Q&A: MAD MAX FURY ROAD COMPOSER JUNKIE XL
On Wednesday, November 2, the composer of Mad Max: Fury Road, Junkie XL (Tom Holkenberg), talked via Skype with Dr. Andrew Scahill's Introduction to Film class from his production studio in Los Angeles. Holkenberg is an award-winning and prolific film artist who began his career as a trance DJ and transitioned into film scoring for blockbuster films such as Divergent, Amazing Spiderman 2, Deadpool, and Batman vs. Superman. His background as a classically-trained pianist and an electronica DJ has allowed him to cultivate a unique and forward-thinking approach to film scoring (junkiexl.com).
The class had screened Mad Max: Fury Road earlier in the semester for a unit on sound design, and the students came prepared with questions ranging from his inspiration for the film's creative score to future projects like The Dark Tower and Justice League.
"We were honored to have such an influential figure in contemporary Hollywood filmmaking talk to our Salisbury students directly and help demystify the process of filmmaking," said Dr. Scahill. This is the second time Hollywood professionals have done a Skype Q&A with one of Dr. Scahill's classes: in 2015, his class hosted Winter's Bone producer Anne Rossellini, and in one month his Introduction to Genre class will host Tangerine director Sean Baker.
