I worked very closely with him, I went to see him in his home, we spoke a lot about it and unfortunately he had a temp score, which is always detrimental to a composer. He eventually used it. Well, you know the story of the temp score; he’d been listening to it for 4 years… He seemed interested in what I had done and actually suggested coming to a particular moment in the score… apprehending horror or preceding the moment on the screen instead of hitting it right on the nose. So I assumed that he liked what I had done and was naturally surprised and somewhat shocked at the turn of events.

In 1983 I was working as an art director for the studio which did the special effects for THE RIGHT STUFF. Though I was not personally involved in the effects, my knowledge of film music was well known around the studio and director Phil Kaufman, who was frequently coming in for meetings, asked me who I would recommend to do the score. Without hesitation I said, “Alex North! You couldn’t find anyone better!” A few days later he asked me for another suggestion, telling me Alex North wasn’t available and adding that he had also heard that North was difficult to work with. I had no idea what the Hollywood of 1983 thought of Alex North, so I could not disclaim Kaufman’s statement (though I found it hard to believe). Even so, I suggested to him it would be worth any amount of difficulty for a North score. Kaufman, however, had made up his mind – he wanted other suggestions. Well, without Alex North, who was left? Jerry Goldsmith was the only name I could think of, but I wasn’t surprised to learn that Goldsmith was