A STRANGER CALLS FILM COMPOSER JAMES DOOLEY Composer scores #1 opening retelling of classic horror film Lakeshore Releases Score CD May 16 as DVD Hits Stores

May 26, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Entertainment News
(Hollywood,CA) Composer James Dooley scores the #1 opening “When a Stranger Calls” for Screen Gems and director Simon West (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “Con Air”). Starring Camilla Belle, Katie Cassidy and Tommy Flanagan, the film broke the box office record for Super Bowl Weekend. In conjunction with the debut of the DVD, Lakeshore Records releases Dooley’s score CD May 16. “When a Stranger Calls” is a retelling of the 1979 horror film that tells the story of a young high school student's nightmarish babysitting gig where she receives mysterious phone calls at the house to check on the children, only to find them dead. Dooley is well versed in the thriller genre, having previously collaborated on the DreamWorks blockbuster “The Ring.”

Dooley began his sessions for “Stranger” in Prague, where he did two sessions for sampling, then recorded with a 50 piece string session, and later with a 32 piece string session for celli and basses only. The rest of the score was recorded over four days in Seattle with the NorthWest Sinfonia’s 85 musicians. The result is a combination of custom aleatoric samples and a traditional orchestra on top.

Dooley’s recent credits include First Flight,” an animated short for DreamWorks receiving critical acclaim during its run on the festival circuit, currently showing before this week’s highest grossing animated film “Over the Hedge” in New York and Los Angeles. He also scored the short “A Christmas Caper” starring the penguins from the hit film “Madagascar,” on which he previously collaborated. This short was seen in theaters this past fall before the claymation feature “Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” for which Dooley provides additional music, and is featured on the “Madagascar” DVD. Dooley also mixed and scored the new animated film, Urmel Aus Dem Eis, or Impy's Island as it will be known in the US. The film is based on a German children's book about a dinosaur that hatches in modern times on an island where animals learn to speak. Additionally, Dooley scored the hit videogame “Socom 3, US Navy SEALs,” which he recorded at London’s Air Lyndhurst Hall with a 70-piece orchestra.

James Dooley is a graduate of New York University where he majored in Music Composition. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to study film composition with such composers as Christopher Young and Elmer Bernstein. He joined Media Ventures in 1999 and collaborated with Zimmer both as his Chief Technical Engineer and as a composer. In addition, Dooley has partnered with CDBABY.com to donate the proceeds from sales of his “The Mars Underground” soundtrack to the Red Cross national disaster relief effort. “The Mars Underground” is a landmark documentary about renowned aerospace scientist and visionary, Dr. Robert Zubrin quest for Mars exploration.

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