Composer Michael Giacchino Talks About Working On His New ‘Rogue One’ Score

giacchino

Composer Michael Giacchino, who is currently in the middle of scoring ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ takes time out to talk about what he’s most excited for fans to hear. Read on for more!

 

We’re just a few weeks away from the release of a brand new Star Wars movie, and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino says he’s been working overtime to complete one of the biggest jobs of his career.

 

In a recent chat with The Hollywood Reporter, the composer, who has scored several major blockbusters, including: Mission: Impossible III, Jurassic World and the recent Star Trek film spoke about the stress of scoring a Star Wars film, shared his thoughts on Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso character and revealed his biggest indirect musical teacher.

“It is a little stressful but it is a lot of fun,”

 

rogue-one-17

 

Giacchino who will become the first composer to work on a Star Wars movie other than the film series’ icon, John Williams, says that he even worked on his own birthday.

“I didn’t want to go to work that day, but I had to because our schedule was so tight,” said Giacchino. “So I go and sit down and turn on the screen to work and all of these Stormtroopers are running around and I thought to myself, ‘All right this is not a bad birthday.'”

 

Jyn

 

The composer also said he loves Felicity Jones’ character Jyn Erso and can’t wait the fans to hear her theme.

“I love the main character. I love Jyn and what they have done with her.”

 

JohnWilliams31

 

Giacchino mentioned that legendary composer John Williams’ indirect teachings has had a monumental impact on the development of his musical career.

“John and I have known each other for a while and he’s always been a great giver of wisdom” He said. “He is a great teacher, even when he is not directly teaching you. Growing up listening to him — he was one of my biggest indirect teachers. Working on this films I am constantly reminded that it was Star Wars that pushed me in this direction.”

 

Check back for more Star Wars: Rogue One news here at SWNN.

 

May the Force be with us!

 

 

+ posts

29 thoughts on “Composer Michael Giacchino Talks About Working On His New ‘Rogue One’ Score

  • October 25, 2016 at 4:35 am
    Permalink

    I can not wait until I hear this movie’s music.

    • October 25, 2016 at 2:14 pm
      Permalink

      Up vote 1,000 times

  • October 25, 2016 at 4:50 am
    Permalink

    Love his star trek scores, a worthy successor to Williams.

    • October 25, 2016 at 2:16 pm
      Permalink

      I remember watching LOST and wondering who wrote this amazing stuff! I love his scores.

      • October 25, 2016 at 4:52 pm
        Permalink

        Same with Fringe. I love what he did there as well, not to mention the Mission Impossible scores he did.

  • October 25, 2016 at 5:49 am
    Permalink

    Not even taking into account there’s a different person doing the music, I wonder how different the tunes and scores will be for this movie. I’m looking forward to see what this guy does, and if it’s on point he might just be the one who scores them going forward

  • October 25, 2016 at 5:51 am
    Permalink

    I still would have preferred Desplat, but I finally saw Star Trek Beyond, and the score had some pretty impressive moments.

    • October 26, 2016 at 6:55 pm
      Permalink

      Yes.

  • October 25, 2016 at 8:17 am
    Permalink

    I disagree. Hell, his score was always too simplicistic.

    • October 25, 2016 at 10:24 am
      Permalink

      You can’t whistle his music. They don’t have melody, it’s a problem I see in a lot of soundtracks, in recent times – not just Giacchino -. They don’t touch my heart.

      • October 25, 2016 at 2:14 pm
        Permalink

        I can hum his new Star Trek theme. I get your point, but he has shown remarkable sensitivity when writing for films with deeper emotional content than Star Trek. Watch the first 10 minutes of UP.

      • October 25, 2016 at 8:47 pm
        Permalink

        The stuff he wrote for Lost was extremely melodic and was stuck in my heads for ages. When he wants to write that kind of thing, he can.

    • October 25, 2016 at 2:09 pm
      Permalink

      I disagree.

