When theOscar nominationswere announced last month,Star Wars: The Force AwakenscomposerJohn Williamsreceived his 50th nomination in his illustrious career. While we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see if he gets his sixth win for Best Original Score, theStar Wars YouTubepage has released a new featurette whereJohn Williamshimself takes us through his process of creating new themes for the characters we first meet inStar Wars: The Force Awakens, along with crafting connections to the original trilogy characters. As we reported last week, the musician’s work also had an impact on the movie’s actual ending.
Yesterday, we reported thatStar Wars: The Force Awakensalmost ended with a close-up shot of Rey (Daisy Ridley), instead of the final aerial shot, looking down on Rey and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), which was shot from a helicopter. Producer Ben Rosenblatt revealed that directorJ.J. Abramswas conflicted about using that shot or ending the movie with a close-up of Rey. Ultimately, the decision was driven byJohn Williams' score. It’s believed that the director wanted to originally end the movie with a Rey close-up because the force was “awakening” inside of her.
This new video actually features another Rey connection, showcasing actressDaisy Ridleymeeting the composer during a recording session.John Williamsalso explains how he wanted Rey’s theme to be “heroic” but in an unconventional way, while his theme for Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) was an “extension” of Darth Vader, although he didn’t want to get too close to the iconic Vader theme. This video also shows the composer and his orchestra recording the iconicStar Warsopening theme, withJ.J. Abrams,John BoyegaandDaisy Ridleyon hand for the recording.
Last month, we reported thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenswill arrive onBlu-ray and DVDApril 5, but that date has still not been confirmed by LucasFilm. The studio hasn’t announced any bonus features yet, but it’s possible that this video could be part of a larger portion of the special features that delves intoJohn Williams' process of crafting the score. Hopefully LucasFilm will announce more details about theStar Wars: The Force AwakensBlu-ray and DVD release soon.
LucasFilm announced last week that production is under way onStar Wars: Episode VIII, sharing a new video from the set that featured Luke Skywalker. It isn’t known ifJohn Williamswill also compose the scores forStar Wars: Episode VIIIorStar Wars: Episode IX, but the spinoffStar Wars Anthology: Rogue Onehas already confirmedAlexandre Desplatto compose the score. Take a look at the video below that takes you behind-the-scenes of composing the score withJohn Williams.
