John Williams Starts Working on the Score of Episode VIII in a Few Weeks!

John Williams

Yesterday legendary composer John Williams returned to Tanglewood to lead the Boston Pops through some of the most memorable pieces he has written for the “Star Wars” films. During the event Williams briefly spoke about his upcoming work on Episode VIII…

 

 

From masslive.com (via Collider):

Williams told the crowd he would begin work in a few weeks on the much-anticipated “Star Wars: Episode VIII” after seeing an early cut. (Sorry fanboys, Williams said he does not yet know who Rey’s parents are.)

He said he accepted the invitation from Lucasfilm producer Kathleen Kennedy mainly because he was enchanted by actress Daisy Ridley’s portrayal of Rey and does not want another composer scoring her scenes.

 

 

This is not the first time when the composer expresses his fascination with Daisy Ridley and her character Rey. It’s interesting to know that his work on Episode VIII is just weeks from commencing, which is great news for all of us. Still it seems a bit early. For comparison Rogue One composer Alexandre Desplat started working on the score 7 months before the movie premiere.

 

Rian Johnson

 

Another interesting bit from this quote is that Williams has already seen and early cut of Episode VIII. This is a funny coincidence with the tweet Rian Johnson posted yesterday that we shared with you on our Star Wars Weekly Social Buzz article.

 

 

 

 

As we said in the previous report he is most likely talking about his friend Edgar Wright’s movie Baby Driver (the image speaks for itself). Still it’s curious that both movies have rough cuts now. It would be interesting to watch Edgar’s Twitter in the next few days. Who knows, he may say something about a super cool early cut of a movie he has seen.

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

71 thoughts on “John Williams Starts Working on the Score of Episode VIII in a Few Weeks!

  • August 14, 2016 at 11:28 pm
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    Um…. Rian’s tweet could still be and is mostly likely is about Baby Driver. Filming has wrapped so there’s not doubt there’s an early cut of the film. This is a bit misleading.

    • August 14, 2016 at 11:43 pm
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      Yes, that’s right. It’s clearly Baby Driver as we said yesterday. I wished so hard it to be Episode VIII that I forgot to pay attention to the image in the tweet. Fixed. 🙂

  • August 14, 2016 at 11:35 pm
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    Oh come on! Rian is clearly tweeting about Baby Driver. The punch line is in the photo! I really doubt Rian is going all Donald Trump and calling the film he’s working on his favourite of 2017!

    • August 14, 2016 at 11:43 pm
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      Only JJ Abrams could be so bold

      • August 15, 2016 at 1:52 pm
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        We get it. You hate everything.

        • August 15, 2016 at 4:51 pm
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          …that has been touched by JJ Abrams.

    • August 15, 2016 at 10:06 am
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      Yeah, come on. It’s right there.

  • August 14, 2016 at 11:59 pm
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    I think Rian Johnson was talking about Goonies II: The Search for Chunk.

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:08 am
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    Are you sure we can’t have this film in May? 😉

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:20 am
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    Lol, I’ve never heard of baby driver so I assumed Rian was talking about Rogue One.

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:43 am
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    Oh, thank you Maestro! This is the best gift.

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:49 am
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    he better do it asap. Because I fear greately for williams survivng till episode IX.

    • August 15, 2016 at 12:54 am
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      no problem, he will direct as a Force ghost.

      no, seriously: you really think he could die? I mean, as a human being. AH! AH! AH! Don’t be silly.

      • August 15, 2016 at 2:13 am
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        he’s kinda old…

    • August 15, 2016 at 5:21 am
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      I want him to compose some episode 9 music now so no matter what we can at least have new Williams music to look forward to. I’m not as worried about him dying (knock on wood) as I am of him finally taking his well earned retirement or citing health concerns as a reason to step down after episode 8, but fingers crossed! I really want him to finish the trilogy

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:53 am
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    So there is 17 months of post production time on this movie,gives me confidence that rian will pull it off.

