Over 15 years ago, Detective Alonzo Harris delivered the instantly classic line “King Kong ain’t got s*** on me” shortly before his demise in Training Day. This week, CBS is revisiting that world with a Training Day TV series that serves as both an original tale and a thematic sequel that shares continuity with the original film.
For the series, Bill Paxton’s Detective Frank Roarke is the morally ambiguous cop, while his partner, Kyle Craig (Justin Cornwell), may hold the key to bringing Roarke down if he can keep his head above water in the mean streets of Los Angeles. Composer Jeff Cardoni has been tasked with providing the music of Training Day, and he’s passed along three of his new tracks, including the show’s theme song. Additionally, Cardoni also shared some of his thoughts about working on the series.
To start, Cardoni noted the influence of Mark Mancina’s score from the original and the larger scope of the series. “The biggest challenge I would say was taking into account the original score, making sure we at least used that as a starting off point for the new series, but then adding new elements to address our new world, while still being respectful of the world that came before it.” He added that the music is “probably more influenced by the original film, than the setting of Los Angeles, per se. Because the new show takes place 15 years after the original film, and the scope is a little broader because we have multiple episodes, so the terrain is from inner city, to mansion parties, to desert showdowns. So I think the music is more influenced by the characters than the location.”
When asked about his favorite episode to date, Cardoni replied “So far, I’d say Episode 5. It’s got a lot of Frank’s back story. There are some really big heroic moments as well as story of a father risking it all for his daughter, and there’s a really nice cue at the end where he has to tell her he’s going away. I always love scoring those long emotional montage scenes. I was proud of this episode because it had a really interesting current story, while expanding Frank’s backstory, Kyle’s backstory, and addressing all of them with thematic elements. It’s a fun puzzle to try and solve.”
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“I’m on episode 12 of 13 as we speak,” noted Cardoni. “There are some unique elements for each episode, thematically, which is kind of fun. The last episode was set in an Indian Casino so I had some Native American elements to the usual palate. There are some unique characters that I’ve been able to comment on musically, which is fun. There’s also an ongoing story arc about Kyle’s dad that carries through the entire season, so there are thematic elements that keep that alive throughout all of the episodes.”
Training Day will premiere on Thursday, February 2 on CBS.
What did you think about Cardoni’s music for Training Day? Let us know in the comment section below!
