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J.J. Abrams on working with John Williams


Lewya

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Was there doubt there would be new themes?

Of course not. Hence the winky smiley face I used.

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A great little snippet from Abrams. Thanks for sharing this Lewya! :)

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Abrams said... new themes co-existing with many of the old ones... Interesting.. assuming Abrams is familiar with all the OT themes, which I'm sure he is. It's no surprise we'll hear some familiar themes, but I wonder exactly how many old themes we'll hear... Force theme, Luke theme, Leia theme, Han Solo/Love theme, Luke and Leia theme, Vader theme?, Emperor theme?, Droids motif?, Rebel Fanfare?, Yoda theme? I'm assuming when Abrams refers to the "old ones" he means the OT... although, the TPM is starting to get old.

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I don't think there's any question about: Force theme, Luke theme, and Leia theme. Odds are very strong for the Vader theme, since we'll apparently see his mask. I could see them squeezing in some Han Solo and the Princess, and an iteration of the rebel fanfare.

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For SURE will be in the new film:
-Luke's Theme (for the Main Title at a minimum, probably also for when Luke shows up)
-The Force Theme

PROBABLY will be in the new film
-Leia's Theme (for when she shows up)
-Han Solo and the Princess (for when he shows up)
-Luke and Leia (if they have a scene together, or for some dialogue about them or the Skywalker family)
-The Imperial March (probably only a quiet setting for the scenes with his mask - I hope it isn't used as a theme for the First Order)

COULD be in the new film
-Rebel Fanfare (hopefully some kind of cameo, don't want it to be the theme for The Resistance)
-Droid Motif (I doubt JW remembers writing it, or that JJ would ask for it)
-Yoda's Theme (if he's referenced in some way... probably not needed)
-Victory Fanfare (from Return of the Jedi... unlikely)
-Duel of the Fates (just because its so iconic... but I hope it isn't used, as much as I love it.)

I just cannot imagine will be in the new film
-Ewok theme
-Cloud City motif
-Anakin's Theme
-Trade Federation March
-Separatist's motif
-Battle of the Heroes

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I certainly wouldn't mind hearing the Luke and Leia theme. It seems we'll probably get a lot of themes with the return of the old characters and the introduction of new characters and worlds. It may sound overwhelming, but, like Abrams said, it's work only Williams could do, which is one reason why I hope Williams continues with the following episodes.

I hope DOTF doesn't make it, either. I love the music in the PT, but I hope the score is more in vein with the OT, which it sounds like it will be but still moving forward. Abrams seems to want to go back to the roots of the franchise. In other words, minimal PT and SE references.

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PROBABLY will be in the new film

-Han Solo and the Princess (for when he shows up)

No! Williams has completely forgotten the existence of this theme

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PROBABLY will be in the new film

-Han Solo and the Princess (for when he shows up)

No! Williams has completely forgotten the existence of this theme

Didn't he only say he doesn't remember writing a concert suite for it?

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PROBABLY will be in the new film

-Han Solo and the Princess (for when he shows up)

No! Williams has completely forgotten the existence of this theme

Didn't he only say he doesn't remember writing a concert suite for it?

He didn;t say that. He just never, ever re-performed it in concert or used bits of TESB in which it is featured

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For SURE will be in the new film:

-Luke's Theme (for the Main Title at a minimum, probably also for when Luke shows up)

Or the B section used for Han like in Empire ;)

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Tell me about what it was like working on the new film both as its writer-director and as a hard-core Star Wars fan going back to your childhood.

Maybe the weirdest moment, which came months after production, was the first time I sat down with John Williams to show him about a half an hour of the movie. I can’t describe the feeling. All I will say is, just to state the facts of it: I am about to show John Williams 30 minutes of a Star Wars movie that he has not seen [and] that I directed. That’s probably as surreal as it gets in my professional life experience.

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He basically said everything we already assumed. Working with Williams was his greatest honor and the score will incorporate existing and new themes.

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He basically said everything we already assumed. Working with Williams was his greatest honor and the score will incorporate existing and new themes.

Yes. Succintly just that. Working with John Williams is a surreal experience apparently.

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Abrams on working with John Williams: "

Maybe the weirdest moment, which came months after production, was the first time I sat down with John Williams to show him about a half an hour of the movie. I cant describe the feeling. All I will say is, just to state the facts of it: I am about to show John Williams 30 minutes of a Star Wars movie that he has not seen that I directed."

Cool!

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Abrams on working with John Williams: "

Maybe the weirdest moment, which came months after production, was the first time I sat down with John Williams to show him about a half an hour of the movie. I cant describe the feeling. All I will say is, just to state the facts of it: I am about to show John Williams 30 minutes of a Star Wars movie that he has not seen that I directed."

Cool!

That quote was already posted and we all discussed it here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25318&p=1123438

And then again here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22802&p=1123667

Which incidentally is a mere 4 posts before yours in this very thread.

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Thought I'd just put the full quote here:

Maybe the weirdest moment, which came months after production, was the first time I sat down with John Williams to show him about a half an hour of the movie. I can’t describe the feeling. All I will say is, just to state the facts of it: I am about to show John Williams 30 minutes of a Star Wars movie that he has not seen that I directed.

I mean, none of what I just said to you was ever going to happen in any form. John Williams—he was the DVD or Blu-ray of my childhood because we didn’t, of course, have VHS tapes of movies to watch when we wanted to. So I would buy John Williams soundtracks, often for movies I had not seen yet, and I would lie on the floor in my room with my headphones on listening to the soundtracks which would essentially tell me the story of the movie that I didn’t know. And I’d look at the photographs on the back of the album and I tried to read what I could about the movie—but really, I would just listen to these soundtracks. So it was an amazing thing to get to know him. But the weirdest thing was the idea that I was showing him scenes from a Star Wars movie he hadn’t seen yet. And the fact that they were scenes that I directed—that’s probably as surreal as it gets in my professional life experience."

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/05/jj-abrams-star-wars-extended-interview

Awesome, thanks for that. The full quote is really great.

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Thought I'd just put the full quote here:

"So I would buy John Williams soundtracks, often for movies I had not seen yet, and I would lie on the floor in my room with my headphones on listening to the soundtracks which would essentially tell me the story of the movie that I didn’t know. And I’d look at the photographs on the back of the album and I tried to read what I could about the movie—but really, I would just listen to these soundtracks. "

I can definitely relate to that.

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Because I can relate to listening to John Willaims CDs for films I had never heard of and imaging a story in my head, it means his Episode 7 film will be good?

What are you talking about?

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