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

I hadn't given Rogue One's score much thought up to now, but listening to the Desplat pieces you guys linked to makes me realize that it's in safe hands! I've also never listened the HP scores in isolation.

 

Seems like early work may have already begun on this...

 

I'm a big fan of Desplat in general (The Tree of Life, The King's Speech, Zero Dark Thirty are some of my favorite more recent scores of his) so while it will be somewhat different than what we are used to, it's safe to say that the score is going to be in great and capable hands.

 

It also kind of fits that we're hearing Rogue One will be darker and more of a war film than the saga Star Wars films. That fits to me with Desplat's strengths as a composer.

 

Does the style have to be different than regular Star Wars scores due to film's different tone? No. It would be perfectly fine if John Willams scored this one with his standard Star Wars vocabulary, which is enough to cover a whole variety of tones. But obviously that's not happening and going for a different style of music is a convenient excuse covering the fact that another composer came on board. It's a smart and acceptable move to do it for spin-offs. But just as spin-offs are still Star Wars at the core, I'd like their music to clearly stem from what JW established. Especially in case of Rogue One, which is a direct ANH prequel. I'd sooner welcome a musical departure in e.g. a stand-alone Obi-Wan 'western' which would be a truly different film.

I'm kind of worried that Rogue One will be a musical meh-fest, because that's the impression Desplat's music makes on me for the most part... I've listened to some of his stuff closely and watched a couple of extensive interviews to get the feel of this guy. So for example: I find his Harry Potter music painfully bland (especially given the universe he was scoring for). Nothing hooked me and it lacked magic (oh the irony). From what I gather, Desplat is great at composing subtle stuff, but the presence of music in Star Wars must be huge. I've heard nothing from him to make me believe he's capable of capturing stories the way JW does and that's essential IMO. Aside from music itself, it concerns me that he works so much and so fast. How can you make truly inspired stuff trying to do so many films per year? I hope that out of respect to JW, he'll treat RO as more than just another job. Look, I'm not a Desplat expert but that's my impression based on some research. Maybe I've just made a fool of myself and will be knocked down by his music in future. For now, however, I'll stick to my opinion.

 

would be cool if he used the imperial theme from anh at some point.. would love to hear that one again.

 

You mean the one at the beginning of:

And at 0:40 of


I agree. I love that theme too!

 

i was thinking more of the one you hear at 1:50. that one is good too though.

 

It's a real fear, I agree. I dunno whether you read my earlier post in this thread, but i said something similar. His work for a lot of French cinema is nothing short of sublime; same for a lot of arthouse pictures he's scored. But I can't hear anything he's done for a big Hollywood picture, excepting perhaps The Golden Compass (does that even count?) as remotely memorable. It does the job it's supposed to but that's about it. So much of what Star Wars is is carried by the romance and momentum of the music as much as the visuals. I'm sure that both Desplat and Edwards are well aware of this though, and of the scrutiny the music will come under.

Will he quote any of Williams' themes? Or will they go of in a whole new direction? I'm not sure I want pastiche, neither am I sure i want a whole new musical style, but on the other hand, I'm not the director. I'm just a fan with a sense of propriety over what has gone before - and that the central issue with this movie anyway. R1 is like a period piece set within the SW universe, so it has to be of its time - in the senses that it's both echoing a kind of filmmaking from the late 70s and the look of that era as established within the fictional universe - and also feel current. It's a difficult trick to pull off. Rebels does a decent enough job with it for a TV show, but many of those themes are more or less based upon Williams' work. The soundscape of movie SW is so distinctive anyway, it'll be tough to depart too radically from it. It'll be interesting to see how Desplat and Edwards handle it, and it'll definitely be a big part of how the movie is perceived. I'm hoping they rise to the occasion.

 

He better will! It's a crime not to use ANY of them. What's worrying, though, is that Desplat almost completely stayed away from JW's themes in Harry Potter (if I'm not mistaken). It's beyond me how can you not make use of such legacy when working on its continuation. Let's just hope Edwards and Kennedy have a lot of control over it and know what they're doing.

 

I'm not sure how much of it is an authorial conceit and decision and how much it has to do with the studio - on Harry Potter I could believe he was told to stay away from earlier themes (although it's crazy to do that in an ongoing film series. Even various Bond composers quite the theme, no matter how far they stray from the basic vocabulary John Barry set out in the 60s).I expected him to at least nod to Akira Ifukube's Godzilla theme, but it never happened. Maybe again - the American studio wanting to differentiate...?

But yeah! I wanna hear something that tells me, "This is Star Wars." Even if he wants to go his own way, what better way to set an audience up for it than to make them feel comfortable first...?

 

Honestly, I expect nothing more than than SW main theme and, depending on the situation now that

Spoiler

Vader's confirmed

maybe Imperial March

 

Desplat has talent. Favorite score of his is "Curious Case of Benjamin Button." That's quite a different tone from Star Wars. I guess we'll see how he handles it.

 

Seagoat, your spoiler, while masked, is still kind of obvious...

 

The trailer contains non-saga score that uses saga themes. Is it from a game soundtrack or CW installment? Is it new RO score?!

 

same as with the TFA trailers i suppose.

 

It was probably cooked up by a trailer composer.

 

Desplat's soundtracks, are they usually released in full? His HP and Twilight soundtracks were extensive and in chronological order, which is my preferred listening experience. I'm hoping for the same with Rogue One's soundtrack.

 

I can't wait to buy this soundtrack.

 

Mine as well! I have high hopes for this soundtrack release.

 

I'd rather they make a concise and entertaining album arrangement now and release the complete score at a later time.

 

As reported yesterday, Alexandre Désplat is not scoring Rogue One. Michael Giacchino, composer of the first two Star Trek reboots and many other Disney Animation scores like Ratatouille, Up, etc. is scoring.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-rogue-one-replaces-929387

 

I am stoked for this!!! Giacchino is hands down my favorite newer composer. I love so much of his work. He was and is my first choice to score Star Wars films that John Williams is not already doing.

 

I really liked his score to "Jurassic World" and he added in a nice rendition of the JP theme. So, yeah I think the music is in good hands.

 

Giacchino on Jyn Erso's theme:

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/10/m...-jyns-theme-from-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/