Brad Bird Explains Why RAY GUNN Composer Michael Giacchino is a “Storyteller in Musician Disguise”

Brad Bird and Michael Giacchino have one of those filmmaker-composer partnerships that just works. They've been making movies together since The Incredibles, and Bird has a pretty great explanation for why he keeps bringing Giacchino back.

The Oscar-winning composer has scored nearly every movie Bird has directed, and their latest collaboration is the animated sci-fi noir Ray Gunn.

During a recent screening of Ray Gunn in Los Angeles, I attended a Q&A where Bird talked about his longtime friendship with Giacchino and what makes him such an exceptional composer.

For Bird, it comes down to something that goes beyond writing great music. Giacchino understands how movies work.

Bird explained: “Well, he's done every movie I've done except Iron Giant, and, we just hit it off immediately on Incredibles, and we became really good friends, and we have a similar taste in movies and things that we love about movies.

“And part of the reason I think he's an outstanding composer is that he knows a lot about film, and he is a storyteller, first and foremost. So even though it's great music, as music, it is also very understanding of what each moment in the film requires and how to get their musically. So, he's really a storyteller in musician disguise.”

Bird and Giacchino first worked together on The Incredibles, where the composer delivered a fantastic jazz-infused superhero score that helped give the movie its distinctive personality.

Their collaboration continued with Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Tomorrowland, and Incredibles 2. Each film called for something different musically, but Bird clearly trusts Giacchino to understand what the story needs.

That trust carries over to Ray Gunn, a retro-futuristic detective story that draws inspiration from classic film noir.

What's cool about Bird's comments is that he he sees Giacchino as another filmmaker, someone who knows when the music should drive the action, support an emotional moment, or give the audience room to feel something.

That's what makes their partnership so interesting. They share a love of movies, speak the same creative language, and understand that a great score should serve the story.

After more than two decades of working together, Bird still sounds genuinely excited about what Giacchino brings to his films.