Geoff Zanelli
Geoffrey Zanelli (born September 28, 1974) is an American composer working primarily in the medium of film, television, and video game scores. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Steve Jablonsky including several blockbuster films. He has since moved on to more solo work, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special for his score to the miniseries Into the West.
Geoff Zanelli | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Geoffrey Zanelli |
| Born | September 28, 1974 Westminster, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Film score, television score, video game score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, orchestrator |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, guitar, bass |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | www |
Aside from film and television scores, Zanelli also works with recording artists, writing arrangements for Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, Robbie Williams, The Webb Sisters, Mest and Story of the Year. He is credited as a guitarist/bassist/keyboardist on the song "I'm Not Dead" from recording artist Pink.[1]
Life and career
Zanelli was born on September 28, 1974, in Westminster, California.[2] He graduated in 1996 from Berklee College of Music.[3]
In 1994, at 19 years old, Zanelli met Hans Zimmer, believing him to be a promising young talent, Zimmer invited him to Los Angeles to join his group of film composers. Zanelli worked as an engineer on the debut album from Goldfinger as well as Zimmer's score for The Preacher's Wife.[4]
Zanelli's experience and desire to collaborate led him to work with British composer John Powell on his first Hollywood feature, Face/Off. Throughout the following years he built the foundation for his scoring career, composing with Powell, Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Steve Jablonsky on many feature films, including: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rango and the Golden Globe-nominated scores for The Last Samurai and Pearl Harbor.[2]
One of his earliest solo works, Steven Spielberg's miniseries Into the West, earned him an Emmy.[5] In approximately one year, Zanelli scored the films Disturbia, Hitman, Outlander, Delgo, Ghost Town and Gamer.[2]
In early 1933, film blog Ain't It Cool News called his score for The Odd Life of Timothy Green the best score of 2012.[6] In 2017, he composed the score to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, picking up the mantle from long-time series composer Hans Zimmer.[7] In June 2018, he composed the score, with Jon Brion, in Christopher Robin.[8]
Filmography
As primary score composer
| Year | Title | Director | Studio / Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | House of D | David Duchovny | Bob Yari Productions Lionsgate Films |
|
| Secret Window | David Koepp | Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Releasing |
Composed with Philip Glass | |
| 2007 | Hitman | Xavier Gens | Dune Entertainment EuropaCorp 20th Century Fox |
|
| Disturbia | D. J. Caruso | DreamWorks Pictures The Montecito Picture Company Paramount Pictures |
||
| 2008 | Delgo | Marc F. Adler Jason Maurer |
Fathom Studios Freestyle Releasing |
|
| Outlander | Howard McCain | The Weinstein Company Virtual Studios |
||
| Ghost Town | David Koepp | Spyglass Entertainment DreamWorks Pictures Paramount Pictures |
||
| 2009 | Gamer | Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor |
Lakeshore Entertainment Lionsgate Films |
Composed with Robert Williamson |
| 2011 | You May Not Kiss the Bride | Rob Hedden | Showcase Entertainment Freestyle Releasing |
|
| Beneath the Darkness | Martin Guigui | Sunset Pictures Image Entertainment |
||
| 2012 | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | Peter Hedges | Scott Sanders Productions Walt Disney Pictures |
|
| 2013 | Once Upon a Time in Queens | David Rodriguez | Grindstone Entertainment Lionsgate Films |
|
| Louder Than Words | Anthony Fabian | Identity Films ARC Entertainment |
||
| 2014 | School Dance | Nick Cannon | N'Credible Entertainment Lionsgate Films |
|
| 2015 | The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power |
Mike Elliott | Universal 1440 Entertainment Universal Pictures |
|
| Mortdecai | David Koepp | Odd Lot Entertainment Infinitum Nihil Lionsgate Films |
Composed with Mark Ronson | |
| No Stranger Than Love | Nick Wernham | Innis Lake Entertainment Orion Pictures Momentum Pictures |
||
| 2016 | Bling | Kyung Ho Lee Wonjae Lee |
Digiart Productions Digital Idea Momentum Pictures |
|
