Michael Giacchino has taken over scoring duties on the upcoming Star Wars spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The composer is replacing Alexandre Desplat who was originally scoring the film directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed and Forest Whitaker. The movie takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and tells the story of unlikely heroes who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star. The movie will be released nationwide on December 16 by Walt Disney Pictures. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Giacchino’s other upcoming projects include Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes, Brad Bird’s The Incredibles 2 and Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry.
OMG
DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!! This is so disappointing!!! I was really looking forward to this film and to Desplat’s score.
Nothing against Giacchino – great composer. But there’s no one like Desplat. He would have done something truly special.
I agree
WTF is going on there? It’s like 3 months to the film’s premiere…
it was only a matter of time until he got his hands on a star wars film
Indeed, but I was expecting for him to take over the franchise on Episode IX, or whatever Disney does with those movies later.
That’s disappointing, I’m a Giacchino fan, but I were really anxious to see what Desplat would do, given his excellent scores for the last 2 Harry Potter movies and Godzilla.
Wow! I wonder if Desplat had started working on this already – I’d be very interested to hear the gossip on why this happened. Was Desplat too busy? Looking at his schedule I’m surprised the man has time to sleep (of course, he’s been maintaining this pace for some time).
Giacchino is my favourite contemporary composer (apart from Williams), so I’m hardly upset by this news, but I was still really looking forward to hearing Desplat’s score – his music for Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla was fantastic.
It’s thanks to the re shoots. Those in turn naturally pushed the recording dates and it clashed with Desplat’s schedule. I’m sure this really had to hurt, considering how often he’s mentioned Star Wars as a catalyst for what he does.
It really was only a mater of time before Giacchino got his hand on star wars, but Desplat would have given this franchise something fresh and unique. This really is a MASSIVE shame.
This has nothing to do with reshoots/Desplat’s schedule, that’s just some BS excuse Disney is feeding to press to avoid negative headlines. Desplat had already finished a good amount of the score and was fired, likely because the movie is in trouble/Edwards not in charge anymore and the studio needed a safe choice to fix the movie and given their history with Giacchino, that’s what they got.
Yip apparently this is the case! I heard the same thing from two sources. The recording date hasn’t been pushed, so their press release doesn’t stand up.
I don’t know if he was “fired” though. From what I understand, they wanted him to re-write. He couldn’t do it schedule wise (and probably didn’t want to rewrite anyway), so he left.
This could turn out interesting if things go well internally. The composer has a knack for effortlessly emulating JW’s style and adding lots of spices of his own at the same time.
Honestly ! Disappointing ! Was expecting a Desplat score as he is in his best form ! 🙁
I love Giacchino but, dammit! He has little time to make the score!
Williams is not available…again?
Williams isn’t doing the spinoffs. He’s busy with Episode 8 which will follow on from The Force Awakens.
Williams is the main composer. It will only make the episodes (VIII and IX). The spin-off is in charge of another team and soon other composers. It would also be a very tough task to Johnny: the film debut at the end of the year, and make a score in a hurry would require too much of your energy. It would be asking too much. I’m not saying that he would not be able (yes, it would be).
Giacchino is a super talented composer. But only in Zootopia, he had to make a quick score. And he was far from his talent. I hope the same does not happen here.
But, I confess, I wanted to hear the Desplat ideas …
At least they called the Zimmer bastard.
“At least they called the Zimmer bastard.”
They did? I must have missed them calling him a bastard.
Guys be glad they didn’t get Hans Zimmer instead.
LOL i’ve got nothing against Zimmer but yes, this is a series he should not lay a finger on
If anyone cares, Luc Besson picked up Alexandre for his upcoming sci-fi Valerian.