Doc Hollywood

Carter's Notes

In this story, Michael J. Fox's character is on his way to become a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills when he's marooned in a small town in South Carolina. The intention of the score was to not only take you out of urban America, but to take you out of time. The score doesn't attempt to sound like "country music" as we know it, but reaches back to the roots from which that music came.

To do this, I crossed rhythmic elements from South Africa (see Indestructible Beat of Soweto) with melodic and harmonic concepts from the British Isles and Europe. Hopefully this kept the music from falling into cliche. And while I usually find working on romantic comedies to be rather difficult, this musical challenge kept it fresh - for me at least.

Julie Warner and Michael J. Fox

Film Info

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Written by Neil B. Shulman (book), Laurian Leggett, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Daniel Pyne

Composed by Carter Burwell
Music Editor: Adam Smalley
Music Scoring Mixer: Mike Farrow
Orchestrated by Sonny Kompanek
Contractor: Emile Charlap
Recorded and Mixed at RCA Studios, NY, NY

Starring Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda

U.S. Release August 1991