Rogue One: A Star Wars Story... score now by Michael Giacchino

I don't know how this hasn't been all over this forum already, but I just found out that Alexandre Desplat is scoring the first "anthology" Star Wars film, Rogue One. I'm really excited about this, as I really enjoyed his two scores for Harry Potter. What is everyone's thoughts about this? Do we think he will use any existing John Williams themes?

 

I'm excited. He's a far better choice than the other current favorite, Giacchino. I'm not a big fan of his Harry Potter scores (mainly for Part 2), though that's more due to the pedestrian tastes of David Yates.

 

He better use Williams' themes! I agree with you, Strilo. I enjoyed his Deathly Hallows scores though I still think Prisoner of Azkaban had the best music of the series.

 

I kind of hope the title theme is the only JW music used. To my knowledge there will be no Jedi, so hopefully we don't hear any light side force leitmotifs ie Binary Sunset. I want to hear lots of original music coming from the anthologies, even if they're not up to par with JW's work.

 

If HP is anything to go by, he won't be using a lot of older motifs from previous films. Not like he's allergic to them or anything, but he doesn't seem to go out of his way using them like say, Giacchino or Elfman does.

 

All I hope is that appropriate existing themes are not shied away from. If Vader appears, for example, I would want a small use of the Imperial March. Without knowing anything about the story, it's hard to say. I do assume that we won't see much crossover with the existing theme base.

That said, will the anthology films even use the same opening and closing conventions? These are not part of the Star Wars Saga films, they don't NEED to have the same opening, crawl and music that the Saga films have. Will they use something else?

 

I'm hoping the Story films will have as much new to them as possible. Obviously like Strilo said, if a legacy character shows up, use their theme. But I want Rogue One's score to sound as little like the other six* films as possible.

(* Seven by then.)

 

I'd actually rather they not do that. If Vader's theme or Tarkin's theme doesn't fit into the musical tapestry of the score then it shouldn't be put there (even if it makes sense in a literal way).

 

In a perfect world I'd love to have John Williams do the scores for all of them of course, but I'm definitely still open to some experimentation and lots of new material when it comes to the soundtracks in the spin-off films.

 

I agree. I really liked what Desplat did with the last two Harry Potter scores, so I'd love to hear something like that but with Star Wars.

 

It was only a matter of time before composers other than Williams' would be contributing to Star Wars scores. I was a bit taken back when I first heard about that concerning Rogue One. John Williams is getting to that stage of life where he will be doing less and less scoring. I really hope he can score VIII and IX before completely retiring. Star Wars music has always had power in them and I'm sure Desplat is well aware of that fact.

 

The question isn't if he will use John Williams' themes but if the director will have him incorporate them. I think it is highly likely, but maybe not a main theme at the beginning. Old age or not, I don't think John Williams was ever expected to score these other movies.

 

I hope that this film uses the original Empire theme from A New Hope.

It has a very different feel to the Imperial March, that I think would be appropriate here.

 

Hoping for its own sound... I like the idea of it feeling connected, but without the need to lean on prior themes. That's one of the biggest problems with the Rebels TV show, is the overreliance on recycled Williams themes and motifs, to the point where it feels like the soundtrack is being done on the cheap. Compare that to some of the amazing range of Clone Wars episodes, and it feels like Disney cut corners with Rebels and picked the cheap and lazy path.

Desplat has some amazing scores under his belt already, so I've got faith in him for Rogue One. In fact, his score for Godzilla was really impressive even though the movie was a very middling experience (I'm a HUGE Godzilla fan from childhood, and all I really wanted was a well-told story with a strong lead actor). Aaron Johnson being more of the focus than Bryan Cranston was a criminally stupid choice, in my opinion, and the movie ended up being "meh".

Also check out Desplat's score for King's Speech. Phenomenal composition!

I agree with darkspine that I'd rather the music sound more like ANH's cues than the quick and easy path of Vader's Imperial March from ESB. Hearing that cue play at the beginning of AOTC (and tell you all you needed to know about the motives behind the landing platform bombing) was one of the few saving graces of an otherwise terrible film.

 

darkspine you bring up a good point. I especially like the use of the Rebel Fanfare in TFA, which was barely used at all in the prequel trilogy. Maybe it would be cool to use the Imperial theme from ANH in Desplat's score.

 

Okay, try this. Close your eyes and try and imagine a scene where the rebels are trying to infiltrate the Empire to get the stolen Death Star plans whilst listing to this really ominous and awesome Alexandre Desplat track from Zero Dark Thirty, played as the choppers fly the Navy SEALS to Bin Laden's compound...

 

He's done fine with dramas but I haven't heard anything action-related that I like out of him.

 

I think that is where my greatest concern is coming from as well, Regan.

 

For the anthology stuff, Desplat is fine, but there's no way in the main films he can live up to Williams. I hope Williams makes it through all the films.

 

I agree, but the Anthology films do still need to sound like Star Wars. I hope they accomplish that with Desplat.

 

I really hope they use the Imperial theme from Star Wars in Rogue One too. And also the Rebel Fanfare too. As for that, I am really intrigued what they'll do with the music. I guess a more militaristic version of the Star Wars theme might fit in with the tone that they're supposedly going for with this one. Either way, I'm excited!

 

I'm massively loyal to Williams but I'm pretty sure Desplat will do okay. He managed to pick up the scores on the Harry Potter films pretty well, continuing with a lot of the thematic work that Williams had initially written - their composition styles and finished scores ended up being quite in sync with each other, so I reckon there's hope for the continuity, at least.

 

Alexandre Desplat's score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was very beautiful and moving! The opening scene to the movie is one of my favorite scenes out of all of the Harry Potter films. I'm really looking forward to his contribution to Star Wars!

 

I've been listening to Desplat's Harry Potter scores lately and just rewatched both Deathly Hallows films and I agree. I really enjoy his work on those two films and look forward to his work on Rogue One a lot more now.

 

Looking forward to this score. Loved his work on Zero Dark Thirty, The Imitation Game and The Danish Girl.