John Powell

Performer

John Powell

Composer in the Nutevio catalogue.

Born
18 September 1963
Age
62
Active
1997–present
Known for
Composer
View filmography

The essay

Reading John Powell

Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.

Why this filmmaker matters

John Powell has 0 scores in the Nutevio catalogue. John Powell is an English composer best known for his film scores. He has been based in Los Angeles since 1997 and has composed the scores to over 70 feature films. He is best known for composing scores for films, including Face/Off, the Bourne film series, the Happy Feet films, United 93, X-Men: The Last Stand, Wicked and its sequel, Evolution, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Migration, Drumline, Hancock, The Call of the Wild, Bolt, eight Blue Sky Studios films, and nine DreamWorks Animation films. His work on Happy Feet, Ferdinand, and Solo: A Star Wars Story has earned him three Grammy nominations. He was nominated for an Academy Award for How to Train Your Dragon. Powell was a member of Hans Zimmer's music studio, Remote Control Productions, and has collaborated frequently with other composers from the studio, including Harry Gregson-Williams on Antz, Chicken Run, and Shrek and Zimmer himself on Chill Factor, The Road to El Dorado, and the first two Kung Fu Panda films. He has also collaborated with film directors such as Carlos Saldanha, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Benjamin Renner, Chris Renaud, George Miller, John Woo, Ron Underwood, Doug Liman, Charles Stone III, Simon Otto, Jared Hess, and Paul Greengrass. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Powell (film composer), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Signature style

The recognisable elements are visual style, rewatchability, originality. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same eye, re-tuned for different registers. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is staged.

Legacy

Powell set terms other filmmakers now work against: the structures, the pacing and the refusal to explain. Awards bodies have often been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.

Best known for

Catalogue work still being written up by our editors.

From the library

Complete credits

Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.

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Frequent collaborators

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Genre profile

  • Comedy38
  • Family34
  • Animation31
  • Adventure30
  • Action24
  • Fantasy17
  • Drama13
  • Science Fiction10

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Reference

Quick facts

Born
18 September 1963
Age
62
Active
1997–present
Scores composed
0
In the Nutevio catalogue
Known for
Composer
scored score
6.4
Nutevio editorial metric
Collection appearances
0
Across the library
Films rated 8+
0