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:53 am
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    Williams probably asked for a cut early to start working on themes rather than the full score. Sincerely doubt there’s a locked edit at this stage. Serious composition wouldn’t happen until early 2017. Still it’s a very good thing to get the composer in at this point in post production.

  • August 15, 2016 at 12:54 am
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    Great news. I love TFA’s score (it’s my second favourite, just after ANH) and I can’t wait to see what Williams will bring to the Episode VIII. I don’t know if I’m getting a little bit to deep into this, but if scoring begins so soon, this means that the first cut was really good and reshoots will just a cherry on top, which is always great to hear.

  • August 15, 2016 at 1:32 am
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    I hope it will be better than ep 7. Next to Reys theme nothing was memorable.

    • August 15, 2016 at 2:13 am
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      Jedi Steps.

      • August 15, 2016 at 1:48 pm
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        ‘Nuff said.

      • August 15, 2016 at 5:08 pm
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        And Rey’s theme. And Kylo’s theme. And Scherzo for X-Wings. And The Falcon. And March of the Resistance. It’s definitely different, but it’s brilliant.

    • August 15, 2016 at 2:14 am
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      The music they played during the opening was alright… 🙂

    • August 15, 2016 at 4:37 am
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      your Joking right? Kylo Ren’s theme set the tone to which the whole movie was going to be….The second you heard his music when his ship was landing…you knew what time it was. Kylo Ren’s Theme is Genius, sounded like a modern version of what a villan’s theme song sounded like in the old serials..Nobody but WIlliams could pull that off…You obviously don’t know anything about music! AND I am also willing to bet money that you haven’t even listened to the whole soundtrack at all….making your statement even more meaningless.

      • August 15, 2016 at 5:19 am
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        This! The President’s Own band has an exceptional performance on YouTube for all of the main themes in TFA, and each theme evokes a series of emotions.

      • August 15, 2016 at 5:23 pm
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        Kylo’s theme is just perfect. It conveys raw, untamed power, evil, and overarching it all is this sense of lost potential and sadness or a fall from grace.

    • August 15, 2016 at 4:39 am
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      I second the comment below! Kyle’s theme is as good as Harry Potter’s.

      • August 15, 2016 at 10:08 am
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        Kyle was great in the movie.

        • August 15, 2016 at 1:12 pm
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          lol!! Autocorrect doesn’t like Ben Solo’s assumed name! Ha ha. Wouldn’t it have been hysterical if his name was Kyle? And he made lightsaber sounds with his mouth?!?!?! Ha Ha Ha Ha

    • August 15, 2016 at 9:21 am
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      What about March of the Resistance?

    • August 15, 2016 at 4:49 pm
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      I agree.

  • August 15, 2016 at 2:12 am
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    Yes!

  • August 15, 2016 at 2:17 am
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    great news! i hope williams is able to finish out the entire trilogy. interesting that they already have a rough cut of the film- perhaps they’ll surprise us and drop it in may…. wishful thinking….

    • August 15, 2016 at 2:17 pm
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      naw. Guardians and Pirates are coming out in May. Won’t happen.

      • August 15, 2016 at 7:11 pm
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        twas mostly a joke! mostly..

  • August 15, 2016 at 2:40 am
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    WOW, so excited that JW is going to score Ep.8!! Surprised to read that he saw a rough cut of the movie, yet still doesn’t know who Rey’s parents are. If they don’t reveal it in Ep.8 there will be a revolt.

    • August 15, 2016 at 2:43 am
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      Oh wait, I think I misread the sentence from the article. It’s not worded very well. It actually says that he will begin in a few weeks, right after he watches the rough cut — in a few weeks.

      • August 15, 2016 at 10:07 am
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        Yeah, that’s how I read it. It could be either, though. Clunky wording.

  • August 15, 2016 at 4:37 am
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    Great to hear; I wish John in good health when he starts conducting the soundtrack. ^_^

  • August 15, 2016 at 5:21 am
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    Yes!!! This is the best news!

