Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino was born on the 10th of October 1967 in Riverside Township, New Jersey. His family roots trace back to Sicily and Abruzzo, regions in southern Italy that shaped his cultural identity. He grew up in Edgewater Park Township, where he spent his childhood watching Hanna-Barbera cartoons and reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show. At age 10, he began combining images and music by creating stop-motion animation with homemade soundtracks in his basement. This early passion for blending visual art with audio led him to Holy Cross High School in Delran Township, from which he graduated in 1986.
An art teacher at his high school recommended that his parents send him to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Giacchino visited the campus with his parents and felt an immediate connection to its freedom. He described the experience as a great experiment where students were not regulated but driven by their own passion. He enrolled there majoring in film production while minoring in history. During his final year, an instructor announced an unpaid internship at Universal Pictures. Giacchino was the only student interested enough to take the six-month position. He worked nights at Macy's to pay rent while attending classes during the day.
After graduating from college in 1990, Universal hired Giacchino immediately. He later moved to Disney when they relocated to Los Angeles, taking a job in publicity while studying instrumentation and orchestration at UCLA at night. His work at Disney Interactive allowed him to produce games and hire himself to write music for them. During the 16-bit era, he composed scores for Sega Genesis titles like Gargoyles and Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow. He also created music for various console versions of The Lion King.
His first major composition came with the DreamWorks video game adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park released in 1997. This PlayStation title became one of the first console games recorded with an original live orchestral score. Giacchino continued working with DreamWorks on Small Soldiers in 1998, providing full orchestral scores for many of their popular video games. He collaborated with Pandemic Studios to create the theme for Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. His award-winning compositions covered the first four installments of the Medal of Honor series including Underground, Allied Assault, and Frontline. He also scored Heroes: 2 and several other World War II-related video games like Secret Weapons Over Normandy and Call of Duty.
Giacchino's transition from video games to television occurred when J.J. Abrams discovered his work in 2001. Abrams asked him to provide the soundtrack for the new show Alias. The resulting score mixed full orchestral pieces frequently intermingled with upbeat electronic music. This style marked a departure from much of his previous work in gaming. In 2004, he provided the score for another Abrams series called Lost. That score employed a unique process using spare pieces of a plane fuselage for percussion parts. It featured a signature thematic motif consisting of a brass fall-off at the end of certain themes.
His work on Lost earned him an Emmy Award in 2004. He continued collaborating with Abrams on various projects throughout the following decade. For the monster film Cloverfield, he wrote an overture titled ROAR! which played over the credits. This piece constituted the only original music for that entire film. He composed the score for Super 8 in 2011 and worked on the pilot of Fringe before passing scoring duties to assistants Chad Seiter and Chris Tilton. His partnership with Abrams defined much of his early career trajectory into feature films.
Brad Bird directed Pixar's The Incredibles and asked Giacchino to provide the soundtrack after hearing his work on Alias. The upbeat jazz orchestral sound was a departure not only for Giacchino but for Pixar itself. The studio had previously relied on Randy Newman and Thomas Newman for all its films. Brad Bird had originally sought out John Barry but Barry was disinclined to repeat styles from earlier James Bond films. Giacchino received two Grammy nominations in 2005 for The Incredibles including Best Score Soundtrack Album and Best Instrumental Composition.
He later collaborated with director Pete Docter on the Pixar film Up released in 2009. This marked the first time Giacchino worked with a Pixar director other than Brad Bird. The score gained him his first Academy Award for Best Original Score. It became the first-ever win for Pixar in that category. Giacchino noted he won on the same night as his SVA classmate Joel Harlow won the Best Makeup Oscar for Star Trek. He returned to Pixar to score Ratatouille, Coco, and Incredibles 2. His Paris-inspired score for Ratatouille included the theme song Le Festin performed by French artist Camille.
Giacchino composed scores for multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films starting with Doctor Strange in 2016. He created the fanfare for the new Marvel Studios logo which debuted alongside that film. He scored four more Marvel films including Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Thor: Love and Thunder. In September 2016, it was announced he replaced Alexandre Desplat as composer for Rogue One after reshoots made Desplat unavailable. He also scored Jurassic World and its sequel Fallen Kingdom.
His work extended to the Mission Impossible franchise where he scored three entries beginning with Mission: Impossible III in 2006. He composed the fanfare for Paramount Pictures' 100th Anniversary logo which debuted with Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol on the 7th of December 2011. Giacchino wrote the score for The Batman released in 2022 and Lightyear from Pixar in the same year. He also composed music for Star Trek films directed by J.J. Abrams. These projects established him as a dominant force across major Hollywood franchises throughout the 2010s and early 2020s.
Giacchino ventured into directing in 2018 when he wrote, directed, and scored Monster Challenge. This short film premiered at Fantastic Fest before appearing on YouTube on the 20th of March 2020. It starred Patton Oswalt, Ben Schwartz, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Brenneman, Benedict Wong, Tom Everett Scott, Taishi Mizuno, Ann Madox, and Teruko Nakajima. In 2019, he continued his directorial efforts with a Star Trek Short Treks episode titled Ephraim and Dot.
On the 7th of March 2022, Variety reported that Giacchino was directing an upcoming Marvel Studios television project for Disney+. Four days later, The Hollywood Reporter revealed he would direct Werewolf by Night which was released on the 7th of October 2022. The special received critical acclaim for both its direction and score. In January 2023, it was announced that Giacchino would make his feature directorial debut with a remake of Them! for Warner Bros Pictures. He is expected to score that film as well. His transition from composer to director expanded his creative control over the final product.
Giacchino is noted for using humorous titles filled with puns on his soundtrack albums. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Jurassic World contained many ape- and dinosaur-related double entendres such as Gorilla Warfare and Raptor Your Heart Out. Many of those references pointed to previous works of his in both style and naming conventions. He used themes from the track U-Boat from the Medal of Honor soundtrack in tracks Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom and Sub-Primed from Lost seasons five and six. These reused motifs created connections across different projects.
The score for The Incredibles contains a piece named 100 Mile Dash while Ratatouille had 100 Rat Dash. Up featured Three Dog Dash and Coco included Shrine and Dash. Another series of examples includes World's Worst Beach Party from Lost and World's Worst Last 4 Minutes To Live from Mission: Impossible III. The tradition of pun names was omitted from the soundtrack of Society of the Snow likely out of respect for victims of the disaster. This playful approach became a signature element of his compositional identity.
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Common questions
When and where was Michael Giacchino born?
Michael Giacchino was born on the 10th of October 1967 in Riverside Township, New Jersey. His family roots trace back to Sicily and Abruzzo, regions in southern Italy that shaped his cultural identity.
What education did Michael Giacchino receive before starting his career?
Michael Giacchino graduated from Holy Cross High School in Delran Township in 1986. He later attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City majoring in film production while minoring in history and graduating in 1990.
Which video games did Michael Giacchino compose music for during the 16-bit era?
During the 16-bit era Michael Giacchino composed scores for Sega Genesis titles like Gargoyles and Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow. He also created music for various console versions of The Lion King.
How many Academy Awards has Michael Giacchino won for Best Original Score?
Michael Giacchino won one Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Pixar film Up released in 2009. It became the first-ever win for Pixar in that category.
When was Werewolf by Night directed by Michael Giacchino released on Disney+?
Werewolf by Night directed by Michael Giacchino was released on the 7th of October 2022. The special received critical acclaim for both its direction and score.