After spending so much time evolving the surreal cinematic style of the movie, the choice of composer seemed all the more critical to Hackford: "I'm a great admirer of contemporary Eastern European composers Arvo Part and Alfred Schnittke, and sought the mysterious spiritual quality in their music. I love Danny Elfman's work, although I hadn't heard anything he'd done that fit the musical genre I wanted for the movie. However he's such a distinctive talent, I thought I'd ask him to see the film and decide whether it spoke to him.
To my delight, he responded passionately to the images and performances. Moreover, he surprised me by declaring that he counts the great Russian and Eastern European composers like Bartok and Prokofiev among his greatest influences. With this common link, Danny and I were able to communicate musically to create a complex, bittersweet sound that characterizes Dolores' own richly courageous humanity."
Over the course of several weeks, Hackford met with Elfman at the composer's Topanga Canyon studio, where he sketched out complicated orchestral arrangements on his computer. Unfortunately, the process was interrupted by February's disastrous California rains, which left Elfman's state-of-the-art studio under three feet of mud. "To his great credit, Danny managed to move, immediately establish a new studio and deliver a vivid score with great expressive style," says Hackford. As the director watched from the sound booth, Elfman recorded over 100 minutes of music with a 90-piece orchestra, ultimately rounding out Hackford's vision of "DOLORES CLAIBORNE."
