Composer Michael Giacchino Replaces Alexandre Desplat On 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'

Here’s a question that I think is worth some consideration: is “Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryDisney and Lucasfilm‘s “Suicide Squad“? Let’s face it, both films have been through pretty much the same thing, but one has received (so far) a pass from too much scrutiny, thanks for a carefully orchestrated PR counter-attack. But none of that changes the fact that ‘Rogue One’ has gone through extensive reshoots that are more than just your standard pick-ups (sorry, you don’t hire two additional directors — Tony Gilroy (who is also doing rewrite work) and Simon Crane — to get that done) and the picture hasn’t been able to fully swat away rumors that executives were concerned about director Gareth Edwards‘ “dark” movie, and were looking for something with more of the four-quadrant friendly vibe of every other “Star Wars” movie. Believe what you want, but this latest news certainly gives some firepower to those who believe Disney and Lucasfilm are pivoting hard on ‘Rogue One’ at the last minute.

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THR reports that Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino has replaced Oscar-winning Alexandre Desplat on ‘Rogue One.’ The official line being given is that the latter essentially ran into scheduling problems thanks to the shooting delays, but this still does leave some big questions.

Surely, even if ‘Rogue One’ was racing to finish line, the release date hasn’t changed, and presumably Desplat’s deadlines for finishing the work would more or less remain the same. But I can only wonder if Desplat was already putting together music for the movie, only to find out that overall tone was shifting. That might explain why a fresh hire might have made the most sense in that scenario, someone to come in who wouldn’t be new to everything being put together, and would be able to walk in with a fresh perspective.

Certainly, Giacchino is no slouch and tremendously talented, but his work (broadly speaking) tends to be “brighter” than someone like Desplat, who is more minor key moody (for comparison sake, see Giacchino’s efforts on the “Star Trek” trilogy, versus what Desplat did for Edwards’ “Godzilla“). Again, this is not to say one is better than another, but their particular musical preferences tend to be markedly different. This really smells like a scheduling and more like a creative decision to match the direction ‘Rogue One’ is now taking.

And one certainly has to wonder how much money Disney is throwing at post-production to meet the release date that’s now looming ninety odd days and change away. Giacchino will not only have to dash off a score, but get into a studio, record it, have it mastered, coordinate with the editors, plus the one thousand other steps that come with bringing music into a movie. There’s going to be a lot of sleepless nights ahead.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opens on December 16th.