Comments on: Discuss: John Williams Wants To Return To Score ‘Star Wars,’ But Would Michael Giacchino Be A Better Choice?

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

"(Giacchino is) persuasive element for change, as well as a logical one"
vs.
"Disney and Lucasfilm are moving forward by looking to the past"

Your argument falls apart here. Giacchino's entire career is based on imitating the past. He does not represent the future, he's a curator of the greats of old (albeit a much needed one). This goes all the way down to the techniques Giacchino uses to record his musicians, techniques that even Williams has since abandoned decades ago. MG even had a behind the scenes about how he and his team wore suits to the scoring stage, because "that's the way they used to do it."

To a fault, he is the MOST reverential to the past of any of today's successful composers. He is more reverential to Williams than Williams himself.

My question to you, why hire the curator when you can commission the artist?

By: Nikatsu

Nikatsu — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Mr. Cappuccino is the perfect choice to score a J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Just the right amount of mediocre triumphalism, with all the depth and distinctiveness of Ryan Seacrest.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Giacchino is like John Williams-lite, if he did score Star Wars he would need to stick closely to Williams' established themes, I wish he had done that for Star Trek (with Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, and to a lesser degree Dennis McCarthy) because frankly that score veered too far off from what the great composers before him had done.

By: Filmmusicfan

Filmmusicfan — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Simply put, Giacchino is NOT a better choice than Williams. That's an insane question. Maybe for a spinoff film, but not the sequel trilogy.

By: Alan B

Alan B — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Only on The Playlist could a writer suggest that John frickin' Williams might not be the best person to score Star Wars. Let me guess: second choice after Michael Giacchino should be Michael Fassbender, right? Because he can do anything …

By: Captain Celluloid

Captain Celluloid — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

I like Michael Giacchino. He seems like a great guy; he seems like he would be fun to hang out with. Directors and musicians love him.

That said he is not in the same musical category as John Williams . . . . or David Newman or Howard Shore . . . . or Jerry Goldsmith.

Giacchino's strength is that he's a fundamentally a film guy who became a musician;
he makes directors comfortable because he speaks their language and he knows how to chose solid music to enhance a film.

Again, that said, Giacchino is not as broadly skilled a musician as Williams. That doesn't make him a bad person and it doesn't automatically make his scores less effective — THE INCREDIBLES is a true classic — it means he does not have the range or facility or dare I say the depth of Williams . . . . . and when he is asked to emulate Williams the results have been disappointing as in SUPER 8.

IMHO people have taken Williams for granted as "Spielberg's Schamltzy Guy."
Granted he does that and does that well but he has demonstrated so much range
over the years that he does not deserve to be defined only by Spielberg.

s much as I feel that director / composer relationships are important . . . . in the case of STAR WARS Abrams would be wise to continue the STAR WARS / composer relationship.

There are many things that could stand re-booting in STAR WARS. I would posit that
the consensus would be that music is not one of them

By: Glass

Glass — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

As much as I like Giacchino, he's scoring fucking EVERYTHING these days. It's iffy enough having an over-commercialized director doing this, It'd be pretty disappointing to have the same blockbuster composer do his John Williams impression here too.

By: dude

dude — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Williams hasn't been significant in a decade. On the prequel trilogy he was as on auto-pilot as Lucas was…Plus he's likely to fucking die sooner then later. Go for Gianncchio and made him emulate the opening credit like Singer did for Superman Returns.

By: What?

What? — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

"Abrams and Giacchino have only grown more simpatico since working together on the âAliasâ video game"

The video game was a spin-off from the TV show that Giacchino scored. The show came first. Did this writer even look at Wikipedia when researching this article, or was that considered too time-consuming?

By: What?

What? — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

"the director had no qualms in replacing Jerry Goldsmith for him when it came to the âStar Trekâ reboot."

Jerry Goldsmith was dead and had been for 5 years when the Star Trek reboot came out.

By: rodie

rodie — Sun, 22 May 2016 03:16:47 +0000

Use a few of Williams' old themes, but other than that, I think starting fresh with Gianncchio would be wise. I mean, perhaps Williams could contribute to this first sequel, but really, you think he's going to be working and at the top of his game in his 90s? Let him consult on it or something maybe, but just as Lucas has passed the baton, Williams should do the same.