BEST-known for scoring five James Bond films, including Daniel Craig’s debut outing Casino Royale (for which he also wrote the theme song with the late Chris Cornell), film composer and musician David Arnold will close this year’s Output music conference in Belfast with a special in-conversation event.
Taking place at The MAC in Belfast tomorrow at 4pm, Luton-born Arnold will be chatting to Ivor Novello award-winning composer and musician Hannah Peel about his career, which also includes the scores for Independence Day, Hot Fuzz, Prime Video’s Good Omens and the BBC hit, Sherlock.
Arnold’s hit 1997 album, Shaken and Stirred, found him working with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bjork, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Leftfield, Chrissie Hynde and Pulp to create a selection of James Bond movie song cover versions, and the composer was also musical director for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics - which featured a memorable James Bond cameo.
Read more: Ireland’s largest music conference to host a night of free shows in Belfast
Hi David, are you looking forward to appearing at Output Belfast?
I love Belfast and it has a huge amount of very talented people, so it’s lovely to get to talk to and with them about music, film, TV and life.
You have family connections in Ireland, notably your second cousin Damien Rice. Have you spent much time here before and what influence, if any, has Ireland had on your music?
I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland over the years and one of the things that never left me was the cultural appreciation for the arts.
How everyone took music, art, poetry and storytelling very seriously and afforded the performers and creators of those arts a huge amount of respect in performance as well as the space to actually create.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland over the years and one of the things that never left me was the cultural appreciation for the arts
— David Arnold
Do you remember a specific moment when you first decided that you wanted to pursue a career in music, or was it a more gradual realisation?
I was watching Disney’s The Jungle Book in a Dublin O’Connell Street cinema in the late 1960s with my family.
We came out of the theatre after the end credits had rolled singing all the songs. I remember thinking how much I’d love to be able to do that ‘thing’ that made people - mainly me - feel that way.
Your work straddles the worlds of film/TV scoring and music production/songwriting, did you always intend to pursue these two distinct strands in your career and how do they ‘feed’ each other in a creative sense?
I grew up in a house where there was always music playing. Either from a record player or the radio. A huge variation of styles of music and song that over the years made their way into my subconscious and my memory.
I always loved hearing songs on the radio and I always loved watching films in the cinema. Why wouldn’t I want to be involved in both? It was all music to me.
Songs have a certain sensibility and film has a different one, but when each work, in their own way they both land in the same place in your heart and mind.
TV production values have risen with the advent of big money streamers like Apple TV+, Netflix and Prime, has that had a knock-on effect in terms of the money available to composers scoring those projects?
Budgets have actually shrunk as there is an expectation that composers have their own home studios and can do much of it there - which is somewhat true, but it assumes we don’t want to record an orchestra or real players in a real studio with all the magic that comes with that.
Also, digital production methods have made everything quicker. That speed has resulted in post-production times getting shorter as film and TV editors can cut and create effects so much quicker than even 10 years ago.
The window for writing scores has got shorter as a result: technology can help in some ways, but it can’t make you think any faster, so I’ve found this compression to be not particularly useful for writing music.
The time available to consider and try alternative ideas has all but disappeared and it’s sometimes a scramble to get projects over the finish line.
It’s not good for the work, in my opinion.
What was it like working on the Bond movies at such a crucial time for the franchise and would you be interested in composing for Bond again - the next film, perhaps?
Every Bond film is at a crucial part of the franchise! I loved it - it was a dream of mine from a very early age to be a part of the series , as culturally it was such a big deal: special moments with family on big holidays watching the latest Bond movie together.
I was lucky Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson trusted me to do it for so long. I’ve always said I’d do another if I was asked and I still work with Eon on Bond projects.
Now Amazon has [the franchise], I’ve already worked with them on the 007: Road to a Million show and organised and performed the Bond 60th Anniversary Concert which Amazon filmed and have on the platform.
Read more: Brian Cox says new 007: Road To A Million series is ‘infinitely more dramatic’
We recently finished Good Omens 3 with Amazon and they know where I am. But seriously, I always had no expectations of being asked back after each of the films I did, and I have no expectation now.
But I still have great respect and love for the series and am hugely excited about what the next one will be. I’ll be happy just to see it made and for me to sit in a cinema again and watch it like I have for over 55 years!
What is your favourite Bond score that you didn’t work on?
You Only Live Twice, just because it’s the first Bond movie I ever saw. It was that film, and in particular that John Barry score, which ensnared me.
You worked with the mighty Iggy Pop on your cover of We Have All The Time in The World, and his distinctive voice turned out to be so perfect for that song. What made you think of asking him to sing that particular track?
I cast the vocalists on that record as if I was casting a movie - who could ‘play ‘ this part?
How could I make the record a version of each song unique to the performer without losing the essence of the song or its filmic DNA.
Would you ever consider doing a sequel to Shaken and Stirred?
I’ve been asked many times - I guess if I was going to do it I would have by now... but “never say never”, as someone once said.
Is there any one project from your career that you’re particularly proud of, and are there any you feel were unfairly overlooked and/or deserved more attention?
I always loved the song Play Dead with Bjork, as it encompassed a lot of things I was interested in musically and filmically, as well as opening a lot of doors to the world which had previously been shut to me.
I love songs, I think they’re the greatest of all the art forms, and for my first actual release to be that song with both Bjork and Jah Wobble involved was amazing. I’m still grateful.
I loved the film Amazing Grace, a movie about the end of slavery. it was about something very real and I loved writing for it - a very different ask creatively, as it had real responsibility and was about the truth.
I’d like to have seen that film do better in the world.
Are you able to share any details of projects you are currently working on?
I’ve just finished Good Omens 3, the final chapter. A huge amount of varying degrees of odd, weird, beautiful, huge and tiny music which hopefully delivers the end of the story with commitment and sincerity and love, as that’s what went into the writing of it.
I’ve some songs on the go, a theatre project and some more very interesting things in 2026 - not all media or concert-based!
Read more: Good Omens to return for third and final season on Amazon Prime Video
Finally, what advice would you give to young musicians considering a career in movie and TV scoring?
Be prepared for a long haul. There are lots of talented people working in this arena, so if possible find your own voice.
Don’t do what YouTube tutorials tell you is the ‘best way‘ to score a drama or a comedy or an adventure, or what gear is best - trust your instincts and be prepared to explain the reasons why you’ve written what you’ve written to those who’ve asked you to write it.
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