Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Composer Promises He’s Learned from John Williams

Composer Michael Giacchino has been building towards a legendary career in his own right. The musician has over 120 credited works on IMDB, from video games, to television (like Alias and Lost), and films from Ratatouille to Star Trek to Mission Impossible and most recently Doctor Strange. Giacchino won the Academy Award for Up in 2009, and his music can even be heard incorporated in rides at Disney Parks.

Still, there’s something about following John Williams and being the first composer of a live-action Star Wars movie aside from him in history that presents a unique and intimidating challenge, even for an accomplished artist like Giacchino.

“John and I have known each other for a while and he’s always been a great giver of wisdom,” Giacchino said of Williams in a recent interview with THR. “He is a great teacher, even when he is not directly teaching you. Growing up listening to him — he was one of my biggest indirect teachers. Working on this films I am constantly reminded that it was Star Wars that pushed me in this direction.”

Learning from Williams both directly and indirectly certainly gives him an edge. Giacchino is in a doubly unique position, though, as he came to Rogue One late in the game, after Alexandre Desplat (a Williams protegé) had to back out due to scheduling after reshoots delayed the score. Luckily, Giacchino has enjoyed the characters of Rogue One and it sounds like he’s having a lot of fun with the score. The composer has previously said he picks films to score that he knows he’ll enjoy. He calls the job “a little stressful, but a lot of fun.”

“I love the main character,” he said when asked about which theme he’s having the most fun crafting. “I love Jyn and what they have done with her.”

Giacchino had to work on his birthday to keep the schedule, and said while he initially didn’t want to go to work that day, his own personal Star Wars fandom made it a lot easier to take.

“So I go and sit down and turn on the screen to work and all of these Stormtroopers are running around and I thought to myself, ‘All right this is not a bad birthday,’” he said.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is historic already as the first standalone film in the series, outside of the “Skywalker Saga” denoted by an Episode number in the title of the other seven films, and will now also make history with someone other than John Williams making the music; but Williams’ influence will still be felt, just as it has been on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, two animated series scored by Kevin Kiner.

Rogue One hits theaters December 16, 2016.