Entertainment Weekly continues their “Rogue One” coverage today with a new interview with the film’s composer Michael Giacchino.
You can check out a portion of the interview below, where Michael Giacchino talks about what we can expect to hear from his score when we’re sitting in the theater watching “Rogue One,” including if we will hear a certain familiar villain theme!:
What inspirations will we hear in the music?
It does borrow from traditions that both John [Williams] and George Lucas borrowed from when they made the original Star Wars, you know. George was looking at Flash Gordon, the old serials, and John was looking at [Gustav] Holst and different composers along the way to get a baseline for what he wanted to communicate. There is a wonderful musical language that John put together for the original films. I wanted to honor that vernacular but still do something new with it, something that was still me in a way.Did you have a favorite theme?
I really enjoyed working with Jyn’s theme, and tying that into the movie, and having it slowly develop. And it’s sort of a very emotional sweeping thing, which was really nice to do. Now, I feel like there is this interesting sort of thing going on in film scoring where it’s all about restraint. And at times I totally agree with that, but at other times it’s just nice to unleash everything and just let 110 players go for it.It’s tough to convey music in words, but is there anything you can describe about the elements in your Rogue One music? A teaser before we hear it?
I remember writing to Don Williams, my timpani player, who happens to be John’s brother, actually. And Don has played on everything I’ve ever done. We’ve worked together for years, and he’s just an amazing timpani player. And the timpani is usually something that, you know, that’s an accent here and there, and comes in when needed.Are there any other instruments that also take a lead role?
I think that there is perhaps slightly more ethereal things at work in this film too. How you may use an electric guitar… or how you may use any synth additions… It’s a symphonic score but there are these little accents that we added in order to sort of deal with certain story elements in the film.Did you get to do your take on the Imperial March?
[Laughs] Maaaaaaybe.You don’t want to say?
Well, what’s the fun in knowing what’s there? You want to be surprised, right?Can you describe the opening title theme? Do you use elements of his work there?
It’s done slightly differently here because it’s not one of the saga films, it’s not one of the trilogies. It’s sort of its own thing and the whole idea from the very beginning was these should be standalone movies. So it’s going to be a slightly different way to get things kicked off.
Be sure to check out the full interview over at Entertainment Weekly, where Michael Giacchino sheds some light on how he was brought into the project late in production, and the conversations he had with Kathleen Kennedy and Gareth Edwards.
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