Background
On June 21,2013,it was announced that Harry Gregson-Williams would score music for The Equalizer; [1] this eventually marked Gregson-Williams and Fuqua's second collaboration and first since 16 years,after the release of The Replacement Killers (1998),which was also Fuqua's debut. Having watched the original 1985 television series,Harry found that Robert McCall's character had a "smooth,cool personality" because of his English accent;however,Washington's portrayal had changed the essence of the character making it more believable and was also too similar to his role in Man on Fire (2004),which Gregson-Williams also composed for. [2] Due to the grounded and realistic nature of the film's action,Fuqua insisted Harry to "have the score steeped in realism" and refrain from utilizing superficial,supernatural kind of music and instead lean on showcasing the character's emotions. [3]
To achieve the character's emotional side,Gregson-Williams wrote a sole piano theme accompanies by strings and guitars,which tonally shifts to drums and electric guitars. [3] Throughout the film's score,Gregson-Williams sampled percussion and electronic instruments with the orchestra (as with most of his action films) so that he could provide a hybrid mixture of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. [2] He did not use woodwinds in the score,as it felt unnecessary. [3] The first scene he scored for was when McCall tracks down the mobsters who harassed Teri (ChloëGrace Moretz). It was a tense music that begins in a gentle manner owing to his approach;he eventually played that theme to Fuqua which liked it but suggested that he wanted it to be even more extreme. Gregson-Williams recalled that "To have the gentle moments even more gentle so when the aggressive moments came they were more of a surprise and more contrasting." [3]
Varèse Sarabande distributed the soundtrack album featuring Gregson-Williams score on September 23,2014. [4] Though not featured in the soundtrack,the song "Guts Over Fear" performed by Eminem featuring Sia and produced by Emile Haynie featured in the film's trailers and eventually played in the film's closing credits. [5]
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