The Rise of Skywalker Mike Matessino: Williams begins work on Episode 9 "this summer"

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Mike Matessino updates us on John's social life, also Episode IX:

 

Quote

John's doing just fine. He went to Ginny Mancini's Twelfth Night party last week. Just a few people there... Norman Lear, Quincy Jones, Leslie Bricusse... I don't think he's working on Ep. 9 until the summer; the schedule is still being worked out.

 

Does June seem a little late for John to start writing this score, considering the timelines for the last two sequels, the December release, and the score's likely runtime?

 

Maybe this is his way of reducing the plethora of rewrites TFA undertook, waiting until the film is properly assembled (sans VFX) rather than writing reel by reel.

[Alex 2,833]

He should be writing trailer music for Episode IX, not partying with Quincy Jones!

[Remco 685]

3 hours ago, crumbs said:

Mike Matessino updates us on John's social life, also Episode IX:

 

 

Does June seem a little late for John to start writing this score, considering the timelines for the last two sequels, the December release, and the score's likely runtime?

 

Maybe this is his way of reducing the plethora of rewrites TFA undertook, waiting until the film is properly assembled (sans VFX) rather than writing reel by reel.

 

Good to hear. Little strange about the schedule though - I'd assume he'd be starting around march as soon as they assemble a rough cut, like he did with TLJ. Wouldn't that be much more comfortable for him? He has stated he doesn't like to compose 10 hours a day anymore.

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It seems tight to me, based purely on the 'luxurious' timelines of TFA and TLJ.

 

Makes me wonder if the film's had an unannounced delay until next May. I know VFX houses start working on these movies months before the cameras even roll but it's hard to believe they're still shooting (through until late February apparently) and it's releasing in 11 months.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

They need more time for JW's cameo.

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They need an extra 4 months just to shoot his cameo (a gigantic space opera symphony sequence, in which Williams conducts an orchestra of CGI gungans), hence he cannot start writing the score until June.

 

...or maybe he's decided to write the entire score before recording, as with the first six films, so the LSO can fly over and perform the entire score in LA over a week...?

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

He always writes the score before recording it. It's called causality.

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You know what I mean! 😏

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

[Giftheck 916]

I just read the Facebook post... so the illness which stopped him conducting in London last October has taken this long to recover from? Sounds far more serious than jet lag...

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

JW's on Facebook?

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8 minutes ago, Gistech said:

I just read the Facebook post... so the illness which stopped him conducting in London last October has taken this long to recover from? Sounds far more serious than jet lag...

 

What Facebook post?

[Giftheck 916]

2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

JW's on Facebook?

 

It's funny you should mention that... a couple of days back, I saw somebody named John Williams commenting on a LLL posting on Facebook 😂

[Score 770]

35 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

He always writes the score before recording it. It's called causality.

 

"Hey orchestra, I didn't bother to write stuff down this time, I thought we should just close the saga with a collective improvisation. We now go through the movie, and you guys just improvise whatever you want on Rey's theme when you see Rey on the screen, and on any other leitmotiv when you don't see her. We record in one take, and then Bill will transcribe by ear the final result just to have a written document".  

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2 minutes ago, Gistech said:

 

It's funny you should mention that... a couple of days back, I saw somebody named John Williams commenting on a LLL posting on Facebook 😂

 

Yeah, saw that too. Was rather amused.

 

But anyway, what Facebook post are you referring to? Mike has stated several times now on FSM that John's perfectly fine and was fully recovered a few weeks after the London scare. I highly doubt he'd be socializing at a party with other musicians if he was unwell.

[Giftheck 916]

2 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

Yeah, saw that too. Was rather amused.

 

But anyway, what Facebook post are you referring to? Mike has stated several times now on FSM that John's perfectly fine and was fully recovered a few weeks after the London scare. I highly doubt he'd be socializing at a party with other musicians if he was unwell.

