Emilie Bernstein: An Interview with Gillian Anderson
- Emilie Bernstein: An Interview with Gillian Anderson
Introduction
Emilie A. Bernstein orchestrated over twenty films with her father, Elmer Bernstein, beginning in 1991 and ending only upon his death in 2004. She also produced many of the soundtracks of those films, as well as working with him on projects such as Michael Jackson’s HIStory. After her father’s death in 2004, Emilie continued with orchestration, most notably working on two video games from the Call of Duty franchise with composer Sean Murray. Emilie currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, and runs a Pilates Studio in Santa Monica. She is the proud parent of two children, Ethan and Castelle Eskin.
General/Background Questions
Can you trace the progression of your musical interests and background to orchestrating Hollywood feature films?
In my family it was always a requirement to take piano lessons— our parents described it to my sister and myself as being as important and nonnegotiable as school, and there was no getting out of it. Like most kids I, at times, resented having to practice, but I stuck with it and eventually found enjoyment in it. However, when it came time to declare a major in college, I wanted to declare as an English Major. In my freshman year, what I discovered was that I wasn’t happy in my English classes, but that I felt at home in the music department—so I changed my major to music. Although I felt at home in the department and met some wonderful teachers, I also felt pressure as a music major to live up to my father and what he represented. I remember one particular incident: I was in music theory class, and I had written some parallel 5ths—the teacher walked by, tsk tskd and said, “Daddy wouldn’t do that.” I felt embarrassed and angry as well. I remember calling my dad and telling him about what she’d said. He said, “She’s wrong, I do it all the time!”
What did you find attractive or interesting that drew you to becoming an orchestrator?
Well, the answer to this is simple—my dad. I had been attending recording sessions from a young age, and I used to watch the late great orchestrator Christopher Palmer, and then later Pat Russ working on the Hollywood sound stages. I’d watch them walk back and forth from the booth out to the stage, making adjustments, speaking with the musicians, and at times being a go-between between my father and the director. When I graduated from college and my dad offered me a chance to do some orchestration, I jumped on it. I had always loved being with my dad, but as a family member there was a very large part of [End Page 35] his life that was separate—his musical life. I was thrilled to become a part of that. Also, it suited me to be a behind-the-scenes person— I never wanted to be the person on the front line, and besides songwriting for my bands, I was never particularly interested in becoming a composer. I think because I truly saw it from the inside, what it takes, the passion and also the heartbreak.
Do you perceive significant changes in the way orchestrators work today as compared to the practices within the Hollywood Studio system?
I never worked within the Hollywood Studio system—that was well before my time. However, even since I started working twenty-five years ago, there have been major shifts in the way that orchestration is done and the way that orchestrators work with composers. The first thing is that the film schedules are so dramatically shortened— the last film that I worked on, the composer wasn’t given the final cut of the film until two weeks before we were to score! That means that in two weeks he had to come up with the bulk of his music, which necessitated a whole stable of orchestrators. I believe that there were eight of us on that film—a far cry from the days when one or...
