Thomas Newman - Star Wars: Starfighter (2027)

[rpvee 1,095]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8USkFF4/

 

Shawn Levy sat down with Kevin McCarthy (one of the best film journalists/interviewers who recently started his own podcast), and revealed that Thomas Newman will be doing the score for Star Wars: Straighter! In the interview clip above where the news is dropped, Levy makes clear that he wants the score to follow Williams' lead on having distinctive themes, but with its own musical identity that's classically inspired, but without being remixes of Williams cues:

 

Quote

 

"The guy [Newman] is a maestro, and I was thinking about this movie and what I need the music to be, because it wants to be sort of classically inspired. But no, it’s not gonna be remixes of Williams cues. It may be inspired by some of that, but I knew that I needed a big hearted movie score from a composer who, like John Williams, doesn’t shy away from themes. In other words, you know, every movie should have a musical theme... I think every movie needs it.

 

What John Williams sort of embraces is that a movie can have multiple themes. He speaks of this - there was Leia's Theme. There was the Force Theme, known as Binary Sunset. There’s the Imperial March. So, not shying away from myriad musical signatures that help tell the narrative alongside, and in addition to, the words and the images. And so, I called up Tom Newman... and I said, "hey, it’s Sean Levi. Would you ever consider..". and he said, "send me the script and describe your vision". And I did both those things, and it was yes. I am so stoked."

 

 

[Jay 46,346]

Huh, didn't see that coming

[tomsmoviemadness 4,851]

Seriously, me neither.

 

But I'm very excited to hear what Newman will do. Newman doing an orchestral action score is going to be fantastic. Really hoping it is anyway.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,430]

Interesting choice!

[Rachael Foley 10,174]

Wasn't there a rumor that Newman worked/orchestrated on ROTJ?

[Manakin Skywalker 5,941]

Oh wow, I'm very relieved to hear it's not Zimmer! 

 

Nice that he'll be going full circle, with ROTJ being his first ever job.

 

1 minute ago, The Score Cleaner said:

Wasn't there a rumor that Newman worked/orchestrated on ROTJ?

 

Yes he did! He orchestrated "Vadar's Death", which according to him was his first gig in the industry.

[Stark 1,028]

...huh... not sure what to expect here. Has Newman ever written a full big orchestral score? (Discounting individual cues like Shawshank)

[Jurassic Shark 16,446]

Great that the director chose a composer close to JW.

[a good little monkey 75]

Wow! A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Haven't been in love with a Newman score in a little while, but if there's any project that has the potential to impress it's a STAR WARS score.

 

8 minutes ago, Stark said:

...huh... not sure what to expect here. Has Newman ever written a full big orchestral score? (Discounting individual cues like Shawshank)

 

I think his most traditional orchestral score is probably THE GOOD GERMAN, but somehow I doubt he'll go full Korngold this time.

[Not Mr. Big 5,011]

A really fantastic left field choice.  Can't wait to see how SW fits into Thomas Newman's sound and vice versa 

[Jurassic Shark 16,446]

I predict JW will insist on doing a suite of new themes for Newman to adapt, like he did for Powell.

[GerateWohl 6,503]

22 minutes ago, Stark said:

...huh... not sure what to expect here. Has Newman ever written a full big orchestral score? (Discounting individual cues like Shawshank)

The Good German might come close. But as this will be rather an action adventure I am afraid we might see something like he did to Bond.

[Jay 46,346]

BTW @rpvee, the film comes out in 2027, not 2026.  2026 is Mandalorian & Grogu

[Erik Woods 841]

Thomas Newman wrote a couple of big meaty orchestral action cues for THE GREAT OUTDOORS back in the day!

 

 

-Erik-

[Edmilson 12,393]

This came out of nowhere! I really can't imagine a Thomas Newman Star Wars score, like, it's two completely different worlds!

[Rachael Foley 10,174]

2 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

This came out of nowhere! I really can't imagine a Thomas Newman Star Wars score, like, it's two completely different worlds!

Which is funny, since ROTJ was his first gig (see above)

[Jay 46,346]

Could anyone have imagined a Thomas Newman James Bond score before we got two of them?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,430]

I couldn't image a Thomas Newman Bond score till we got just that.

1 minute ago, Jay said:

Could anyone have imagined a Thomas Newman James Bond score before we got two of them?

 

Damn, you beat me by seconds

[Erik Woods 841]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

Could anyone have imagined a Thomas Newman James Bond score before we got two of them?

