The Big Friendly Giant - John Williams (2016)

Figured I might as well make a thread for this. It's an adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. Spielberg is directing, Melissa Mathison (E.T The Extraterrestrial) is writing, and John Williams is scoring. It's set to come out on July 1st of this year.

I'm not sure how the film will turn out (Spielberg tends to be hit-or-miss with these types of movies) but the Fantasy genre consistently brings great stuff out of Williams.

And according to a recent interview, work on the score has already started.

Here's the teaser trailer (the music heard here isn't Williams though)







* And yes, I know that BFG also stands for "big ****ing gun"

 

I'm excited for this one. Should be a great score from Williams!

 

The recording sessions for the score have started!
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/701229053861232640?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/701228688784818176?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/701420460752269313?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/701421049603235841?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

 

Ah, one of my childhood favourites from elementary school. Never imagined what the music for it would sound like

But now JW is gonna make it happen!

 

Howard that's awesome! Fun to read those tweets...

 

More John Williams quotes from the recording sessions with some minor clues about how the music will sound .
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/725848725361303552
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/720116045848186885
https://twitter.com/JKMSlibrary/status/71921551175049216

 

He's so witty! I love that Bohemian comment.

 

http://www.moviefone.com/2016/05/11/steven-spielberg-the-bfg-d23/
A small quote from Spielberg about the score.

From the sounds of it, it'll be very much in line with the musical storytelling of Williams' recent scores. The talk of thematic significance bodes well for it being more of a dramatic score (War Horse) than a comedic score (The Adventures of Tintin).

 

Various samplings of critic's impressions of the film/score via the Cannes screening this morning. A bit mixed in both regards but there are some promising comments (one review calls it one of Williams' most moving scores in recent years)
http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/25192-john-williams-the-bfg-2016/&page=9 (sorry, I'm too lazy to post them individually)

 

A possible glimpse of the score in the background. I think this might be the real deal, though I could be wrong. It's lovely either way.
https://twitter.com/Festival_Cannes/status/731529150381494272?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

 

It looks like that bit I just posted earlier is part of the score. An undeniably Williams statement of the same theme
Starting at 11:05.


The first Hook-ish statement of the main theme is absolutely delightful but the whimsical mickey-mousing that follows it is boring as hell. Williams has milked that sound to death in Hook/the Potter scores/Tintin (plus comedy scoring is never funny). Here's hoping it takes up as little of the score's running time as possible.

sorry about the triple-post but I had no choice due to the editing system's time limit

 

Bring on the Hook-ish stuff!!

 

Samples are online!


https://www.weltbild.at/artikel/musik/the-bfg-big-friendly-giant_21774301-1#information

 

you can now get it on Spotify! I love it, It reminds me of the original Harry Potter!!! I have listened to it about 6 times or so and I love the movie also!

 

I've listened to the score several times and seen the film. Overall, I think this is one of Williams' weaker efforts. There are some nice lyrical and thematic moments but so much of the score is dedicated to mickey-mousing that does little to advance the musical narrative and is very derivative of his Home Alone/Hook/Potter sound.

 

I think Williams is done with the big bombastic scores. The man is 82.

 

Eh, I wouldn't say that. Williams just didn't seem particularly inspired by this particular project. Plus the glacial pacing and high-slapstick level of the film didn't help.

 

It reminded me of Harry Potter I loved It!!!

 

Isn't John 84?