  • August 15, 2016 at 5:34 am
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    Awesome news! John deserves to score the saga as long as he can. In fact, he owns it!

    That being said, at the blistering production pace of EP VIII, it’ll be finished about a year before it’s release. I doubt Kathleen, Disney and the other powers that be will go ahead and release it in May, but wouldn’t that be an awesome surprise!?

    • August 15, 2016 at 2:16 pm
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      It just seems like this film has been come together quite quickly. What was the timeline for VII, in terms of when ot finished shooting, and when Williams began scoring? I mean, everything would have to gel and be perfect for it to be released in May, although that WAS the original release date. Wonder if it could happen…..

      Thing is…. could/would Disney just sit on a finished Star Wars film for 6+ months if it was indeed finished bay early next year? You have to also take in to account that They won’t want to put it out against another of their films…. and next May has Guardian’s and the new Pirates. they owned December, a month that isn’t the biggest ticket seller. So i mean, i think they will keep it there.

      All next Summer is huge. I mean, Wonder Woman and Transformers in June i think (only want to see one of those <.<), and July has Spidey, Dunkirk, Valerian, and the new Apes (gotta see the first 3). so yeah…. I think they will save it for Christmas time. make it special. They will own December and January.

      • August 15, 2016 at 5:44 pm
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        Yes, they will sit on it if it’s finished 6+ months early. Marketing and merchandising can’t be adjusted that quickly, especially with another film in the pipeline so soon before. They wouldn’t have enough time to Market the film properly and the GenAudience would still be stuck in Rogue One mode which could cause a lot of confusion.

  • August 15, 2016 at 6:55 am
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    Feel conflicted a bit about this. On the one hand, I’ve felt William’s later film scores have not been as strong the last few years – not musically, as the man is still writing good music, but as film scores. They feel like he, as a lot of artists as they get older, has gotten more self-indulgent, and less ruthless about the efficiency of the score for the film. It’s a sense of him meandering around, more interested in exploring something tangential that has taken his interest than in figuring out what the scene needs.

    On the other hand though, the thought of anyone other than Williams touching these films is deeply saddening. The math says that regrettably it’s going to happen sooner rather than later, but I’m not ready yet!

    • August 15, 2016 at 10:45 am
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      i Will say this – Desplats scores for the later HP films was very very good. And they also fit nicely with what williams wrote. So just like the film Rogue One is something i’m almost more excited to see that i was of EP7 – just because of the fact that it’s outside the skywalker family and they’re able to take more liberties with the story. i’m also super excited to hear desplat’s score for the film. If he nails it. We have the one who should take over from JW when he’s not able to do it anymore – 🙁

      • August 16, 2016 at 3:15 am
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        But he needs to change his name. Because “de splat”.

    • August 15, 2016 at 11:57 am
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      Much depends on director’s wishes. In Ep.7, Williams was instructed to do something “familiar” and “similar to the classic SW”. So he wrote a score basically centered on strings and brass. I think it fitted perfectly the scenes, with some simply beautiful major theme, and some well accepted “experiment” (Scherzo for X-Wings).

      If ep.8 will bring some major innovation, maybe even the music will be different, and more original.

      • August 16, 2016 at 2:46 am
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        I’ve said often that some of the themes are decent, and again, I’m not knocking what he’s writing as music in isolation from the film. Where I feel he isn’t as strong is in how tightly integrated the music is to the film. It’s a distinction between assessing the music as say, a concert piece vs as a film score. Compare how brilliantly the ESB score is tied to the edited picture – he darts in and around the visuals, plays with little moments between the actors, even picks up on bits of the effects work. The music as a result is a little choppy feeling when you listen to it in isolation, but it becomes just as much a character as anything else in the film. As a score it’s perfect. His latter scores by contrast, tend to be very beautiful concert pieces, but are less integrated into the flow of the film – what I’m suggesting is that they’re musically better, but lesser film scores.

