Michael Giacchino Reportedly Steps In to Score Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One, the first Star Wars standalone movie, may have a new composer. Alexandre Desplat looks like he is no longer creating the score for the film, it seems that Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino will be taking his place. Read on for more!
The The Hollywood Reporter is exclusively reporting that Oscar winning composer Michael Giacchino will be stepping in for Alexandre Desplat, to compose the score for the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Desplat was originally slated to be the composer for the new spin-off film. According to THR, the recent reshoots may be behind the switch:
The reshoots also altered the scoring calendar and Desplat, who won an Oscar for The Grand Budapest Hotel, was no longer available. Disney and Lucasfilm then turned to Giacchino, who has a long relationship with the studio and its various divisions.
Giacchino, has composed several blockbuster films that include the J.J. Abrams led ‘Star Trek’ reboot, The Incredibles and several other Pixar films including the animated smash hit ‘Inside Out’.
This seems to be a interesting move with the film so close to release. However, it is not uncommon for composers to begin work on a score within three months of a films release.
More on this as information comes available…
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May the Force be with you!
If there’s anyone who should be groomed to inherit the franchise’s musical mantle from Williams, it’s this guy.
His score for Jupiter Ascending is simply stunning. I am looking forward to what he can offer Star Wars!
“Veddy innnnnnnnterestink…” ;^)
Michael giacchino seems like a perfect fit for Star Wars. While no one can beat Williams famous scores, his style is very reminiscent of Williams. With an immense amount of respect, I think Williams is starting to lose that magic he once had. TFA score was good, but nowhere as good as the PT and OT scores. It will be interesting to see how Giacchino handles this stand-alone film and if he incorporates any iconic themes, and if he does well Disney may ask him to come back?! It’s hard to say if Williams has the health to do Episodes 8 AND 9 so who knows. Rogue One could be the stepping stone for Giacchino into much more Star Wars.
That’s certainly possible, but Williams intends to do 8 if his health holds up. Was said to already be watching early cuts of it anytime now.
I thought TFA wasn’t as good either at first, but now I love it. I also felt that way with TPM, AOTC and ROTS. Just takes time.
TFA score wasn’t bad, per se, but it was not integrated into the film as well as the previous six saga films. The only parts that really stood out to me was when we see Rey on her speeder and the ending Luke Skywalker Jedi steps.
I ain’t agree. What was that weird, loud fanfare at the start of the movie with the scrolling text? Didn’t fit at all. Or individual character themes? A stately military march? Mediocre at best.
The music when Poe is wrecking the FO on Takodana is great. The rush to the Falcon is terrific. The snow battle music. So many great parts.
Another powerful musical moment was when Rey snatches the lightsaber from Kylo out of the snow just before they start fighting. But that was recycled from ANH when Luke finds his aunt and uncle murdered. Still a great moment though. Very powerful.
TPM is my second to last favorite movie and probably second favorite score. The uber special edition album is beautiful.
Yep, it’s great. But it took a bit to get used to it. Felt very different. TFA was the same way for me.
Aye, but it makes sense. Williams returns to the series every 15+ years, he’s going to bring a new take on it.
I agree. At first I wasn’t impressed but like Ghost of Obi Wan said, it wasn’t incorporated into the film as well as the previous films. To me the mix was too quiet but when you listen to the soundtrack by itself there is so much going on that I totally missed in theaters. I think if the editor/mixer allowed the music to take a front seat a little more it would have been better. Half of Star Wars for me is having that amazing soundtrack that’s not buried in the mix like so many movies do these days.
I prefer the 7 score to both 2 and 3.
His style is not reminiscent of williams at all. It’s a style made of overly banalish motifs without good orchestration. Except for the incredibles.
Well people turned against Williams on the EP7 score too.
I’m not talking about the Williams Ep.7 score, don’t change the topic here.
My point is no matter who does it, some people will attack with opinions and reasons they believe to be valid,
Awwww man, while I was looking forward to Alexander Desplat’s take on Star Wars music. Michael seems like one of the next best, I wasn’t really a fan of his Jurassic World work, but his Star Trek score is good, and so was his LOST score.
