Jeffrey Goldberg: The Mad Maestro

Jeffrey Goldberg: The Mad Maestro is the upcoming animated movie based on the 1939 MGM cartoon, "The Mad Maestro" and the biography of Jerry Goldsmith. The movie was produced by Warner Animation Group, MGM Kids & Turner Pictures and is distributed by Warner Bros.

Plot
When Jeffrey Goldberg was 10, he dreams about becoming a maestro. He started playing piano, but only "got serious" by the time he was eleven. At age thirteen, he studied piano privately with concert pianist and educator (whom Goldberg would later employ to perform piano solos in his score to "A Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna", a composition by Franz von Suppé) and by the age of sixteen he was studying both theory and counterpoint under his music teacher, who also tutored such noteworthy composers and musicians as Ron Wilson, Hilary Wilkes, Benny Elwood.

At age sixteen, Goldberg saw the film "Wicked Magic" in theaters and was inspired by veteran composer Milo Roberts' soundtrack to pursue a career in music. Goldberg later enrolled and attended the University of Southern California where he was able to attend courses by Roberts, but dropped out in favor of a more "practical music program" at the college. There he was able to coach singers, work as an assistant choral director, play piano accompaniment, and work as an assistant conductor.

And so the maestro is conducting his orchestra of assorted animals. Some of them aren't particularly good at following his direction... His orchestration performances are from so many movies, such as "World of Chimps", "Journey Through The Stars", "Grumblings", "Memory Madness", "Ominous", "Archevore", "Ramrock", "The Chromazone", "Portalgust", "Holziers","The 'Borbas", "Advanced Response", "The Watsons", "Mouse Trapped" and "Conbraco".

Goldberg's final cinematic score, composed during declining health, was the critically acclaimed music for the 2003 film "Merrie Melodies", His last work was on the 2003 science fiction film "Time Zone". However, due to a complicated post-production process, Goldberg's score had to be replaced. His score was for the preliminary cuts. But the score didn't fit the later cuts of the film and had to be re-scored. Goldberg's unavailability led to composer Ryan Tyrell taking over. Goldberg's unused score was later released on CD, September, 2004 through his own record label, not long after his death on July 21, 2004. The album quickly became out of print and has since become a sought rarity among soundtrack collectors.

Cast

 * Jack Black as Jeffrey Goldberg (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * Nicholas Martorell Jr. as Young Jeffrey
 * Harry Connick Jr. as Ron Wilson (John Williams)
 * Beyonce Knowles-Carter as Hilary Wilkes (Shirley Walker)
 * Justin Timberlake as Benny Elwood (Danny Elfman)
 * Ed Sheeran as Josh Goldberg (Joel Goldsmith)
 * Peter Capaldi as Milo Roberts (Miklos Rózsa)
 * Bradley Cooper as Courtney Sands (Alexander Courage)
 * Sam Smith as Ryan Tyrell (Brian Tyler)

Post Production
Skywalker Sound

Trivia

 * Those musical theme names are parodies of real ones, such as World of Chimps (Planet of the Apes), Journey Through The Stars (parody Star Trek), Grumblings (Gremlins), Memory Madness (Total Recall), Ominous (The Omen), Archevore (Alien), Ramrock (Rambo), The Chromazone (The Twilight Zone), Portalgust (Poltergeist), Holziers (Hoosiers), The 'Borbas (The 'Burbs), Advanced Response (parody of Basic Instinct), The Watsons (parody of The Waltons), Mouse Trapped (parody of The Secret of NIMH) and Conbraco (parody of Congo).

Release
Jeffrey Goldberg: The Mad Maestro will be in theaters by the future release from Warner Bros.