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Has a Williams score ever been rejected?


Eric_JWFAN

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There are rumors that a couple scores were rejected in the fifties and sixties, but who's keeping track of that stuff?

I am...

The closest thing to a rejection I ever heard is The Swinger. Not even a Williams picture, as he was asked by André Previn to adapt his themes into this film. In the end, most of the music was thrown out, remaining, at the very least, the title song.

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Films JW rejected:

Heaven's Gate

Wolf

Meteor

Bicentennial Man

The Deep

The Sentinel

Quintet

Incho

Also, wasn't Jerry Goldsmith wanted to score Superman: The Movie?

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His score to The Color Purple went unused. Though he never actually finished composing the entire score, only about 35 minutes was even recorded before Quincy Jones pulled rank.

A shame, as some of that fiddle music is among Williams' most evocative.

He also replaced Wynton Marsalis as the composer for Rosewood, I believe.

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His score to The Color Purple went unused. Though he never actually finished composing the entire score, only about 35 minutes was even recorded before Quincy Jones pulled rank.

A shame, as some of that fiddle music is among Williams' most evocative.

It's okay. "The Shack" is a great cue, but the rest sounds like Williams' heart just wasn't in the material.

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JW has several times filled in when other composers were rejected though, right? Can't remember which films though.

Didn't the Harry Potter makers want James Horner originally, but he rejected them? Kind of amazing JW was a second choice...

Colin Thomson

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Yeah, Horner said he was tired of doing fantasy films.

I never knew JW actually composed music for The Color Purple, I always thought that was a joke cause I remember a thread awhile back about it and someone said he never did any music.

Wow, that's a run-on sentence.

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Yeah, Horner said he was tired of doing fantasy films.

I never knew JW actually composed music for The Color Purple, I always thought that was a joke cause I remember a thread awhile back about it and someone said he never did any music.

Wow, that's a run-on sentence.

It is a joke...

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I just remembered that there was a discussion on rejected scores a few months ago. Go here for all your Williams answers. Check the "supposedly rejected" section as well.

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On a related note, it's always amazed me how a composer of Goldsmith's calibar got rejected and replaced so many times.

And as far as Potter goes, I don't think Horner was ever formally asked, he was just on a short list. I'm sure Columbus wanted Williams from the start given their relationship.

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well,listening to The Flight of the Griffin, which is somewhat an alternate Buckbeaks Flight,I say Horner would be have been better than Doyle or Hooper for Potter

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Anyone know if the maestro has ever been given the "Thanks but we're going to go with someone else" on a major motion picture?

Anyone who'd say "No" to JW is deaf..... :)

And anyone who'd actually reject a completed Williams score post-1975 or so clearly has way too much money!

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I think of "rejected" scores as referring to ones that were already recorded, and I don't think that's ever happened to JW. But I do seem to recall him being announced as the composer for Donner's "Scrooged" when it was in production.

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Films JW rejected:

Heaven's Gate

Wolf

Meteor

Bicentennial Man

The Deep

The Sentinel

Quintet

Incho

Also, wasn't Jerry Goldsmith wanted to score Superman: The Movie?

He passed on Batman and Titanic

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The Rocking Chair is the best track of the Williams boot

It's good, but I prefer the thematic development of "Patty-Cake."

well,listening to The Flight of the Griffin, which is somewhat an alternate Buckbeaks Flight,I say Horner would be have been better than Doyle or Hooper for Potter

Your comments on that score helped me decide to purchase it, so it'd better be good. I figured if KM likes a modern non-Williams film score, it must be something special. :)

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I never said it was all good. 3 or 4 tracks near the end of the album are good.

The End Credits did give me score goosebumps in the cinema ,which is rare

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I never said it was all good. 3 or 4 tracks near the end of the album are good.

The End Credits did give me score goosebumps in the cinema ,which is rare

Yeah, I was considering it anyway. Your opinion just helped. :)

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