| Masterminds | Jared Hess | Michaels-Goldwyn Relativity Media |
||
| 2017 | The Ottoman Lieutenant | Joseph Ruben | Eastern Sunrise Films Paladin |
|
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales |
Joachim Rønning Espen Sandberg |
Jerry Bruckheimer Films Walt Disney Pictures |
Themes by Hans Zimmer | |
| 2018 | Traffik | Deon Taylor | Codeblack Films Summit Entertainment |
|
| Christopher Robin | Marc Forster | 2DUX² Walt Disney Pictures |
Replaced Jóhann Jóhannsson Composed with Jon Brion | |
| 2019 | The Intruder | Deon Taylor | Screen Gems Primary Wave Entertainment Sony Pictures Releasing |
|
| Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs | Sung-ho Hong Moo-Hyun Jang Young Sik Uhm |
Locus Creative Studios Next Entertainment World |
||
| Black and Blue | Deon Taylor | Hidden Empire Film Group Screen Gems |
||
| Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | Joachim Rønning | Roth Films Walt Disney Pictures |
Replaced James Newton Howard | |
| 2020 | You Should Have Left | David Koepp | Blumhouse Productions Universal Pictures |
|
| Fatale | Deon Taylor | Hidden Empire Film Group Summit Entertainment |
||
| 2021 | The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2 |
Hidden Empire Film Group | ||
| 2023 | Fear | |||
| The Hill | Jeff Celentano | Rainmaker Films Briarcliff Entertainment |
||
| Leo | Robert Marianetti Robert Smigel David Wachtenheim |
Happy Madison Productions Netflix |
As composer of additional music
Television
| Year | Title | Network(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Die Motorrad-Cops | RTL | Episode: "Am Abgrund" |
| Fear | MTV | 3 episodes | |
| 2000-03 | SportsCentury | ESPN | 8 episodes |
| 2002 | National Geographic Explorer | National Geographic | Episode: "Lost Subs: Disaster at Sea" Composer of additional music Composed by Steve Jablonsky |
| Live from Baghdad | HBO | Television film Composer of additional music Composed by Steve Jablonsky | |
| 2003 | Threat Matrix | ABC | Episode: "Pilot" Composer of additional music Composed by Steve Jablonsky |
| 2005 | Into the West | TNT | Miniseries; 6 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) |
| 2010 | The Pacific | HBO | Miniseries; 10 episodes Composed with Blake Neely Theme music by Hans Zimmer Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) |
| 2013 | Killing Kennedy | National Geographic | Television film |
| Christmas in Conway | ABC | ||
| 2022 | The First Lady | Showtime |
Video games
| Year | Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Champions of Norrath | Sony Online Entertainment | Composer of additional music Composed by Inon Zur |
| 2007 | Shrek the Third | Activision | Composer of additional music Composed by Winifred Phillips |
| 2009 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized | ||
| 2010 | Call of Duty: Black Ops | Nintendo DS version | |
| 2011 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Defiance | ||
| TBA | Star Citizen | Cloud Imperium Games | Composed with Pedro Camacho |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) | Into the West | Won |
| International Film Music Critics Awards | Best Original Score for a Television Series | Into the West | Nominated | |
| 2008 | ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Top Box Office Films | Disturbia | Nominated |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) | The Pacific: Part 10 (shared with Blake Neely and Hans Zimmer) | Nominated |
| 2019 | International Film Music Critics Awards | Best Original Score for a Comedy Film | Christopher Robin | Nominated |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Film | Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | Nominated |
References
- "P!nk - I'm Not Dead". Discogs. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
- "Geoff Zanelli Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- "Geoff Zanelli". Berklee College of Music. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
- Schweiger, Daniel (May 23, 2017). "Interview with Geoff Zanelli". Film Music Institute. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- "Into The West". Academy Awards. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- "ScoreKeeper's Top Ten Film Scores of 2012!!!". Aint It Cool News. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- Barker, Andrew (August 16, 2016). "'Pirates of the Caribbean' Taps Composer Geoff Zanelli". Variety. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
- Mithaiwala, Mansoor (March 6, 2018). "Disney's Christopher Robin Trailer Arrives". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 7, 2018.