 

The most recent post on the JWFan Facebook page. The headline implies he's just finished fully recovering from it.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

I think you're reading something into this that's not there - he's "fully recovered", not "just fully recovered".

[Giftheck 916]

Maybe. I'm probably not the only one though.

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17 minutes ago, Gistech said:

The most recent post on the JWFan Facebook page. The headline implies he's just finished fully recovering from it.

 

I think you're reading a bit too much into the choice of words; I believe he's been recovered for a few months. Mike gave an update in early November from memory.

 

Williams has seemed very private over the last year though, I'll give you that. He only gave one short interview for The Last Jedi (which barely touched on the score at all), he didn't really discuss his work on Solo, and then just had his regular concerts throughout the year. I don't know if he bothered showing up to the Oscars; being snubbed every year must be pretty damn stale after a quarter of a century.

 

Looking forward to seeing him up and about conducting in May, hopefully.

[Jay 37,287]

7 hours ago, crumbs said:

Does June seem a little late for John to start writing this score, considering the timelines for the last two sequels, the December release, and the score's likely runtime?

 

They are still filming the movie over in England as we speak, a rough cut might not even be ready for him to see until then

[SteveMc 2,674]

I hope John won't have to rush the score.  But who am I to talk, I do my best work under the pressure of a deadline.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

We all know JW's too lazy to start writing the music until there's only three weeks until the recording sessions... oh, wait, that's Desplat!

[mrbellamy 6,272]

2 hours ago, crumbs said:

I don't know if he bothered showing up to the Oscars; being snubbed every year must be pretty damn stale after a quarter of a century.

 

He was there, they showed him after Kobe finished his speech.

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He shows up year after year.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

19 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

I hope John won't have to rush the score.  But who am I to talk, I do my best work under the pressure of a deadline.

That's alright. Jerry Goldsmith wrote CHINATOWN in under ten days. Result: a genuine, paid-up, Premiere League, bona fide "fuckin' A" classic of a score.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

I can't remember a note of that score, but I do remember the rests.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

40 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

He shows up year after year.

 

He’s probably at least vaguely aware who’s expected to win. Geisha was the last time he was really in the running at all, maybe War Horse and Lincoln to a lesser extent.

 

I imagine he goes to be polite and it’s a nice excuse to dress up and go out with his wife or daughter. Lots of old friends in that room. I wonder if he ever goes to the afterparties, baby probably tore up the dance floor in the 70s.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

1 hour ago, Richard said:

That's alright. Jerry Goldsmith wrote CHINATOWN in under ten days. Result: a genuine, paid-up, Premiere League, bona fide "fuckin' A" classic of a score.

 

Though remember it is a very small score. It is what - like 30 minutes of music. And built around a single primary theme. It is absolutely a classic though.

[Ricard 2,242]

6 hours ago, Gistech said:

 

The most recent post on the JWFan Facebook page. The headline implies he's just finished fully recovering from it.

 

 

The headline only implies that Williams is 100 percent recovered, with him attending social events and ready for his final Star Wars project. Sure, he may have been fully recovered for weeks, but many people were still wondering about his health, and this news tidbit is the confirmation they were expecting.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its good news. Though i never doubted it.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

7 hours ago, Gistech said:

I just read the Facebook post... so the illness which stopped him conducting in London last October has taken this long to recover from? Sounds far more serious than jet lag...

 

He's reported as being fully recovered *now* because he *is* fully recovered and this is the first time we've had news from him in weeks.

9 hours ago, Remco said:

Good to hear. Little strange about the schedule though - I'd assume he'd be starting around march as soon as they assemble a rough cut, like he did with TLJ. Wouldn't that be much more comfortable for him? He has stated he doesn't like to compose 10 hours a day anymore.

 

In an attempt to revivify the sound of the franchise before handing it over to the next generation, Williams is going to step away from the wall to wall score approach and only write 23 minutes of music for the film.

[Balahkay 627]

Does this mean IX will be pushed back to 2020? It seems unlikely Williams will be able to write and record a 2 hour+ score in a few months. 