        • August 16, 2016 at 11:39 am
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          I was not talking about the music itself, but exactly about the way it fits the screen.

          • August 16, 2016 at 9:43 pm
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            Fair enough. Listening to the TFA score though I still find it’s hard to pick up any particular hits (apart from the on-the-nose-obvious one in ‘The Falcon’) to the picture. Kinda felt that way with the prequel scores, but wrote it off at the time to possibly Williams not being given a locked print to write to (seriously, you ever check out how well his Anakin vs Obi Wan fits the animatic for that sequence way, WAY better than it does the final edit?), which led to some cues that feel like they just generally cover ‘scene X’, and whole bunch of terrible, terrible music editing. Actually not crazy about how heavily the scherzo leans on repeated iterations of the Rebel Spaceship fanfare, but will agree that Rey’s theme is pretty great taken apart from the film though. For me TFA is just missing its “the asteroid field”, or “into the trap”, or “inner city”.

    • August 15, 2016 at 5:06 pm
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      Rey’s theme is just pure brilliance. It fits her character perfectly. There is definitely something a little different about Ep 7’s score that sets it apart from the rest of the films, though.

    • August 15, 2016 at 7:39 pm
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      I respectfully disagree with your assessment.

      • August 16, 2016 at 2:38 am
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        Okay?

  • August 15, 2016 at 10:04 am
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    I think Williams is saying he will be seeing a rough cut before he starts working on the score. So I would guess he won’t see it for a few weeks.

  • August 15, 2016 at 10:12 am
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    This is going to be the big one… I’m excited to see where they are going with 8. Whether all the complaints and mysteries put forward can be cleaned up. While also setting up the climax in the third film.

  • August 15, 2016 at 1:45 pm
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    That Twitter picture isn’t for Episode VIII, it’s for Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s upcoming movie.

    • August 15, 2016 at 7:09 pm
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      What if the babies name is Adam? He’s driving a car = Adam Driver. Adam Driver = Ep VIII.

      • August 16, 2016 at 12:37 am
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        Illuminati = confermed.

        • August 16, 2016 at 1:01 am
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          I knew you would get it.

  • August 15, 2016 at 5:17 pm
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    Awesome news! Have to enjoy all the John William’s Star Wars scores while we can

  • August 15, 2016 at 5:27 pm
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    I was there at Tangelwood on Saturday evening. Uploading a video of his pre-performance speech now…

      • August 15, 2016 at 5:57 pm
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        • August 15, 2016 at 6:03 pm
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          Thanks, the audio is a bit quiet. Correct me if I am wrong, but he actually never said that he starts working in a few weeks. He actually said that he will have a first viewing of the cut in a few weeks. Did I miss something?

          • August 15, 2016 at 7:57 pm
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            Correct, I believe he says “in a few weeks, I’ll receive a first viewing of it [Episode 8].”

  • August 15, 2016 at 8:19 pm
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    John Williams music and Rian Johnson’s direction, should make for a pretty exciting movie. I predict this’ll be one of the best scores yet for a Star Wars film.

  • August 15, 2016 at 8:56 pm
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    J Williams kills it. Say what you will about the prequels, but the soundtrack is next level and still blows my mind. Ep7 wasn’t my fav, but still worked and is still miles better than most could ever compose.

  • August 16, 2016 at 12:14 am
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    I don’t understand why there would even be a question whether he would return. The’yre making a new saga, of course he’d return. Why would he drop out in the middle of it?

    And I hope they get back with the London SO on this one./

    • August 16, 2016 at 1:16 am
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      The guy is 84 years old. I have worked in old age care and have seen younger people in a damn sight worse condition than what he is in. Yes it’s great that he is on board for Ep VIII but please don’t expect him to go globe trotting over the world to record new music for our favorite films. So long as he is recording music for Star Wars is a privilege. Make do with what you will get because it won’t be around forever.

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