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BUDD CARR
M
ost relationships in Hollywood are notoriously fleeting. Often, as soon as the project ends – whether it’s a
feature film, a TV series, or a special event – so, too, does the connection between the creators.
Then there’s Budd Carr and Oliver Stone, whose ongoing collaboration defies Tinseltown’s
conventional logic.
Over the course of nearly 30 years, Carr has overseen the music for all of Stone’s films since
Salvador
, the
director’s first major commercial movie back in 1986, including
Platoon, The Doors, Born on the Fourth of July, Natural
Born Killers, Any Given Sunday,
and
Savages,
and a highly anticipated forthcoming feature on Edward Snowden. The
partnership has persevered through monster hits (
JFK
) and commercial flops (
U Turn
), encompassing fiction films, real
life dramas and controversial documentaries.
The relationship even extended beyond the screen when Carr and his family decided to relocate to Montecito in
the mid-1990s, when they ended up renting Stone’s home in the hills near Lotusland for their first year in the village.
The Carrs moved to Montecito right after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, joining several other entertainers
from the San Fernando Valley, including Jeff Bridges and family, in escaping the fault line for the beachfront.
“Our house in Woodland Hills was just destroyed,” Carr recalls over a glass of wine at Carr Winery, the downtown
Santa Barbara tasting room established 15 years ago by his oldest son, Ryan. “The sound was frightening, and my
younger son, Jon, who was just five, virtually fell through the wall in his bedroom.”
The family bunked with friends for a while, but Jon couldn’t sleep through the night. Then Budd and his wife
Jeanne took an overnighter to a favorite vacation spot, the Four Seasons Biltmore on Channel Drive.
“It was the first time Jon got a good night’s sleep since the earthquake,” Carr said. “Jeanne and I just looked at
each other and said, ‘I think we should move here.’”
THE GO-TOGUY
M
eanwhile, back down in Hollywood, Carr’s career was thriving – his reputation growing with each new project –
and Stone-directed film.
So why do Carr and Stone work so well together?
“I have no idea,” Carr says quickly before pausing for a few moments then adding, “We’re not afraid of each other.
He’s an imposing artist, and very demonstrative in what he does. He gives me challenges, and so far I’ve been able to at
least respond. We’ve taken a lot of chances together over the years. Some of those movies are just way out there with
what you try to do. It’s comfortable, but it’s a lot of work.”
Carr’s career as a film music maven goes far beyond a single director. In nearly three decades in the field, Carr
PROFILES
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BY
STEVEN
LIBOWITZ
winter
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spr ing
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