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New article: Williams "has so far written about 25 minutes of score in about a month" for The Rise of Skywalker


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8 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

There will be a concert suite. What as the last Williams score without a concert suite?

His previous one--The Post. 

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15 minutes ago, Tom said:

His previous one--The Post. 

 

There are concert extensions. Setting The Type is only a one minute cue in the score proper. But for the album he did an extended version more than doubling its length. You could call that a concert presentation.

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

 

The end-credits of Episode III are basically the overture of all the themes of "Episode IV."

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9 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

The end-credits of Episode III are basically the overture of all the themes of "Episode IV."

 

Which looks a little silly in hindsight. Imagine a credits suite with all the themes from ROTS given a rousing send-off. Can't blame him though, that was a crazy busy year for Williams. 

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Gotta disagree with you there. Even at the time that seemed like a missed opportunity. A series of note-for-note reprisals of existing music (literally 12 minutes of that 13 minute track -- nearly 20% of the entire OST runtime) at a time when Williams was firing on all cylinders.

 

It's a great recording and nice to have but reminds me of Mischief Managed. Using up valuable album space on music already released while coveted highlights from the original score are left unreleased (or frustratingly edited out, like the infamous Mustafar fanfare). 

 

I'll be disappointed if he pulls this same trick with TROS, when there's such a rich array of new themes at his disposal in the sequel trilogy (with several new ones surely to come). 

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I don't think he'll pull of quite the same thing, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear the Throne Room Theme in the finale of the picture or in the end credits, is all.

 

Its not a bad idea, either. Its certainly better than Binary Sunset again!

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Technically it would still be ending the film with yet another rendition of the force theme, but I know what you mean.  Anything even slightly different from the last 3 would be very welcome.

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17 minutes ago, crumbs said:

If nothing else, wouldn't you want a tonal change for the ending of a trilogy of trilogies, something more celebratory and upbeat than melancholic?

 

A perfect opportunity to reinstate the Ewok Celebration!

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I've been thinking... According to the interview, it took place just after the Hedwig's Theme recording session with Anne-Sophie Mutter's, and that was about a month ago. So, we can safely assume that Williams has already written about 50 minutes of music to TROS! :)

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I think he watched a few reels rather than a whole rough cut. To have come up with rough cut within a month would be astonishing.

 

As for mapping out all the new themes: I don't know that Williams works quite like that. I'm sure he maps out the main theme or two (which he shows to the filmmakers on a piano) but in terms of the more anchiliary leitmotives, those probably emerge organically as he's writing the entire score.

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On 5/12/2019 at 2:48 AM, King Mark said:

I'm puzzled why  he keeps saying he doesn't like movies yet has scored them for decades and is always  thrilled to see the rough cut of whatever he's scoring

 

He's not actually quoted as saying he doesn't like movies - that's the writer's line, not his. What he said is that he's not an "avid" moviegoer, and that he doesn't go to the movies.


Then again, why would he? They come to him. Any movie he'd probably want to see over the last 40+ years is a movie he's worked on. And considering how much he works, when would he have time to be an avid moviegoer anyway? 

He likes movies, obviously. He just doesn't need to go out and see them. He's too busy making them better.

Re: The Revenge of the Sith end credits - I don't know that I thought it was lazy, but I definitely thought it was a victory lap. They all took Lucas at his word that this was THE END and so he added Battle of the Heroes to the Throne Room/Finale concert suite he wrote (and Gerhardt was first to record, IIRC?) and the LSO put their all into it. It felt appropriate as a John Williams goodbye to Star Wars (dodgy transitions and all - Star Wars was always, despite its creators best efforts, sort of charmingly janky) and I think it's probably best—if you're going to make assumptions—to assume a similar approach here. This is absolutely goodbye, not just to Star Wars, but maybe to film scoring. If his first instinct back in 2005 was to take the victory lap, it's probably a safe bet that he'll do it again. What big, oft-heard, iconic themes/motifs will he return to? What pieces will end up representing the biggest, strongest, musical ideas of what "Star Wars" is? Those are probably the ones he'll revisit. 

I'm hoping to hear some Yub-Yub, myself.

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Well yeah it's an assumption, but I don't think it's a particularly big one, especially with hindsight. The part about his possibly leaving film scoring altogether is a maybe, not an assumption, but it's a maybe to consider, especially since, as you put it at the end of your own post, he's at a very certain age. 

But he's been given the job to "end" Star Wars musically THREE times now. The first time on Return of the Jedi, the second time on Revenge of the Sith, and now. The major difference with this assignment is the age/time as we've both pointed out, and also the context. Everything about this movie is going to be sold as "THE END" much like Sith was - except that end was leading into another movie's beginning. This end is, as everyone involved is making very aware, THE END. He's being asked to put the period on that sentence that began "A long time ago..." back in 1977. I think if you're going to make an assumption as to what that end credits will sound like, an assumption that sounds more like the Revenge of the Sith end titles on the soundtrack is a safe one to make. 

