Yahoo Lifestyle ‘The Wild Robot’ Composer Kris Bowers on Family, Power of Music and Message Not to Forget ‘Wealth of Black History’ Lost in Altadena
Kris Bowers sat in the dark, watching the Oscar nominations while his pregnant wife and 3-year-old daughter slept. He wasn’t trying to wake them up or cause chaos. Although an Oscar winner for live action short, the esteemed composer had never been nominated for one of his orchestrations — until now, with his recognized work on “The Wild Robot.”
It was a childhood dream come true. “It’s pretty surreal,” he says during the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, reflecting on the honor. “The fact that animation isn’t always acknowledged… I definitely feel very thankful and humbled in that way.” The recognition from his peers in the music branch—many of whom he’s admired since he was young—makes the nomination even more meaningful. “It’s weird even saying ‘peers’ because most of those people are ones I’ve been looking up to for years.”
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For Bowers, the Oscar nom reflects years of dedication and a love for storytelling through music. From his childhood in Pasadena, Calif., to becoming one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood, his journey is one of talent, perseverance and deep emotional connection to his craft.
Bowers’ moment of recognition came at a bittersweet time. While he was celebrating his achievement, Altadena, the town near where he grew up, was reeling from devastating wildfires. “We have a lot of friends that lost everything,” he says, his voice heavy with emotion. “A lot of childhood friends, a lot of people that my daughter goes to school with, some of her teachers.”
The fires forced Bowers and his family to evacuate their home. His wife, pregnant with their second child, and their young daughter were suddenly faced with uncertainty and fear. “We were gone for about a week… and coming back, already filled with many questions, like, ‘is she safe? Is our daughter safe?’”
The wildfires were not just a personal crisis but a stark reminder of working-class communities’ broader challenges. “Altadena had 9,000 structures burned compared to 6,000 in Pacific Palisades… and that space is this wealth of Black history.”
Bowers —who previously won an Oscar for producing the 2023 documentary short subject “The Last Repair Shop,” about the importance of music education in public schools (specifically, LAUSD) — wants to ensure that his community receives the support it needs. “I think just engaging with people in that community is important. People can even reach out to me, and I’ll send them links to helping organizations.” He emphasizes that these fires affected everyday people — teachers, artists and working families — not just the ultra-wealthy.
Bowers began working on “The Wild Robot” in late 2022, immersing himself in the film’s unique world before writing a single note. “I always watch a film many times before I write anything,” he explains. “I want to see how the story is unfolding… where music will help tell that story.”
The challenge was to create a score that bridged the organic beauty of nature with the futuristic elements of the film’s world. He drew inspiration from the film’s animation style, hand-painted and reminiscent of early Disney classics, and tried to match it with a musical language that felt traditional and modern.
“It felt like this hand-painted style that called back to [Hayao] Miyazaki or to, you know, early Disney films needed to be mirrored by a similarly traditional approach to scoring, but then wanting to figure out how to modernize that.”
One of the most significant pieces he composed for the film was “I Could Use a Boost,” a sweeping theme that underscores a pivotal moment between Roz, the robot, and Brightbill, the gosling she raises. “I thought about the idea of dropping off my daughter at college,” Bowers shares, even though his daughter, Coda, was only a 1-year-old at the time. Initially, he wrote something that felt too sentimental. “Chris [Sanders, the director] was like, ‘This is far too sweet. This is not capturing the moment the way that it’s happening in the film.’”
So Bowers went deeper, drawing from his own fears as a father. “I remember thinking about failing her. I remember thinking about the fact that I’m going to try as hard as I possibly can, and there’s going to be moments where she’s going to be pissed at me because I didn’t do something the way she thought it should be done. And I realized I needed to pull from that.” The result was a cue that captured parenthood’s raw, complex emotions.
Bowers’ path to becoming a composer was shaped early on by his family. His father, whom Bowers describes as passionate and competitive, decided before Kris was even born that his son would play piano. “He sat behind me every day while I practiced, from when I was four until we fought about it when I was 15,” Bowers recalls. Initially, his father wasn’t a jazz fan but became one once Kris started playing. “He would spend all day listening to the jazz radio station and have a list of piano players and songs that he thought I should check out.”
It was through this rigorous practice that Bowers developed his discipline, but it was improvisation that changed his relationship with music. “At a certain point, a teacher encouraged me to sing. He was like, ‘If you sing what you’re playing, you can’t help but play what’s inside of you.’” That shift from playing to impress to playing as a form of expression was a turning point.
Even today, Bowers’ approach to composition is deeply emotional, as he strives to create music that resonates on a personal level. “I find that the only place where I was able to get emotional before was when I was writing music, and that’s how I know something’s working.”
His dedication to continuous growth stems from his early influences, including Kobe Bryant. “Kobe and I talked a lot about mastering your craft and not worrying about anything other than focusing on the details.”
With an Oscar nomination under his belt and a career that continues to soar, Bowers’ technical mastery defines his approach to storytelling through music. Could “The Wild Robot” break the trend and become the first animated film to win best original score since “Soul” in 2020?
If it does, Bowers will have yet another reason to sit in the dark, quietly celebrating, while his family sleeps. But don’t worry; his wife Briana will be there with them, hoping not to labor.
Also, on this episode, “Anora” star Mikey Madison, while the Roundtable discusses the wide-open best picture and director race, with DGA and PGA ahead.
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Variety Awards Circuit Podcast
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.
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