Mychael Danna and Harry Gregson-Williams: ‘Return to Space’ composers

“It’s really rewarding, as we loved working on this film together,” admits Emmy-nominated composer Harry Gregson-Williams about his nomination for Best Documentary Music Composition for the Netflix feature “Return to Space,” which he shares with Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Mychael Danna. Watch our exclusive video interview with Danna and Gregson-Williams above.

SEE 2022 Emmy nominations: Complete list of contenders for 74th Primetime Emmys

“Return to Space” is the latest documentary feature by Oscar-winning filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (“Free Solo”), which chronicles the arduous journey undertaken by Elon Musk‘s SpaceX and its two-decade mission to send NASA astronauts back to the International Space Station and revolutionize space travel. It starts with the proposition that “Earth is the cradle of humanity but you can’t stay in the cradle forever,” providing an inspiring glimpse into not only the against-all-odds efforts of SpaceX’s engineers and astronauts, but a look back on the thrilling history of American space exploration and its untimely demise over ten years ago.

Danna and Gregson-Williams’ score blends a number of electronic elements with a full orchestra to provide the film with the emotion and wonderment that comes with a story about arguably humanity’s greatest endeavor — to travel the stars. “Very quickly we discovered that what we were really working with here was a very Earth-bound story, a human story, something quite relatable even though maybe Musk isn’t relatable, his astronauts were,” Gregson-Williams explains. “There’s certainly that human side, but also a really important thing for us was the sense of exploration this harkens back to, and we see the early American space program, the moon shot, the absolute cutting edge of technology, of human accomplishment,” Danna adds, revealing that “that idea of boldness, new ground, new space, was something that we wanted to reflect musically.”