I’d love to hear Bear McCreary jump to the big screen and do a Star Wars soundtrack but that’s just wishful thinking.
Would love to see McCreary too and he has already made the jump (10 Cloverfield Lane, with the excellent opening cue Michelle and several other movies). That said I really like Giacchino too.
3 months?
No pressure dude.
Keep in mind that JW had the same schedule for composing TFA relative to its release date. Plus, I’m pretty sure that whatever work AD did with writing music for the film is being examined by MG. Not to mention that this is something that Disney let him know about months in advance based on what MSW has talked about.
http://makingstarwars.net/2016/04/is-alexandre-desplat-still-composing-the-music-for-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/
– Pomojema
“Keep in mind that JW had the same schedule for composing TFA relative to its release date.”
Yeah, and that worked out great, right?
It did, yes.
Yeah, it’s fantastic.
I’m not trying to be condescending or anything, but what happened with John Williams and TFA is actually fairly normal. You need a finished cut in order to have a complete score that’s fluidly implemented. Say what you will about the quality of the score, but it didn’t seem like a bunch of musical pieces that were hastily cut together (something that AOTC was hit by pretty badly).
– Pomojema
How do we know he already hasn’t been at work on it for a couple months and we are just now hearing about it?
How do we know we’re not just copying and pasting the same response a bunch of times?
jeez. Michael Giacchino,when composing music for non-animated movies or non-jazz/big band scores, is unimmaginative at high levels. In Jurassic World the best piece of score was the theme orchestrated by John Williams. This is bad news to me.
Agree. I wish more big-budget productions would give other composers a chance. Desplat, I was looking forward to him because I loved his contribution to Wes Anderson films and wanted to hear his take on a more “action-y” film. Giacchino’s music, besides animated movies, does not convey story and emotions as well as Williams. In other words, it’s hard to “hum along” to Giacchino tunes the same way you could to E.T., Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, etc… Heck, the guy who composed for Pacific Rim did a far better job.
Agreed. I also remember Desplat did good job at taking the baton from williams when scoring Harry Potter’s latter films, aswell.
Jurassic World is the good example as for why this can be BAD. Standalone Film… Do we need someone imitating Williams rather than something new and fresh?
if he was imitating williams, that score would’ve been better, IMO
I’m pretty much in agreement with everyone else that this is NOT a great decision for replacement composer candidate. Giacchino has a style that tends to be over the top and at time almost gimmicky – his music overwhelms what the film presents by having music that too strongly plays what’s going on during the film. He doesn’t let the film do the work and over emphasizes the feeling and tone. And whoever does his mix and mastering never seem to help his sound either. Always sounds unfinished to me. Honestly, I don’t think Giacchino’s done a listenable/enjoyable score since 2002’s Metal of Honor: Frontline – best work is for a WWII VIDEO GAME. Not even a movie. Highly disappointed with LFL/Disney’s choice for this.
go listen to Star Trek.
I went. And that’s why I say that. Confront the music from the beginning scene of Star Trek (2009) and M:i 3’s love scenes, and you’ll find that they’re almost identical, and don’t convey emotions enough. Then confront them with literally any john williams score, and you’ll see the huge gap.
Is this not subjective to the individual opinion, thoughts and feelings? Or is this science?
this isnot that subjective. It’s the fact that williams orchestrates better than giacchino.
Ok, scientific fact then.
not scientific, but musical. You can hear through the score Giacchino did for, say, star trk, that he just sat on a piano and when he got to orchestrate the stuff, he didn’t consider to change the arrangement to make it be more fit for each instrument. You can hear, let’s say in the star trek beginning scene with kirk borning, that the accords being played by the strings are in the same ascendent order as on the piano. I personally play the Violin, and know that that’s really uncomphortable and unnatural on a violin. Who first made me notice this was my father, a music teacher. If you switch to Williams, you hear a simphony, very close to the greatest romanticist classical music composers.
Trek has a halfway decent overture, but the rest of the score is pretty forgettable. I mean, it’s not like they got Danny Elfman to score, so it’s not like it’s a disaster…just potentially not as interesting.
And here you have new light about the re-shoots. Everyone from LFL/Disney said “re-shoots are normal in this kind of films, it’s just some little details we’re adding or changing”. Well… if little details means that you have to delay the score as far as to loose your composer… Then I can’t see this as the normal routine.
AD was never officially stated by Lucasfilm to be their only pick for a composer. That’s the problem with this line of conspiratorial thinking. If he had scheduling conflicts, they most likely knew about it and found someone else at a much earlier time.
MG has had a strong working relationship with Disney. They clearly didn’t hire him on the spur of the moment. And it’s worth noting that the window to actually handle composing (not writing) the music is roughly the same as it was for TFA – about 3 months until the release of the film.
– Pomojema
what do you mean by “composing (not writing)” tho? cuz ive been a musician pretty much all my life and it seemed to mean quite the same thing all along.
Same question here ^^
you meant “conducting (not writing)”?
Not sure what Pomojema means either, but for what we know Giacchino might have been working on the score for some time already. Sketching ideas and so on.
I highly doubt they brought him in just now, as the reshoots was started quite a long time ago. They already knew by then if AD wasn’t able to score it, most likely.
“Not sure what Pomojema means either…” See my above reply – I meant “conducting”, not “composing”.
“I highly doubt they brought him in just now…” Exactly. If there were issues to work out (and there probably were a few considering that AD was never officially announced by Lucasfilm to be attached to the project) they probably would have dealt with them earlier rather than later. It was just a matter of timing with this announcement, really.
– Pomojema
“Conducting” is exactly what I meant. My mistake.
– Pomojema
I think it’s silly, knowing that big films like these have known schedules set up for everyone involved where actors, crew, and all production staff can appropriately schedule around when they need to do reshoots or whatever work involved plus their other films. Yet, here we are getting a source that says Desplat couldn’t do it because of “the reshoots”
I mean hell, all I hear from people is that reshoots are a normal part of the post production phase, so if Desplat couldn’t do it because of scheduling conflicts with the reshoots…. that sounds fishy to me.
Either everyone is lying and these reshoots aren’t normal, or Desplat decided not to do the movie and somebody leaked the reshoots as an excuse.
So, who’s the one lying here? 😉
If he was the man behind the trailer music then im’ma be super pissed.
I can’t confirm, but trailers from TFA and R1 have similar kind of music. It sounds like they have a guy in LFL working on that.
My thoughts exactly, though I still have high confidence in this film.
I agree that the trailer music was really good, fit the theme of the movie perfectly. Not sure if it was Desplat though, I know that there are companies who specialize in creating music for trailers. It could be Kevin Kiner who does all of of the animated scores.
Giacchino is a great composer. His score for Inside Out is very underrated. The scene were Joy turns to Sadness is brilliant and can bring a tear to anyone. I’m sure he will do a great job and still be faithful to the Star Wars brand.
Disney / LFL individuals lie, for sure.
Disney / LFL will never admit problems that question the movie itself. It doesn’t mean the movie was horrible, or that the movie is gonna be horrible because Disney didn’t let Edwards do his job. It doesn’t mean Edwards may be pissed of, if that possibility of Disney beto existed in the contract. Nonetheless: the risk exists, and they will not admit it.
Disney / LFL felt forced to trace a relaxed story around the reshoots because other people close to production did such comments as “what are they reshooting? Everything”.
So:
a) Disney didn’t say the original comments.
b) It’s very contradictory to say “it’s part of the schedule” and then prove that something as big as the score went out of schedule because of it.
Disney / LFL lye.
I like how your “the sky is falling!” themed complaints fit with a movie whose story centers around the Death Star. It’s a very creative way to make grandiose and most likely incorrect assumptions about the state of the film.
Williams didn’t score VII until September or maybe it was even October before the December release.
Also every studio on the planet lies about their films. Makes zero sense to advertise your own movie is a train wreck, even if that is accurate. Those statements come after a theatrical run is finished if no the a decade later.
But please. Continue being wrong. I didn’t mean to interrupt.
Nah, I never said “the sky is falling” if you read my previous message. What I’m saying is that this movie was suposed to be a real war movie in the SW universe. That most probably will be. But the risk exists that Disney got affraid about the nature of this movie, specially after the enormous success of TFA.
