classical instruments or entire arrangements for certain pieces (similar to his contemporary counterparts, Hans Zimmer and Mark Isham). The orchestral scores that Revell has composed have changed throughout his career—from Bernard Herrmann-like pieces to Ennio Morricone-influenced works. "Whenever I write songs, I always have visual images in mind, and I have always changed styles dramatically. That's not good for a long-term rock career, but it's good if you want to score films." "I'm trying to bring a dose of class to Hollywood," he said. "I want my music to be the real thing instead of some terrible synthesized thing thrown together in a week. I don't want to sound just like everybody else."
Revell's music is often re-used from movie to movie and in more recent times he has collaborated with other artists on their albums. After the success of his soundtrack on Red Planet where he used the voice of French singer Emma Shapplin to back up and often lead his score, he collaborated with her on her own album Etterna, producing all of her songs. He has been interviewed for the independent documentary Finding Kraftland.

## Collaborators

Revell has been assisted in sound design by Brian Williams, who creates dark ambient music under the German language black humorous pseudonym Lustmord.

## Awards and nominations

On 18 May 2005, Revell was honored at the annual BMI Film & TV Awards with the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement.

### Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

| 1994 | Nominee Saturn Award | Best Music Hard Target (1993) |

### ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

| 1993 | Winner ASCAP Award | Top Box Office Films The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) |

### International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA)

| 2008 | Nominee IFMCA Award | Best Original Score for a Documentary Film Darfur Now (2007) |

### World Soundtrack Awards

| 2001 | Nominee World Soundtrack Award | Best Original Score of the Year Not Released on an Album Blow (2001) |

### Venice Film Festival

| 1997 | Winner Golden Osella | Best Score Chinese Box (1997) |

### Online Film & Television Association

Source:
| 2001 | Winner OFTA Television Award | Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) |
| 2001 | Winner OFTA Television Award | Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Dune (2000) |
| 2001 | Nominee OFTA Television Award | Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Dune (2000) |
| 2001 | Nominee OFTA Television Award | Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) |

### Fangoria Chainsaw Awards

Source:
| 2003 | Nominee Chainsaw Award | Best Score Below (2002) |
| 1997 | Nominee Chainsaw Award | Best Score From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) |
| 1994 | Winner Chainsaw Award | Best Soundtrack The Crow (1994) |

### BMI Film & TV Awards

| 2009 | Winner BMI Film Music Award | Pineapple Express (2008) |

## Works
### Theatrical film
#### 1980s

| Year | Title | Director |
| 1989 | Dead Calm | Phillip Noyce |

#### 1990s

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1990 | Spontaneous Combustion | Tobe Hooper | |
| 1990 | Child's Play 2 | John Lafia | |
| 1990 | Till There Was You | John Seale | |
| 1991 | Deadly | Esben Storm | |
| 1991 | The People Under the Stairs | Wes Craven | "Additional Orchestral Music" credit |
| 1991 | Until the End of the World | Wim Wenders | |
| 1992 | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Curtis Hanson | |
| 1992 | Love Crimes | Lizzie Borden | |
| 1992 | Traces of Red | Andy Wolk | |
| 1992 | Body of Evidence | Uli Edel | |
| 1993 | Boxing Helena | Jennifer Lynch | |
| 1993 | Hear No Evil | Robert Greenwald | |
| 1993 | The Crush | Alan Shapiro | |
| 1993 | Faraway, So Close! | Wim Wenders | |
| 1993 | Hard Target | John Woo | Composed with Tim Simonec |
| 1993 | Ghost in the Machine | Rachel Talalay | |
| 1994 | No Escape | Martin Campbell | Composed with Tim Simonec |
| 1994 | The Crow | Alex Proyas | |
| 1994 | S.F.W. | Jefery Levy | |
| 1994 | Street Fighter | Steven E. de Souza | |
| 1995 | Tank Girl | Rachel Talalay | |
| 1995 | The Basketball Diaries | Scott Kalvert | |
| 1995 | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie | Bryan Spicer | |
| 1995 | Killer: A Journal of Murder | Tim Metcalfe | |
| 1995 | The Tie That Binds | Wesley Strick | |
| 1995 | Strange Days | Kathryn Bigelow | |
| 1996 | From Dusk till Dawn | Robert Rodriguez | |
| 1996 | Race the Sun | Charles T. Kanganis | |
| 1996 | The Craft | Andrew Fleming | |
| 1996 | Fled | Kevin Hooks | |
| 1996 | The Crow: City of Angels | Tim Pope | |
| 1997 | The Saint | Phillip Noyce | |
| 1997 | Spawn | Mark A.Z. Dippé | |
| 1997 | Chinese Box | Wayne Wang | |
| 1997 | Suicide Kings | Peter O'Fallon | |
| 1998 | The Big Hit | Kirk Wong | |
| 1998 | Phoenix | Danny Cannon | |
| 1998 | All I Wanna Do | Sarah Kernochan | |
| 1998 | The Negotiator | F. Gary Gray | |
| 1998 | Lulu on the Bridge | Paul Auster | |
| 1998 | Bride of Chucky | Ronny Yu | |
| 1998 | The Siege | Edward Zwick | |
| 1999 | Idle Hands | Rodman Flender | |
| 1999 | Buddy Boy | Mark Hanlon | Composed with Michael Brook and Brian Eno |
| 1999 | Three to Tango | Damon Santostefano | |
| 1999 | Bats | Louis Morneau | |

