Jerry Goldsmith had composed the music for The Motion Picture, but was not an option for The Wrath of Khan given the reduced budget; Meyer’s composer for Time After Time, Miklós Rózsa, was likewise prohibitively expensive. Bennett and Meyer wanted the music for the film to go in a different direction, but had not decided on a composer by the time filming began. Meyer initially hoped to hire an associate named John Morgan, but Morgan lacked film experience, which would have troubled the studio.

Official Releases

Paramount’s vice-president of music Joel Sill took a liking to a 28-year-old composer named James Horner, feeling that his demo tapes stood out from generic film music. Horner was introduced to Bennett, Meyer and Salin. Horner said that “[The producers] did not want the kind of score they had gotten before. They did not want a John Williams score, per se. They wanted something different, more modern.” When asked about how he landed the assignment, the composer replied that “the producers loved my work for Wolfen, and had heard my music for several other projects, and I think, so far as I’ve been told, they liked my versatility very much. I wanted the assignment, and I met with them, we all got along well, they were impressed with my music, and that’s how it happened.” Horner agreed with the producers’ expectations and agreed to begin work in mid-January 1982.

My CD and Cassette Moccups