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How ‘Elio’ Composer Rob Simonsen Married Space Disco, Choir Dolls & Talking Heads to Bring Pixar’s Sci-Fi Adventure to Life
Composer Rob Simonsen discusses how he led viewers between planets for 'Elio,' plus how Talking Heads & Vicente García songs ended up in the film.
The veteran composer — whose work also includes 2009’s 500 Days of Summer, 2018’s Love, Simon and 2024’s It Ends With Us — will make his animated debut this weekend with Pixar ‘s Elio, which hits theaters on Friday. In addition to Simonsen’s score, which hops from 11-year-old Elio’s begrudging home planet of Earth to the far reaches of outer space where he dreams to live forever, there are also two prominent music placements in the film: Talking Heads ‘ existential 1981 single “Once in a Lifetime” and Vicente García ‘s “Carmesí,” a top 20 hit on Billboard ‘s Tropical Airplay chart in 2017. In a conversation with Billboard, Simonsen tells us how both of those songs ended up in the movie, how he musically guides viewers between multiple planets in the sci-fi adventure, his 1973 Disney favorite that still resonates today, how he created his own “space disco” track for a memorable montage, and why he “felt at home” working in animated film.
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