 

It seems every aspect of this film is behind schedule for a December release.

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That's my theory, yeah. 

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

A Williams score in the 2020s. I like the sound of that. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

A summer release?  Gross!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

2 hours ago, Balahkay said:

Does this mean IX will be pushed back to 2020? It seems unlikely Williams will be able to write and record a 2 hour+ score in a few months. 

 

It seems every aspect of this film is behind schedule for a December release.

 

Are you kidding? TESB was written in a few weeks. A few months for a score is actually very generous, scheduling wise.

 

Also, considering what happened to Solo its extremely unlikely they will push Ep 9 to spring or summer. 

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3 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

A Williams score in the 2020s. I like the sound of that. 

 

2.5 years without a new Williams score! Yes! 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

John Williams can write and record 3 hours of Star Wars music in six months. 

 

JJ’s gonna lose some time from what he had on TFA but that was abnormal and hardly the minimum to get a good looking/sounding movie. He’s probably gonna wish he had a few more weeks to mess around with it but whatever, they’ll get it done. 

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

John Williams can write and record 3 hours of Star Wars music in six months. 

 

True, just seems rather abnormal when you consider the 'luxurious' timelines he was afforded/negotiated for TFA/TLJ. 

 

Perhaps the time crunch just doesn't allow him to see anything complete enough to score until halfway through the year. And JJ doesn't want to rush a cut just so JW can start writing for an incomplete movie again? Maybe Abrams actually feels bad about all the TFA rewrites and wants to avoid a repeat.

 

Or maybe Williams himself asked for a more complete movie to start scoring this time around.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

It's probable that he'll start looking at the rushes, once the footage is back in the USA-probably March/April time, at which point he'll start to map-out sketches. He will look at a rough-cut in May, spot in June, compose July-August and conduct in September.

Bish, bash, bosh; sorted. 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

36 minutes ago, crumbs said:

True, just seems rather abnormal when you consider the 'luxurious' timelines he was afforded/negotiated for TFA/TLJ. 

 

Perhaps the time crunch just doesn't allow him to see anything complete enough to score until halfway through the year. And JJ doesn't want to rush a cut just so JW can start writing for an incomplete movie again? Maybe Abrams actually feels bad about all the TFA rewrites and wants to avoid a repeat.

 

Or maybe Williams himself asked for a more complete movie to start scoring this time around.

 

The main thing is that Williams will probably have to write more often with IX than I’m guessing he did for TFA and TLJ, where I think the longer schedules must have afforded him plenty of time off. I feel like the luxury of the schedules would be that he had extra time to not write, or to work on other things. 

 

Didn’t he do BFG in just a few months like always? He knows the drill. He’s already cutting conducting dates this year, which may or may not be related. If he really wants to do it, he’ll do it. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

JW won't need that much time for the score to Ep. IX, as it will be a medley of themes from all eight previous films.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

I mean that’s not even really a joke lol. Not an unsubstantial amount of this score is already written exactly or almost exactly as we’ll hear it. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

He just needs to add drum loops to everything.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Main title, right off the bat, boom, couple days off right there! He can start on a Wednesday!

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Idiots

 

[DrTenma 116]

I think he has time, but also Matessino said that "he thinks" Williams won't be working of Episode IX until Summer.

[Bespin 8,478]

Cool, I'm also confirmed for Episode IX! 

 

But it will be my last Star Wars, I swear.

[Chen G. 3,943]

10 hours ago, Balahkay said:

It seems unlikely Williams will be able to write and record a 2 hour+ score in a few months. 

 

It seems every aspect of this film is behind schedule for a December release.

 

I have complete faith in Williams. Its the actual film that I'm worried about, if its that far behind schedule.

 

And of course, when a movie sucks, it drags the score down with it.

[Arpy 4,145]

8 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

And of course, when a movie sucks, it drags the score down with it.

Such as?