Amongst the variety of spurious moves that have come out of the reshoots forGareth Edwards' intensely anticipatedRogue One: A Star Wars Story, the idea to dismissAlexandre Desplatin favor ofMichael Giacchinois perhaps the most surprising. It’s rare for a film to change course so suddenly and drastically that the original ideas for the score simply don’t work with the new angle of the narrative.
To me, the move perhaps unknowingly signals the difference between what Disney wants the movie to be and what Edwards wanted the movie to be. Giacchino’s work has showed up in a series of big-studio projects that have gone on to make quite a lot of money, such asJurassic World,Inside Out, and, most recently,Star Trek Beyond. Desplat, on the other hand, has stuck to more (seemingly) artistically substantial films on his docket, such asAmerican Pastoral,The Light Between Oceans, and upcoming works fromWes AndersonandRoman Polanski. That being said, he also scoredThe Secret Life of Petsthis year, while Giacchino scoredZootopiafor Disney.
Regardless, it’s not like Desplat has been left penniless and homeless over the decision to bring in Giacchino. In fact, losing that gig has brought him a different, nearly as promising job composing the score forLuc Besson’s upcoming sci-fi epicValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Besson’s movie, based on the beloved science fiction comic seriesValerian and Laureline, starsDane DeHaanandCara Delevingneas the titular characters of the source material, withClive Owen,Rihanna,Ethan Hawke, andJohn Goodmanset to co-star alongside them. The footage and images that have been seen thus far suggest that Besson is back in the realm ofThe Fifth Element, which is fantastic news, and Desplat’s gorgeous, playful work with Anderson,Stephen Frears, andDavid Fincherbefore suggests that his music will provide the perfect bedrock for Besson’s latest.