Exactly, I mean, could anyone imagine a Howard Shore The Lord of the Rings score before... well... yeah.

 

-Erik-

[crocodile 9,746]

Intriguing. 

 

Karol

[Rachael Foley 10,174]

Could anyone imagine a Cliff Eidelman Star Trek score before VI?

[Mr. Hooper 9,004]

5 minutes ago, The Score Cleaner said:

Could anyone imagine a Cliff Eidelman Star Trek score before VI?

Did anyone know who Eidelman was before he burst onto the scene with Star Trek VI? 

[Smaug The Iron 784]

20 minutes ago, Jay said:

BTW @rpvee, the film comes out in 2027, not 2026.  2026 is Mandalorian & Grogu - which incidentally doesn't have an announced composer yet

Ludwig Göransson was confirmed two months ago. 

 

[Mr. Hooper 9,004]

1 minute ago, Smaug The Iron said:

Ludwig Göransson was confirmed two months ago. 

 

A no-brainer. And I'm sure a big payday for Göransson.

[Jay 46,346]

32 minutes ago, Smaug The Iron said:

Ludwig Göransson was confirmed two months ago. 

 

I completely forgot about that!  Thanks for reminding me!

[Matt C 605]

I’m disappointed it’s not Rob Simonsen. Newman’s 007 entries were ok at best, so I’m wary about his entry into the SW franchise.

[rpvee 1,095]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

BTW @rpvee, the film comes out in 2027, not 2026.  2026 is Mandalorian & Grogu

Whoops, got mixed up. Can you change the thread title?

[Jay 46,346]

You can!  Just hit "Edit" on your main post

[artguy360 2,229]

Exciting news. He did good work for an action franchise with his Bond scores. I think Newman is gonna knock it out of the park.

[A. A. Ron 2,485]

 

5 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

The Good German might come close. But as this will be rather an action adventure I am afraid we might see something like he did to Bond.

 

Well I for one like his Bond scores and also his space related scores like WALL-E, so I say bring it on.

[Datameister 2,586]

Huh, interesting. David would have been the more obvious choice for a Star Wars score. I'm curious to see how Thomas's sound works in this context.

[pete 1,330]

7 hours ago, rpvee said:

And so, I called up Tom Newman... and I said, "hey, it’s Sean Levi. Would you ever consider..". and he said, "send me the script and describe your vision".

 

I would have said yes straight away!

[Quppa 667]

Quote

a composer who, like John Williams, doesn’t shy away from themes

 

Do you think Shawn Levy has actually listened to any of Thomas Newman's output from the past 15 years? Lots of interesting textures, but not much in the way of leitmotifs. Don't get me wrong - I'm really excited for this, but I'm curious what kind of score we'll get.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,941]

16 minutes ago, Quppa said:

Do you think Shawn Levy has actually listened to any of Thomas Newman's output from the past 15 years? Lots of interesting textures, but not much in the way of leitmotifs. Don't get me wrong - I'm really excited for this, but I'm curious what kind of score we'll get.

 

I have to wonder if this is more directors and/or studio heads wanting blander scores too, since that seems to be the overall trend in Hollywood these days. Too much studio interference and temp scoring, not enough creativity.

[Stark 1,028]

A more accurate complaint in the later 2010's, scores have rebounded a lot when it comes to melody in the last few years.

[GerateWohl 6,503]

At least we know, Newman is not a pastiche composer. A household name like him will put his signature footprint on this. Probably it will sound something like 1917.

I must admit, I am not too excited. 

[Rachael Foley 10,174]

7 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Probably it will sound something like 2027.

 

Fixed.

[Quppa 667]

I'm not sure 1917 is a good example - Sam Mendes rejected some of Newman's first attempt at that score and we ended up with something that sounded like it was heavily influenced by a Thin Red Line temp track and now the Mendes/Newman partnership appears to be over (at least we got The Night Window).

[GerateWohl 6,503]

At least over most of the time I expect these typical moody meandering electronic textures. 

[Maurizio 6,914]

14 hours ago, The Score Cleaner said:

Wasn't there a rumor that Newman worked/orchestrated on ROTJ?

 

Not a rumor, but an actual fact: He was assigned by his uncle Lionel to orchestrate a few cues (including the Darth Vader's death scene as mentioned above). He described the experience as a "bone toss task," albeit a very nice one.

