A star is Lorne — the Hollywood film composer whose work on The Cry shows how far he’s come from his Inverness roots

18 October 2018

As an aspiring composer from Inverness, Lorne Balfe wrote a letter to renowned Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, asking if he could work for free in order to gain experience.

Over the course of his training, Balfe progressed to co-compose Hollywood soundtracks with Zimmer before branching out into scoring films and TV on his own.

In his early days, Balfe worked on Scottish institution River City; since then, he has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after composers.

Along with his most recent work for BBC One drama The Cry, here are just some of the scores that put Lorne Balfe firmly on the map.

Film

Working with Hans Zimmer meant getting experience on high-profile Hollywood productions. As a film composer in his own right, Lorne has worked on blockbusters like Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Terminator Genisys.

TV

Lorne first made a name for himself as a composer working on the BBC Scotland children’s show Shoebox Zoo, which starred Peter Mullan and Jason Connery.

Interestingly, Lorne’s big break with Shoebox Zoo came from being hired by the show’s Exec Producer Claire Mundell – also the Exec Producer of The Cry – who is such a fan of Lorne’s talent that she handpicked him to score this latest drama.

After Shoebox Zoo, Lorne later moved on to River City.

Animation

Working on animated films as co-composer with Hans Zimmer allowed Lorn to progress to the point of composing animated feature films – like Megamind and Penguins of Madagascar – on his own.

Games

Lorne has also worked on some of the biggest-selling computer game titles of recent times, like Assassin’s Creed III and FIFA 19.

Lorne Balfe’s score for the opening credits of The Cry.

Title	Year	Medium
The Cry	2018	TV
FIFA 19	2018	Game
Mission: Impossible – Fallout	2018	Film
The Florida Project	2017	Film
The Lego Batman Movie	2017	Animation
Terminator Genisys	2015	Film
Penguins of Madagascar	2014	Animation
Assassins Creed III	2012	Game
Megamind	2010	Animation
River City	2007	TV
Shoebox Zoo	2004	TV