Biographie

Son of composer Alfred Newman; nephew of Lionel Newman and Emil Newman; cousin of Randy Newman and Joey Newman.; brother of composer David Newman, Tim Newman, Maria Newman.

Has scored at least one Oscar-nominated film every year since 1994: 1994: Les Évadés (1994) (Nominee: Best Pic, etc.), Les quatre filles du Docteur March (1994) (Nominee: Best Score, etc.) 1995: Les liens du souvenir (1995) (Nominee: Best Score) 1996: Larry Flynt (1996) (Nominee: Best Director, etc.) 1997: Oscar and Lucinda (1997) (Nominee: Best Costume Design) 1998: L'homme qui murmurait à l'oreille des chevaux (1998) (Nominee: Best Song) 1999: American Beauty (1999) (Winner: Best Picture, etc.), La Ligne verte (1999) (Nominee: Best Pic, etc.) 2000: Erin Brockovich, seule contre tous (2000) (Winner: Best Actress, etc.) 2001: In the Bedroom (2001) (Nominee: Best Pic, etc.) 2002: Les sentiers de la perdition (2002) (Winner: Best Cinematography, etc.) 2003: Le Monde de Nemo (2003) (Winner: Best Animated Feature, etc.) 2004: Les Désastreuses Aventures des orphelins Baudelaire (2004) (Winner: Best Makeup, etc.) 2005: De l'ombre à la lumière (2005) (Nominee: Best Supporting Actor, etc.) 2006: The Good German (2006) (Nominee: Best Score), Little Children (2006) (Nominee: Best Actress, etc.).

Lives in the house in which he grew up (designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright), and writes in the same home studio used by his father Alfred Newman.

Parts of his score to Les Évadés (1994) were used in the trailer for Le secret de Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Les fous du roi (2006).

During the 2000 Summer Olympics, parts of his scores to Erin Brockovich, seule contre tous (2000), Les Évadés (1994), and Le patchwork de la vie (1995) (and possibly others) were played on NBC during short biographies of certain athletes.

On his inspiration for his American Beauty (1999) score: "Sam [Mendes] wanted things that hammered and thwacked a bit. He was interested in percussion and mallet instruments, so I started working on various ideas that involved xylophones and marimbas."

I hate the notion that electronics are a cheesy way of doing things and that orchestra is the only 'true' approach to scoring. But you can understand those critics, because electronics allow you to make easy choices. Anyone can do it. But while synthesizers are things you hide behind sounds, they can also be put in places you'd never expect. I've always wanted these boundaries to be amorphous.

The great thing about doing movie music is that you find out what you're capable of. You may think you're incapable of producing a certain rhythm, but it's your job to solve that problem. If you open your mind, an idea will lead you to the next one.

I think I like smaller [scores] better, because I find more interesting places that the music can go. When you're working with a 90-piece symphony, your interaction with the players is much different. You're standing on a podium and talking to a large number of musicians. So the notion of nuance becomes a group effort and that's a difficult thing to get. I keep thinking of ways to communicate better, to scale down the orchestra's size so it will fit into my ambient palette instead of lying on top of it.

I feel like I know how to write in a similar style to my dad, but I prefer a score like 'Unstrung Heroes' just because it gives me more of a unique voice. If I were to do a movie about space, I bet just by virtue of musical and dramatic expectations, I would have less of a chance to be original. Music can only follow the movie that it's in. Robert Altman's 'The Player' allowed me a high sense of irony. Other movies aren't so smart and want to go towards the teary middle ground. And if you're being honest to the task you kind of have to follow it there, even though it may not be your taste. You have to make it more of what it is.