February 2004
John Debney explained that he was first brought into the movie by Stephen McEveety, a producer on the movie.
“The way God works is very mysterious,” he said. “This gentleman is life-long friend who happened to work for Mel Gibson and Icon and he and I grew up on the same street together in Glendale, California.”
This resulted in Debney writing some special music for the movie and Gibson then came over to his office to listen to it. The next thing he knew, he was hired to write the score.
“If you were to draw up a list of composers who would have been perfect for this movie, I don’t think I would be on it. It is a complete miracle that I became involved with the project and every day the thing that go me through was my faith prayer which was, ‘Lord, if you want me to make it to the finish line, then help me make it to the finish line.’
“That was my journey. I started working with Mel Gibson and I found him to be incredibly intense,” he said. “He’s incredibly demanding but he was also incredibly collaborative.