Of course, any assumption helps allow for surprise when expectations are subverted, too. And I'm more than open to that. 

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The TLJ end credits ended up being a really good representation of that film's story, didn't it? 

Luke's theme
Luke's Island theme
Leia's theme

Force Theme

Rey's Theme
Yoda's theme
Rose's theme

Holdo's theme

The Resistance theme

The Rebel Fanfare

TIE Fighter Attack

Kylo Ren is probably the only major character who doesn't get any real representation in that closing. Yoda's probably over-represented, but the piece is so good and the movie gives Williams the excuse to indulge it, much like Leia only shows up for all of 10 seconds in Revenge of the Sith and that's enough for its end credits to lead directly to her concert suite at the top before Battle of the Heroes comes in.

I think if Williams and Abrams have discussed what this score is supposed to sound like, I'd imagine he's been filled in on what characters are showing up, and considering the nature of this ending, if Abrams goes full crowd-pleaser on this (which is very much in his wheelhouse) you might end up with appearances from a whole bunch of characters, old and new, at which point their presence in the end titles becomes a big possibility, and you could end up with a Williams "victory" lap that is essentially a medley of most big Star Wars motifs ending with, yeah - an existing reprise of Luke's Theme, since it's the one that started it all. 

Either way, we don't have long to wait, do we? 
 

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4 hours ago, Chen G. said:

I think he watched a few reels rather than a whole rough cut. To have come up with rough cut within a month would be astonishing.

 

It's possible they had a very very rough cut by March.  I think it's likely they started compiling the footage while filming was still in progress.  They don't have much time to waste for this one.  They did show footage to shareholders in early March but I'm not sure if whole scenes were shown or just random segments or shots.  Maybe Williams saw that footage as well?

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I believe on Force Awakens Abrams had editors cutting sequences together as they came in? Partially because he likes working that way, and partially because the schedule on that film was compressed enough that they sorta had to in order to ensure it came in on time. It's probably the same thing in this case. 

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1 hour ago, Ludwig said:

So Williams now goes for walks outdoors to solve compositional problems? That's exactly how Beethoven used to work. And Williams is reading the Beethoven symphonies for pleasure. Hmm... Clearly, he's channeling his inner Beethoven for TROS! :P

 

(Btw, would absolutely love to hear a concert orchestral work from Williams whose musical architecture is influenced by Beethoven. Maybe something akin to a Shostakovich symphony. Williams loves 20th-century Russian music anyway!)

 

Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - John Williams' 9th Symphony.

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16 hours ago, Larry O said:


Re: The Revenge of the Sith end credits - I don't know that I thought it was lazy, but I definitely thought it was a victory lap

 

Williams cheering alongside Lucas and McCallum:

 

 

T9yuvn (1).gif

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It's amusing how such a short paragraph of information (collected by a journalist from a large newspaper) is now being used by all film websites as the basis of click-bait articles, as if they all got some kind of inside scoop. Here's "journalism" in the internet era for you. Oh well.

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If Williams wants to create a celebratory musical ending to the saga then instead of integrating that into the TROS end credits, I would suggest he create a separate 10-minute concert version featuring the primary themes from the saga.  I would be very disappointed if the TROS end credits end up like the ROTS end credits.

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I can't believe there's a thread with 88 (now 89) replies about JW having written 25 minutes of music. Will we have similar threads when he's written 30, 45, 60 etc. minutes too?

 

"Composing the STAR WARS score -- minute by minute". Would have been a cool idea for us Norwegians and our love for 'slow TV' formats.

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On 5/12/2019 at 4:54 AM, Alex said:

Here’s your damn full article ya cheapskates! 

 

D1C434CA-CBDB-4AC7-BCB8-FFA6A1B3A545.png

 

Cheers for this! Fantastic article with some honesty and reflection I haven't heard from the maestro in some time. Truly humbling to hear how he sees himself and his work. What a class act.

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It's a thread about the entire article, which reveals lots of different information, the 25 minute figure is literally just one casual mention in one sentence. 

 

Pay attention, Thor! 

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22 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - John Williams' 9th Symphony.

I'd laugh if instead of the Force theme or the Throne Room as a finale, Williams just pulls a fast one on all of JW Fan and has Chewie sing the Ode to Joy.

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17 hours ago, Balahkay said:

I would suggest he create a separate 10-minute concert version featuring the primary themes from the saga

 

I like this idea a lot, but for some reason it just doesn't seem like something Williams would do.

 

Maybe a recap of the sequel trilogy. But of all nine films? I just can't see how something like it could come together: Will we suddenly hear the Separatist Motif in the credits? I don't think so.

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