It's nearly impossible to imagine a Star Wars film without the music of John Williams. The composer's insanely hummable scores for all six of the films are as much a part of the universe of the movies as lightsaber fights, galactic drama, and Chewbacca's fur. So it should come as a huge relief to fans that Williams will be returning to the franchise to score Star Wars: Episode VII.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that Williams would be scoring the upcoming film over the weekend at Star Wars Celebration Europe, which took place in Essen, Germany. During the event, Kennedy also offered some hints about the mix of practical and computer-generated effects viewers can expect in the movie, which is promising news for fans who felt the prequel trilogy relied too heavily on the latter.
Oscar-winning scribe Michael Arndt is still working on the script for the film, but according to a vidieo accompanying Lucasfilm's announcement (above), the legendary composer believes he can mix the feeling of the original trilogy and prequels with the vibe of the new film.
"Of course I haven't seen the script—the story is still unknown to me, the new story—but I can't imagine that there will not be some references to the existing stories that we know," Williams says. "In each case I've been able to use the earlier material and develop new material that would co-exist with it and hopefully feel like a part of the fabric of the film."
So while fans now have an idea what Episode VII will sound like, questions still remain as to what it will look like. Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic changed the game with the effects work done on the Star Wars films, but the prequels got a fair amount of flack for leaning too hard on CGI and not utilizing the practical (aka non-digital) effects that made the original trilogy look more organic.
"There's nothing more exciting than to be involved in ... technological innovation," said Kennedy during Celebration's Saturday event, but added that it's important that the technology be driven by the story. Speaking to actor Warwick Davis (who played the Ewok Wicket in Return of the Jedi) at the event, she also said that the creative team for Episode VII has been going back through the Star Wars films and is looking to bring together real locations with VFX.
"It's using model-makers; it's using real droids; it's taking advantage of artwork that you actually can touch and feel," Kennedy said. "We want to do that in combination with CG effects. We figure that's what will make it real."
While it's a big deal that the Oscar-winning Williams is returning to score the new Star Wars (and that the effects team behind it is looking to keep it real), the news out of Celebration isn't exactly huge. There's still been little-to-nothing announced in terms of casting—beyond a few whispers about cast members like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher returning to reprise their roles—and nearly all other details about the film are being kept tightly under wraps.
However, the Celebration news might just be the warm up. Now that Lucasfilm is owned by Disney, the Mouse House is planning on bringing Star Wars to its D23 Expo in Anaheim, which is slated for Aug. 9-11. Considering Episode VII didn't have a big panel earlier this month at Comic-Con International in San Diego, it definitely seems possible that Disney/Lucasfilm could be saving its big Star Wars news for its own Southern California event.
Or, at least, we can hope.