#### 2000s

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2000 | Pitch Black | David Twohy |
| 2000 | Gossip | Davis Guggenheim |
| 2000 | Titan A.E. | Don Bluth Gary Goldman |
| 2000 | Calle 54 | Fernando Trueba |
| 2000 | Attraction | Russell DeGrazier |
| 2000 | Red Planet | Antony Hoffman |
| 2001 | Double Take | George Gallo |
| 2001 | Blow | Ted Demme |
| 2001 | Human Nature | Michel Gondry |
| 2001 | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Simon West |
| 2002 | Collateral Damage | Andrew Davis |
| 2002 | High Crimes | Carl Franklin |
| 2002 | Below | David Twohy |
| 2003 | Daredevil | Mark Steven Johnson |
| 2003 | Freddy vs. Jason | Ronny Yu |
| 2003 | Out of Time | Carl Franklin |
| 2003 | Open Water | Chris Kentis |
| 2004 | Walking Tall | Kevin Bray |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick | David Twohy |
| 2005 | Assault on Precinct 13 | Jean-François Richet |
| 2005 | Sin City | Robert Rodriguez Frank Miller |
| 2005 | The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D | Robert Rodriguez |
| 2005 | Goal! | Danny Cannon |
| 2005 | Harsh Times | David Ayer |
| 2005 | The Fog | Rupert Wainwright |
| 2005 | Æon Flux | Karyn Kusama |
| 2006 | Bordertown | Gregory Nava |
| 2006 | Man of the Year | Barry Levinson |
| 2007 | Marigold | Willard Carroll |
| 2007 | Planet Terror | Robert Rodriguez |
| 2007 | The Condemned | Scott Wiper |
| 2007 | Darfur Now | Ted Braun |
| 2007 | Awake | Joby Harold |
| 2008 | The Ruins | Carter Smith |
| 2008 | Street Kings | David Ayer |
| 2008 | Pineapple Express | David Gordon Green |
| 2008 | Days of Wrath | Celia Fox |

#### 2010s

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2010 | Unthinkable | Gregor Jordan |
| 2010 | The Experiment | Paul T. Scheuring |
| 2010 | Kites: The Remix | Anurag Basu |
| 2010 | Kites | Anurag Basu |
| 2011 | Shark Night | David R. Ellis |
| 2013 | Riddick | David Twohy |

### Television film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 1990 | Psycho IV: The Beginning | Mick Garris |
| 1995 | Down Came a Blackbird | Jonathan Sanger |
| 1998 | Dennis the Menace Strikes Again | Charles T. Kanganis |

### Television series

| Year | Title |
| 1988 | Bangkok Hilton |
| 2000 | Frank Herbert's Dune |
| 2001 | Anne Frank: The Whole Story |
| 2002–2003 | CSI: Miami |
| 2008–2009 | Eleventh Hour |
| 2009–2010 | The Forgotten |
| 2009–2010 | Dark Blue |
| 2012 | The River |
| 2014–2015 | Gotham |

### Video games

| Year | Title |
| 2005 | Call of Duty 2 |
| 2005 | Call of Duty 2: Big Red One |