Danny Elfman Scoring ‘Hitchcock’ & Gus Van Sant’s ‘Promised Land’

Surely at this stage, Danny Elfman must have some kind of cloning machine at work. In 2012 alone, the Oingo Boingo member turned composer has penned two scores for his regular collaborator Tim Burton, "Dark Shadows" and "Frankenweenie," another for "Men In Black 3," and one for David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook." He's got Fox animated pic "Epic" and a reunion with Sam Raimi on "Oz The Great and Powerful" coming up too, but all being well, we could see two more Elfman scores before the year is out.

Film Music Reporter bring news that Elfman has signed on to score not only Gus Van Sant's "Promised Land" (marking the pair's third team-up on the trot, after "Milk" and "Restless"), but also Sacha Gervasi's "Hitchcock," the biopic of the great director.

The former, an environmentally-minded drama penned by stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, and also featuring Hal Holbrook, Rosemarie DeWitt, Frances McDormand and Scoot McNairy, was recently slated by Focus Features for an Oscar-qualifying December 28th release date, so Elfman will certainly have a fifth 2012 score.

But there are still whispers that Fox Searchlight are considering dropping "Hitchcock," which stars Anthony Hopkins as the director, with Scarlett Johannson, Helen Mirren and Jessica Biel among the supporting cast, before the end of the year to make an Oscar play, which, if true, means that Elfman presumably has a lot of work to be getting on with. We suspect that, at this stage, with the competition looking as strong as it is, "Hitchcock" will stay a 2013 picture, but still, it's a remarkably productive period for the composer, and one that we hope comes up with some interesting work.