Shawn Levy, the director of the upcoming Star Wars feature, Star Wars: Starfighter, has revealed who will be composing the musical score of the film. When you think of Star Wars, chances are that the first thing you hear in your head is John Williams’ iconic theme for the series, or the Imperial March, which plays whenever Darth Vader enters a scene. However, Levy is not bringing Williams to compose the music for his film. In his attempt to make an entirely new Star Wars movie, he has also chosen a new visionary to join the ranks of the beloved franchise co-owned by Disney.
Levy recently appeared on the podcast On Film…With Kevin McCarthy, and he broke his silence on who will be contributing the music for Star Wars: Starfighter. Expressing his excitement about the project, Levy reveals that he has chosen Academy Award nominee Thomas Newman for the 2027 film starring Ryan Gosling:
“If you asked me to name my favorite scorers, five of the Top 10 are Tom Newman. Shawshank, Road to Perdition, Nemo, American Beauty. The guy is a maestro. I was thinking about this movie and what I need the music to be, because it wants to be classically inspired, but it’s not going to 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, every movie should have a musical theme.”
Thomas Newman Will Need to Somehow Add His Musical Identity to the Iconic Franchise
It’s not an easy gig to join the Star Wars and compose a new score. Anyone who dares to step inside this territory will have to stand against John Williams to add a certain identity that can co-exist beside the legendary composer’s work in the franchise. Few musical scores are as famous as the Star Wars theme, and even though acclaimed composers like Michael Giacchino, John Powell, Nicholas Britell, and Ludwig Göransson have added their own music to the series, and while their contributions are good, they have not achieved the the same legendary status that Williams has.
Levy is aware of this, and his decision to bring in Thomas Newman is part of his desire to incorporate unique themes into traditional film scores. The director also described which were Newman’s requirements when he got the offer:
“What John Williams sort of embraces is, a movie can have multiple themes. There’s Leah’s theme, 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.
“So, I called up Tom Newman, ‘I’m a fan. I’m Shawn Levy, 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,’ and I’m so stoked.”