Licence to thrill - film composer David Arnold on why scoring five James Bond films was like his Everest

The 1967 Sean Connery film was his first experience of James Bond and a welcome escape from the humdrum of everyday life at home in Luton where his bedroom overlooked a factory.

Alongside Jungle Book and Oliver, the 007 adventure was one of three films that inspired David to become the film composer he is today.

He said: "All of those films are extraordinary to look at but they’ve all got incredibly powerful and memorable songs and scores.

"It was a combination of all the things I liked at the same time. I loved singing, I loved orchestral musical work and I loved the huge over-the-top feeling of all of those films.

"If you think about the big dancing sequences in Oliver and the cartoon vibrancy of the Jungle Book.

"Not to mention You Only Live Twice which was a film that took James Bond into a hollowed out volcano, out of space and underwater.

"When you’re eight years old and from Luton all this stuff looks extraordinary

"My bedroom looked over a car park for a factory so my experience on a day-to-day basis was seeing thousands of people driving and walking and cycling to a factory and coming out again.

"So to see these colours and people and singing and dancing and exotic locations, I thought it was magical."

Now David helps create the magic of cinema himself. The 53-year-old has composed five Bond films including Casino Royale and he is on first name terms with Daniel Craig.

"It was something that I always wanted to do," added the Grammy, Ivor Novello and Bafta winner.

"It’s just one of those projects that has a history of great music that people have fallen in love with.

"There are moments in life where you think about climbing Everest or winning the World Heavyweight Title or holding the World Cup up. That’s how this felt for me."

This month, David will be sharing some of his favourite music that he has created over the last 20 years at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

He said: "It’s a little behind the curtains look at what writing for Hollywood is like.

"For me it is about getting back to the music that was written for these big films and having nothing in the way between me and the audience.

"It’s interesting because when you write music for a film, people get to experience that music alongside the visuals, the acting, the directing and the editing.

"But it’s one of those rare things with filmmaking that it’s one of the elements that you can take out of the film experience and have it somewhere else.

"It’s also the chance to hear Manchester Camerata as people don’t often get the chance to see a 75-piece orchestra playing as brilliantly they do.

"We’re into Godzilla before too long and the whole James Bond sequence is about 20 minutes.

"There’s music from Stargate and Independence Day and Sherlock is always a big hit at the moment

"I’m working on the Sherlock Christmas special right now so there will be stuff in there that's right up to date."

So with exclusive access to films months before they hit the cinema, does David get a sense of what will be a hit at the box office?

"Honestly if I knew that I’d be swimming in rivers of money," he told Weekend.

"I’ve had films which I thought were great but haven’t done so well at the box office – Zoolander for instance.

"I thought that was hilarious but it didn’t do well at the box office and only found its feet a couple of years later on DVD

"There are other films where I didn’t expect it to do quite as well as it did. When we did 2 Fast 2 Furious I wasn’t sure if it would be something people would be that interested in but it had a huge advance in box office numbers compared to the first one.

"I always enjoy the comedies because they’re much easier to watch again and again.

"Paul, Hot Fuzz and Zoolander were all really funny films and people would come in and you’d play them a theme and you’d see them laughing and you realise how much fun it is.

"But I suppose what I really enjoy are the ones where the music has the platform – where there are opportunities to write something identifiable and possibly iconic so you’re not just fiddling away in the background.

"There are moments when you can really lead the experience of being in the film.

"Sometimes you’ll get a great helicopter shot over a mountain or something and as you can imagine cinematically it does suggest to you a certain sweeping score.

"The things that are least fun to score are action parts where there has to be changing tempos and time signatures every few bars to keep up with the scene."

David also worked with director Danny Boyle as composer for the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

"The funniest part was going down to the ceremony on the train with the music on a hard drive in my bag," he said.

"I was thinking: 'If someone mugs me we're in real trouble!'

"It was lovely just walking up and looking at that amazing stadium and all the thousands of people who were going towards it.

"Everyone I met was fiercely proud of what they were doing. It felt really special to be part of something on behalf of the whole country.

"I think it changed people’s opinion of what we’re capable of as a country."

- David Arnold is live in concert at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on April 14. Visit bridgewater-hall.co.uk

DAVID MORGAN