Sean Callery on “electrifying” finale, hopes for live orchestra

24 UK Podcast had an hour-long audio interview with 24: Live Another Day composer Sean Callery. Here are five of the most interesting answers.

Surnow fought for Callery:
“Joel Surnow who was the executive producer and creator of the show, he had to fight to have me on the show because 20th Century FOX really didn’t know much about me. It was anything but a done deal that I would remain on the show. Pilots are very active environments creatively, people are offering thousands of opinions about how the music should go. And Joel was really protecting me and he was protecting his vision for the show. I stayed on the show and FOX was very happy with the way the show turned out obviously.”

24 movie had good scripts:
“There were scripts and really good scripts at that, but the stars weren’t quite aligning.”

24: Live Another Day remains energetic and fast-paced:
“So far as what I’ve seen, the answer is a resounding yes. Howard Gordon and I were talking about it and he said something kind of complimentary about the show. He thinks this present incarnation of the series is almost like a graphic novel in terms of the primary colorness(?) of it. The exposition is very tight and taught, it’s just fun. It’s a fun ride. I think what you’re going to see is going to be very enjoyable. I haven’t seen an episode that at all lacks in energy or entertainment.”

24: Live Another Day finale is teased:
“I have a little inkling of what the finale is going to be, and I think it’s going to be really electrifying. I can’t say anymore about it, but it looks to be really fun.”

Live orchestra for the finale?
“We’re trying to secure the budget for some live recording towards the end of this season. I would absolutely love it. I would’ve loved it for every season, it was something that was just very hard to make happen [due to budget issues]. I did some live recordings with some vocals and some percussions and stuff as warranted. I would love to do that in a more fully realized way before we finish Season 9.”