      • October 25, 2016 at 3:55 pm
        Permalink

        mention a Michael Giacchino score with a complex and good arrangement. The Incredibles doesn’t count.

        • October 25, 2016 at 4:22 pm
          Permalink

          The work on all of the Pixar films that he has done are his best scores. I thought the score for Inside Out was great, especially the scene where Riley comes home after running away. His live action scores aren’t quite as good as his animated (although I did like the first Star Trek score), so I can see where some people could be worried about Rogue One.

          • October 25, 2016 at 8:42 pm
            Permalink

            that’s right. I admit that I liked Up and especially the big band Incredibles score, but somehow he lost that when he started scoring live action.

  • October 25, 2016 at 11:51 am
    Permalink

    You can have the best teachers of all time and still suck at what you’re doing. I’m not talking about Giacchino though, he’s pretty good! I’m just worried about which route he’s gonna take for this soundtrack. Is it going to be one of those old fashioned scores with leitmotifs and shit, or the overly blend and generic mixture movies come with nowadays, where you could very well swap soundtracks between 2 movies and it wouldn’t matter? I just hope it’s going to be memorable and have its own identity. This is the reason why I hate Hans Zimmer. It’s just the same theme playing over and over again, a bit louder each time. It’s so over-the-top that it becomes ridiculous. Music can have a lot of depth, music can say a lot, and the only thing his music says is “wow man, just look at this. so epic.” Well fuck you, Hans Zimmer! Wait, it seems I’m drifting away from the subject a bit. Go Giacchino!

    • October 25, 2016 at 5:01 pm
      Permalink

      Hans Zimmer’s music is brilliant.

      • October 25, 2016 at 5:13 pm
        Permalink

        The music itself, yes. The way the music is used in the movies, not so much.

        • October 25, 2016 at 11:47 pm
          Permalink

          Interstellar + Pipe Organ = Perfection.

          Enough said.

          • October 26, 2016 at 12:37 am
            Permalink

            This is a pretty unpopular opinion, but I didn’t think Interstellar was that great. While it wasn’t objectively a bad movie, far from it, there was something that ruined it all for me: it’s pretentious. I can’t quite put words on it, but it felt like Nolan was trying too hard to make a masterpiece. The style is far too oppressive for my tastes, and it lacks a certain levity. Every once in a while, I was totally pulled out of the experience because a certain line of dialogue was just too much, or because the scenery was trying to be so epic that it felt over-the-top and ridiculous. He wasn’t there, but it was like I could see Nolan sucking his own d*** throughout the whole movie.

            And here comes the less popular part of my unpopular opinion: the worst part was the music. Well, rather how it was used. Apart from the fact that it’s a total Philip Glass ripoff, this theme was far too overused. I swear every piece of the movie was just a variation of that same theme, and that it was the same thing basically playing a little louder each time. At some times, the music was so loud that you couldn’t even concentrate on what was happening. It contributed to the general “over-the-top” feeling and was a total deal breaker for me.

            Long story short, I prefer traditional film scoring à la John Williams. An elegant way of composing for a more civilized age.

          • October 26, 2016 at 6:57 am
            Permalink

            Everyone deserves their own opinion. But I think that movie was as close to perfect as it could be in every department. Especially the soundtrack. Except for some reason I will always, for lack of a better word, hate Anne Hathaway. And I can’t really think of exactly why.

            But of all things about that movie, nothing could have fit and been done more perfectly than the soundtrack. Especially for as abstract, fantastical, and yet firmly rooted in science. Lots and lots of science. A lot theoretical, but I mean cmon, they even created the first visual blueprints of what a wormhole would look like in real life, based on Kip Thornes data at least.

          • October 26, 2016 at 2:57 pm
            Permalink

            This is why I really enjoy posting and reading on SWNN and why I will always keep coming back! (SWNN keep up the good work) The really cool thing here is that we can all have different opinions and talk about what we enjoy and what we don’t. It is also helpful to be opened up to the different ideas that other people have. I learn a lot and also laugh a lot in these comment sections.