Don’t tell “continue being wrong” because I’m just speculating (which means that any option is possible). I’m just sure that Disney lies (and you are agree with me on that).
You didn’t interrupt by the way.
You’re speculating, yes, and are probably dead wrong. The negative tone of your speculation indicates that yes, you believe the sky is falling on this movie and it will be a failure due to Disney’s meddling and perceived lies.
Every studio lies. Even Disney.
I don’t believe they’re lying about this film though. Again, your speculation is probably wrong.
Glad I didn’t interrupt.
They didn’t hire Giacchino because he’s Abrams’ friend. From 2010, he scored six films for Disney (including Doctor Strange,) includng both animated and fictional films and don’t take into account Pixar shorts that he did music for. His scores are usually praised by critics. It may not be the best argument, but he also scored all of Brad Bird’s movies, too (he’s also a prominent figure in Disney because of his position as a member of Pixar’s creative team.) Taking all that into account, is it that strange that “Abrams’ friend” is now responsible for the score?
People take on new jobs all the time and maybe his scoring time got pushed a few weeks to where he was already booked on another movie.
This isn’t Watergate.
I was really excited about Desplat scoring Star Wars…
Great decision.
Personally I always thought that Desplat’s stile did not match Star Wars. Sadly
that James Horner is no longer with us … It would have been great to hear a
Star Wars score written by him. But Michael Giacchino it’s ok. Let’s see if he
can go further than usually and create some memorable themes as he did in the
Incredibles.
Damn was looking forward to some memorable news tracks by Desplat, seems like we wont get any, i hope i’m wrong though…
Me too, was curious to hear what he would do. I personally felt confident that he would give the score a unique feel, and not try to copy what Williams has done. I think that a standalone movie needs that.
Hopefully Giacchino will give us something unique aswell.
The movie is out in three months and they’re changing composer now? Hmm.
Either that report wasn’t true or M. Has been a part of the film for some time. How could reshoots influence the entire feel of the movie as it was “said” that they were kindly just scenes for character moments and even some reshoots of scenes like “may the force be with us”. If A.D. Has really left then that sucks on the whole “unique standalone story” feel. His J.W. score was pretty ordinary.
How do we know he hasn’t been on board since July or around about? Maybe we are just finding out.
Edwards and Desplat have a working relationship and likely had planned out the tone of the film, the feel of specific scenes and the character leifmotifs for over a year. Disney is choosing Giacchino not the director who chose to work with Desplat for a reason. Something bad is happening.
they change composers all the time in Hollywood. Sam Raimi famously replaced Danny Elfmans score at the last minute for Spiderman II which turned out to be a big mistake. Alex North’s score for 2001 was also shelved for a known classical music score. But this is Star Wars and the way the music is intertwined with the story and screenplay defines he saga. You don’t just hire someone last minute for a Star Wars movie and say here, add music.
This why you should start shooting a blockbuster two years before its release, not a year and a half (or less).
LFL appreciates your advice.
I’m sure they do. 😛
Nothing seems to be working out for Rogue One.
I’ve been lowering by expectations for quite sometime now.
How do we know he hasn’t been on board since July or around about? Maybe we are just finding out?
Could be the case.
Doesn’t change the fact that they had to switch to him because of these scheduled/not so scheduled reshoots.
It doesn’t bode well.
Yeah, I was always on board with the “these are just normal reshoots being blown out of proportion” group. If it’s having this large of an impact, I think that must not be the case. Still, last minute changes to the first Star Wars film ended up being all for the best.
It’s a matter of scheduling. Most scoring doesn’t happen until late anyway.
Do be aware, it could be the SCHEDULE of the reshoots (not the reshoots themselves) that were unplanned. this movie has an ensemble cast whose schedules have to be worked around. It’s likely that the reshoots were rescheduled, which then leaked out (which is how we heard about them in the first place).
I agree. Change is always bad in all of its forms and any kind of change to Star Wars means that it’s going to be 100% bad no matter what.
(That’s sarcasm, if you can’t tell.)
Hiring Giocanno was the most typical expected choice. Keeping Desplat would have been more unexpected.
“Nothing”? Seriously?
