Disney’s ‘Wish’: How Composer Dave Metzger Pays Homage to ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’
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Long-time Disney music arranger and orchestrator Dave Metzger is finally getting his “Wish.” After two decades and orchestrating “Tarzan,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Frozen,” Metzger is composing his first full animated feature, “Wish.”
Speaking to Variety during scoring session breaks in early September, Metzger says getting the call was amazing. “I’ve always done a lot of composing, but it’s always been as the unknown composer or the additional music person,” he says. But after 25 years of being that additional music person, Metzger wondered if the window on getting his composing credit would ever become a reality. “I had reached the point where I wasn’t sure,” he admits.
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A phone call from Matthew Walker, VP of Music at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios changed that. Metzger says, “He said he was considering me to be the composer for ‘Wish.’”
The film, set to be released on Nov. 22, continues the celebration of the studio’s 100th year and is an ode to the legacy of the studio’s wishing star that has been featured so prominently throughout Disney Animation’s history. Ariana DeBose stars as Asha, a 17-year-old who lives in the magical kingdom of Rosas, a fantastical place ruled by Disney’s newest villain, Chris Pine’s King Magnifico, and built on people’s wishes and hopes.
The score was influenced by the film’s original songs penned by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice. Since the songs were written long before, he looked at how to tie his music to the songs. “The idea was that it didn’t sound like the songs were in one world and the score in another,” he explains.
As for his toolbox, Metzger used castanets and finger cymbals because they had been used in the song instrumentation. “I utilized ethnic percussion as well as instruments from the Mediterranean region such as guitars to bring color to the score and evoke that kingdom,” he says, referring to the area where the fantastical place exists – the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
“Wish” pays homage to classic Disney in numerous ways, including using the same aspect ratio as 1959’s “Sleeping Beauty.” Elsewhere, the feature uses watercolors in an animation style calling back to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Metzger, however, nods to the most recognizable of all.
“There are a couple of spots where you hear the first five notes of ‘When You Wish Upon a Star,’” he reveals. “Chris Buck, the director, wanted something different. I played with an ethereal texture. So, we go from the 100th anniversary logo and transition into the land of Rosas and ‘Wish.’”
As for what audiences can expect with Asha’s journey sonically, Metzger’s score is bubbly and energetic to reflect her character. “She has a lot of energy. She’s smart, quick and always going, so I gave her a bit of momentum musically under that,” he says. “But as the movie goes on, she is beginning to be confronted with conflict, so I started to introduce a little bit of dissonance to her theme.”
Metzger won’t say anything else until the film has been released, but he does tease a pivotal song moment “that is a real change in her direction. From that point on, her character has grown and transmorphed and, musically, I follow that.”
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