Joel McNeely on scoring A Million Ways to Die in the West

16 June 2014, 16:21 | Updated: 18 June 2014, 09:32

Movie composer Joel McNeely is currently making waves with his score for the hit Seth MacFarlane comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West - and Classic FM's Sam Pittis was on hand to grill him about the experience.

After working on Seth MacFarlane's phenomenally successful TV show American Dad, Emmy Award-winner Joel McNeely was the obvious choice to score the former's second major movie project. But how involved was the notoriously music-savvy director? McNeely told us:

"Seth is a director who in all aspects of filmmaking knows exactly what we wants, but in particular with music he's especially astute. Maybe the most astute director I've ever worked with because he is a very fine musician."

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Apart from that, he also opened up about the effect of Aaron Copland on the score, how he managed to wangle in a Back To The Future quote, and the importance of keeping a musical straight face when you're scoring a comedy.

Listen to the interview below

(Picture credit: Tony Rivetti, Jr./Universal Pictures)