 

14 hours ago, Stark said:

...huh... not sure what to expect here. Has Newman ever written a full big orchestral score? (Discounting individual cues like Shawshank)

 

I think Little Women is perhaps Newman's most traditionally sounding score akin to a JW's neoclassical style (just listen to the main title). He is definitely capable to write a fully orchestral score, but I think he will make it his own way and not resort to a JW pastiche à la Gordy Haab/Joel McNeely.

[Richard P 5,314]

He's demonstrated plenty of full orchestral chops - I'd add parts of The Horse Whisperer, the more uplifting bits of Shawshank, and plenty more isolated bits.

 

His weakness is action - that's not to say he'd fail to deliver if asked for a proper, symphonic action cue, but he's very rarely demonstrated it. The action in his Bond scores is very different to Arnold's work, for example - pretty dull and electronic in parts.

 

So this will be interesting to hear.

[Bespin Copilot 10,835]

I hope Thomas Newman will have full freedom to compose entirely new melodies and won’t be forced to reuse John Williams’ themes. It bothered me in the last films I saw, whether Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or Superman, that partially recycled John Williams’ music. That’s just JWbaiting! 

I’d be happy to add a new CD to my disco; my current Thomas Newman collection seems to have stopped somewhere around 2019.

 

[Erik Woods 841]

16 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Did anyone know who Eidelman was before he burst onto the scene with Star Trek VI? 

 

Film score fans back then would have known who he was based on his work on Magdeline, Triumph of the Spirit and The Final Days.

 

-Erik-

[Sunshine Reger 3,714]

19 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Yes he did! He orchestrated "Vadar's Death", which according to him was his first gig in the industry.

Didn't he play as a violinist in E.T. the year before?

[Jay 46,346]

That's David Newman.

[Edmilson 12,393]

19 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Vadar's Death

 

4 hours ago, Richard P said:

His weakness is action - that's not to say he'd fail to deliver if asked for a proper, symphonic action cue, but he's very rarely demonstrated it. The action in his Bond scores is very different to Arnold's work, for example - pretty dull and electronic in parts.

 

Yeah. Not only he rarely wrote action music before, at least compared to most composers, but when he did (Bonds, 1917, parts of his Pixar scores) it was totally different from what we'd imagine as Star Wars music, very modern and electronic. 

 

Still, since nowadays the term "Star Wars music" seems to include Ludwig Gorransson's Mandalorian music and the score to Andor, which are also pretty far removed from John Williams, it wouldn't be as jarring as it could be had this happened a decade ago. 

[Bilbo 4,294]

Given how bad an attempt at a Williams clone turned out to be (Rogue One) and how interesting Mando and Andor turned out I’m more than happy for Newman to do his own thing and see how it turns out. 

[Rachael Foley 10,174]

18 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

Given how interesting Mando and Andor turned out I’m more than happy for Newman to do his own thing and see how it turns out. 

 

[Trope 1,453]

I fear this arrangement won't work out and predict that Newman will eventually leave this project due to "creative differences".

 

Thomas Newman is in my top three film composers. I've listened to almost everything he's written and love almost all of it, and I'd love to see him attempt to score a Star Wars film (see WALL-E); but Shawn Levy's (somewhat incoherent) descriptions of what he wants from the score do not seem to match Newman's sensibilities at all, and I wonder if he is even aware of the discrepancy.

 

Levy says he wants a score that is "classically inspired" and "doesn't shy away from themes." So why would he turn to Newman, who for the past two decades has written almost exclusively hybrid scores (mixing the orchestra with extensive exotic instrument overlays and advanced electronics) and whose compositional predilections lie in harmony and texture for scoring subtle emotional ambiguities and character drama (not exactly a "time to play the big and melodic main theme" approach...)? 

 

I'm fascinated to see if Newman will attempt to write a score that is a complete contrast to his major body of work thus far, but doubt he would see a point to it if asked by the director/studio to take that approach (why would he write in a musical voice that is not his own, at this point in his career?). 

 

IMO other composers like John Powell or James Newton Howard or Alexandre Desplat naturally spring to my mind as composers who could produce something "classically inspired" and that "doesn't shy away from themes"... plus they each have a solid track record of following in Williams' foosteps while bringing their own style to the table (Solo, Fantastic Beasts, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, etc.). I guess we'll see what happens.

[Quppa 667]

Levy has previously worked with Beck, Silvestri, Elfman and Giacchino, all of whom are much more obvious choices for a theme-driven approach. He mentions The Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo and American Beauty being in his top 10 favourite scores - those happen to be some of my favourites, too, but I can't imagine he's using them as a temp score for this film. Maybe Jon Burlingame could interview him and find out what exactly he has in mind.