M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 49
fact, on Aladdin, John Musker and
Ron Clements (the directors) were
very clear with me that one of the
reasons I got hired was that I had
worked on Raiders of the Lost Ark
and they wanted this movie to
have an epic feel like Raiders, along
with the mirth and merriment of
an animated film. Not a cartoon!
At that time, you couldn't use the
word "cartoon" at Disney. These
were serious films … and I agree
with that. We felt as though it would
be a disservice to just make funny
sounds for the sight gags. They
had to be sounds that made the
scene funny, not funny sounds in
and of themselves. I think that's an
important lesson to learn for young
sound designers: Comedy doesn't
need funny sounds, it needs sounds
that make it funny.
SL: In my last piece for Wavelength
(Summer 2023), Gary Rydstrom
told me about a moment with Mel
Brooks on the movie Spaceballs
that Gary did with Randy Thom.
There was a scene where Rick
Moranis is struggling to get
through a door with his huge
helmet, and Gary made funny
squeaky mechanical sounds for the
door. And Mel said, "STOP! Stop!
…I throw the ball of comedy at you,
and it bounces OFF of you. YOU
can't be funny."
MM: Oooh! What a great metaphor!
SL: And so he changed it to
straight sounds. To your point … it's
an interesting lesson to learn, and
you almost have to see it in action
to learn it.
Let's talk about The Fifth
Element. That's one where you
created a world. That was almost
your Star Wars. You created a lot of
stuff.
MM: Yeah, we designed so much …
spaceships, weaponry, and creature
voices. It was never-ending. Another
panic attack. I take on movies like
that, and the first week or month,
I'm almost immobilized.
SL: I remember. One moment that
makes me smile … there's a sound
that harkens back to Explorers. At
the end of Explorers, when Wak's
father's ship "peels out"—in space!
And there's a lot of that in The Fifth
Element also!
MM: YOU probably hear
that! I don't know how many people
hear that! Good for you. Good ear.
SL: Well, I've been
doing this a while.
MM: Luc (Besson, the
director), his MO, at least at the
time, was to surround himself with
the best people, as he did in every
department. Camera, costumes,
production design … incredible
people in every department, and let
them do what they do best. I would
say, for his stature as a director,
I had the least contact with him.
And that is a compliment. He just
trusted me. The first sounds I made
were the floating cars, that whole
universe was populated with them
and those had to sound right before
I could move forward. I'll never
forget bringing him the first tests
for those. I'd drive out to Malibu, he
has a house on the beach. I'd wait an
hour while he's swimming with the
dolphins…
SL:
MM: …He's very French! We'd have
a glass of wine, we might have
lunch… "Okay, now let's listen to
some sounds." And I played him
those sounds, and he'd say, "Great,
great, great! Mark, thanks!" "Okay,
I'll come back in a couple weeks with
the Mondoshawan voices, OK?" And
no matter how hard I tried after that
demo session, I couldn't get him
again for a review session. His editor,
Sylvie Landra, would just tell me,
"He trusts you!"
SL: Awww.
MM: And that just … the glow that
that gave me was unbelievable.
And the mix went unbelievably well.
The only hitch was the big attack
when we meet the Mangalors for
the first time, they shoot down the
ship, and it crashes on the planet.
We had built that scene sonically
in classic space epic fashion. Big
spaceships, big explosions, cool
sounding weapons. It resembled the
Star Wars attack on the Death Star
in scope cinematically and aurally.
Yet, because we never ran reels for
Luc, he never previewed any of my
work … it was the one-and-only time
we had an odd and uncomfortable
beat (at the mix). After playing back
the final mix for that reel, the lights
came up and Luc said, "Okay, hold
on a second. Mark, I've got to talk
to you… You don't know any of this,
and I'm sorry for not having ever
told you this, but Eric (Serra, the
composer) and I, we grew up as kids,
"
We designed so
much … spaceships,
weaponry, and
creature voices. It
was never-ending.
Another panic attack.
I take on movies like
that, and the first
week or month, I'm
almost immobilized.
"