            I can see your point about Interstellar. Interestingly, I LOVE Philip Glass and that is part of the reason I liked what the score had to say and the overwhelming repetition. I think this score represents Neo-Minimalism at its best. (Side note what do you think of Clint Mansell’s Moon score?)

            The inclusion of the Organ in the soundtrack was particularly interesting to me. I immediately thought, “This is brilliant. A movie about the ‘future’ is using an instrument from the past.” The pipe organ in the music grounds us in “reality” while the story/visuals are very technological and futuristic and tough to understand.

            I can imagine Nolan in the editing bay with the editor. They are working on a particular scene that is not intense enough. For some reason the beats are just not right… hmmm… Nolan leans forward in his chair. It’s 2am. “What if we maxed out the volume on the score?” The editor rubs his temples. “Uh…um….sure. I guess we can try that…” BOOM

            I would certainly agree: Zimmer is NOT the best composer out there, but come on…Listen to the attached theme from Gladiator 🙂 this feel pretty civilized. Much more civilized than a blaster 🙂
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBE-uBgtINg

            Keep up the comments!

          • October 27, 2016 at 12:48 am
            Permalink

            Thanks! It is indeed nice when we can share our opinion with open-minded people.

            My point is not really that Hans Zimmer is a bad composer (that would be a bold thing to say), and Gladiator’s Theme is indeed beautiful (I like Pirates of the Caribbean’s theme a lot too). I’m just saying that IMO, he’s far too overrated.

            It may have something to do with Nolan’s directing style, but in the particular case of Interstellar (and Inception, to some extent), I find the score to be far too aggressive and… distracting. I do not feel like it is accompanying the action on the screen. I feel like the process was “okay, we need a score. Hell, if we’re going to put some music in there, let’s as well make it as epic as possible.”

            Yeah… considering visuals/action and music are one when it comes to cinema, that’s some pretty low-end storytelling if you ask me. It’s like that annoying person who speaks very loud because they think it’s going to make them sound smarter.

            As for Clint Mansell’s Moon score, I like it a lot.

      • October 25, 2016 at 8:44 pm
        Permalink

        Ugh, god no. Zimmer is horrible, unintentionally atonal and hard on the ears. And it always sounds the freaking same. Every Zimmer soundtrack is the same clanky, thumping, techie sounding crap like something a kid put together in some music software. Star Wars is a fantasy, a fairy tale. It needs to be big and sweeping and romantic and classical with the full power of an orchestra washing in like ocean waves. Hans Zimmer’s music is small and novelty-like. It’s none of what Star Wars needs.

        • October 25, 2016 at 9:02 pm
          Permalink

          Wow, that’s pretty extreme. You know, it’s possible to state that you don’t enjoy a composer’s music without resorting to extreme wording that is obviously exaggerated and overblown. And nobody suggested that Hans Zimmer’s music was a fit for Star Wars. I simply said it is brilliant (which it is).

        • October 26, 2016 at 6:46 am
          Permalink

          Agreed on hans zimmers newer movie scores but he will always own one of the best soundtracks ever in gladiator. “The battle” is probably one of my favorite pieces of soundtrack music, next to the Schindler’s list theme, and of course Star Wars.

          Hans Zimmer is still quite good. And is one of the best at coming up with a unique tone for each movie. I think you’ve just watched the batman trilogy too much maybe. What he did with interstellar was amazing. The way he came up with that soundtrack and use of a pipe organ was incredible.

  • October 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm
    Permalink

    Had the same worries about this brand-new attempt to musicalize a star wars movie, but after spending some time in the official RO site (with my pro monitoring headphones on), I think Giacchino will not disappoint.

  • October 26, 2016 at 6:56 pm
    Permalink

    Wait, what happened to Desplat?

Comments are closed.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET