\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen composer Daniel Pemberton<\/a> agreed to score this year\u2019s Eighties throwback <\/a>Masters of the Universe<\/a><\/em>, he decided there was only one way to deal with the \u201cfantastical nature\u2026 and over-the-topness\u201d of the adventures of He-Man and company. \u200a\u201d\u2018I don\u2019t really wanna do a generic superhero score because it doesn\u2019t really interest me,’\u201d Pemberton recalls telling director Travis Knight. \u201c\u2018I would like to score this film as if it was written by a rock band like Queen<\/a>. That would be a lot more fun.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018Great, that\u2019s exactly what I want, too.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFrom the beginning, Pemberton (who also scored one of 2026\u2019s biggest blockbusters, Project Hail Mary<\/em>) and Knight (who also directed the recent animated Wildwood<\/em>) had a dream musical collaborator in mind. \u201cWe were just like, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be amazing to get Brian May<\/a> to play on this?’\u201d says Pemberton, who loved Queen\u2019s indelibly campy score for 1980\u2019s Flash Gordon<\/em>, as well as their work on 1986\u2019s Highlander<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tPemberton spent months trying to reach May, without success. He was already deep into work on a bombastic, hummable score for the film when he learned that he and the guitarist would be at London\u2019s Abbey Road Studios at the same time. He sent a note to May, who was busy mastering the recent Queen II<\/em> reissue: \u201cLook, I\u2019ll be here downstairs working. If you ever get a chance, pop down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAs it turned out, May had his own fond Eighties memories of Masters of the Universe<\/em>. \u201cHe-Man was a big thing with my son,\u201d the guitarist says, \u201cand everything that my son got into, I got into, obviously. It\u2019s all, for me, great memories, great nostalgia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSo May signed on to the project, and over three or so intense days at his home studio, with both Pemberton and Knight on hand, \u201cI played on every single cue we could put our hands on,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd it just worked. Obviously, we kind of fitted like a glove \u2019cause he\u2019d already written it in the style to which I was accustomed. It\u2019s like we didn\u2019t even need to explain to each other. It just all happened very easily and with great joy.\u201d<\/p>\n