J. Peter Robinson’s most recent cinematic collaboration as composer for director Roger Donaldson is SEEKING JUSTICE, his fifth film with the New Zealand born director. Starring Nicolas Cage, January Jones, and Guy Pearce, the taut thriller portrays Cage's response when his wife is raped and left for dead. Cage hires a vigilante group to respond to this terrible event and then faces a disastrous conflict when confronted with the consequences. Keeping busy meanwhile, Robinson was writing the music to accompany the high seas drama of THE DEADLIEST CATCH, and also delivered the score for BLUE CRUSH 2, a reprise of Universal's successful surfing saga BLUE CRUSH.
Robinson's previous collaborations with Donaldson include COCKTAIL with Tom Cruise, CADILLAC MAN with Robin Williams, and THE WORLD”S FASTEST INDIAN with Anthony Hopkins in an Award winning performance. INDIAN premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and went on to become one of New Zealand's ten most successful releases ever. Meanwhile, Donaldson's THE BANK JOB with Jason Statham was inspired by an extraordinary true event-- a politically motivated bank heist. This highly-charged thriller interweaves a heady combination of intrigue, danger and scandal in 1960s London, and was written by Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais (THE COMMITMENTS).
Other accomplishments include television scores like the CBS miniseries COVERT ONE: THE HADES FACTOR (based on the Robert Ludlum novel). Executive produced by Larry Sanitsky it features star performances by Stephen Dorff, Anjelica Huston, Mira Sorvino, Blair Underwood, Colm Meany, and Danny Huston. The film is directed by Mick Jackson ('Temple Grandin', ‘Live from Baghdad,’ ‘The Bodyguard’) for whom Robinson also created the score to ‘The Handler’.
Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Peter Robinson began his recording career in London as the pianist for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice on the original album recording of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, but he achieved his first major break in film composition when the late John Schlesinger called on him to create the eerily haunting score to THE BELIEVERS. Soon he found himself composing the score to Philip Noyce's action-thriller BLIND FURY, and in turn this lead to his first project with Donaldson. These films were followed by two hugely successful comedies: the Mike Myers' blockbuster WAYNE'S WORLD for Penelope Spheeris and Paramount Pictures, and Les Mayfield's ENCINO MAN for Disney.
Robinson's score to the action-comedy MR. NICE GUY was the third of a three-picture deal with New Line Cinema and Jackie Chan which began with the surprise hit RUMBLE IN THE BRONX. His longtime relationship with New Line Cinema grew through several collaborations with horrormeister Wes Craven. His scores for Craven have included WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE, VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN, NIGHTMARE CAFE and DON'T LOOK DOWN. Robinson also provided the score to John Herzfeld's FIFTEEN MINUTES starring Robert De Niro, Ed Burns, Kelsey Grammar, and Kim Cattrall. He has worked again several times with Herzfeld on a number of television projects.
Peter has created the scores for a number of movies-for-cable, and worked on the long-running television series CHARMED, which ended its network run in 2006.
He became so busy composing for film and television that he reluctantly stopped touring as a rock and roll musician, a career that spanned more than twenty years, and included an eight-year stint as Phil Collins' keyboard player, with prior collaborations as a writer, arranger, and/or co-producer or co-songwriter with the following recording artists: Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Al Stewart, Quatermass, Stanley Clarke, Berlin, and Shawn Phillips. Although a confirmed Brit, Robinson is a longtime resident of Los Angeles.
For a printable version (PDF) of all of Peter's credits, please click here.