Agree, Star Wars is defined mainly by its music. Gareth Edwards had a working relationship with Alexander Desplat and for the studio to simply assign a new composer at the eleventh hour says something is wrong.
Love his work! Just adds more excitement to seeing the movie.
Oops I mean – in an Eeyore voice – “This is bad. Movie is going to be awful. Disney ruined everything.” Bahaha!!
You naysayers are just so silly. But seriously, it’ll be a great movie. No worries.
Some people “get off” on hating things.
I understand what you’re saying & generally agree.
However….
Re: “But seriously, it’ll be a great movie. No worries.”
I mean that’s just as preposterous as saying “Movie is going to be awful”.
I get why some people have expressed concern over the extensive re-shoots, with this story basically confirming that the re-shoots were enough MORE than planned that it caused them to have to hire a different composer.
That said… The re-shoots could be a “good thing”.
But just stating – GUARANTEED BEST MOVIE EV’A! Is just as silly as the naysayers.
For me, I’m cautiously optimistic for a good, hopefully great, film set in the SW universe. I’m not making an outlandish comments as to what the end result will be (read: not backed by any evidence or facts, as the movie isn’t out yet).
While I wouldn’t jump off the ledge with this one, it does feel like they’re cutting it a little close here. With the release date being just before Christmas, that leaves under three months. It typically takes John Williams, who says on average, he writes about two minutes of music each day, two to three months to complete a musical score for a film. But I’ll let the experts take it from here and will chose not to worry about this one.
I do wonder if perhaps we know too much with the advent of social media. Just think about what we would have been saying had we been in on all of the shenanigans that took place with the production of, The Star Wars.
Keep in mind that this is a replacement, and a replacement for a guy who couldn’t make it to the reshoots. I’d imagine that a lot of the scoring is already done, and will just need some touching up from the new guy.
I didn’t get the sense that anything had been scored yet. I would have thought that they would have said something if that were the case.
I would say we don’t know enough. It’s okay for news like this to come out, as long as people understand what it means. Most don’t.
I agree. TESB was an over-budget, behind-schedule production nightmare, and it’s considered by many to be the best SW film of all. Some people need to calm their tits.
I hope they’ve already started, as a fan of the orchestra they are very low on time. Composing orchestra music is way more complicated than any of the modern stuff which can be done in a day.
It’s sad when the majority of the news on Rogue One centers around last minute changes…
Except it’s like 3 stories. Hardly the majority.
They know what they are doing
Love it. Giacchino, in my opinion, is superior to Desplat. Giacchino will definitely honor the traditional Star Wars motifs while incorporating various new ones.
This is great news. Michael Giacchino is the man. I have not heard a bad score for any TV show or film which he has done, ever.
To be honest i hate this decision. When desplat wrote harry potter and the deadly hallows, it was the closest composer to match the skills of john williams. Michael Giacchino for me it’s a bad choice. He writes too differently from john williams. And in short time….Just listen to star trek from him….It doens’t have any power ate all. It’s cliche music…Nothing new added to the movie. He’s great in another drama movies and animations, but star wars? I was sad with desplat, but john williams is really old. But Giacchino? Well…that’s only my musician opinian…
I don’t see an issue being different from Williams. I’m in fact HOPING we get something that feels different from Williams. These are, after all, anthology films, not episodes, so let ’em BE different creatures. I’m just not generally blown away with Giacchino. The fanfare from the new Trek is memorable, if a bit headache inducing, but he never seems to be able to execute anything interesting across a whole score.
completely agree. Will be a rush job and service the movie. That’s all it will be.
I like Rui Lopes and others, am very wary of this choice. Giacchino music style is not really in line with Williams. I was hoping they would have used the composer for Rebels to be honest as he blends his new music with Williams motifs VERY WELL. Giacchino doesn’t and won’t .. but if I see Vader and not here even a stylisitic remix of Imperial March my ears are not going to be happy.
Actually, Giacchino’s style is arguably the closest to Williams among notable composers today. And he has experience adapting the Star Wars music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv1M5Hd0Ito
Giacchino’s personal column John Williams in the past year. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/an-oscar-winning-composers-ode-846855
Good.