While discrimination in the workforce is improving for women and people of color, there’s still lots of work to be done. Take for example the world of film composers, a field that’s been dominated by men for years, with a few notable exceptions like Rachel Portman, Anne Dudley, Jocelyn Pook, and Lesley Barber. It’s only been in recent years that names like Hildur Guðnadóttir—the first woman to win an Academy Award for a film score since 1997—and Pinar Toprak—the first woman to score a Marvel movie in 2019, after 21 previous films scored by men—are becoming more established. Another female composer making a name for herself is Natalie Holt, and she’s about to make history too.
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Following her outstanding work on Marvel’s “Loki”—an eccentric, outré score full of theremins and spooky, spacy sounds—Holt has been hired to score the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” This will officially make Holt the first woman to score a live-action “Star Wars” project.
Even though Holt is the lead composer, in an interview with Vanity Fair, she revealed that “Star Wars” icon John Williams will return to write a theme for Obi-Wan and asked Lucasfilm exec Kathleen Kennedy specifically if he could do so.
“Obi-Wan is a legacy character that John hadn’t written a theme for because he died quite early on in ‘A New Hope.’ It’s the only legacy character that he hadn’t done,” she explained to Vanity Fair. “So he spoke to [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy and said, “I just want to write [an Obi-Wan] theme.” So who can deny him that? And he did, he wrote the Obi theme, and it just embodies the spirit of the show entirely.”
An avid “Star Wars” fan, Holt first watched the original trilogy at age five, and described Williams as the one who “basically narrated my childhood” through films such as “E.T.,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and “Jurassic Park.”
“Obviously, I’m just thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as John Williams,” Holt said. “It’s been exciting and overwhelming at times, because I’m such a fan. I want to pay respect to the history of it, and do it justice as well.” As mentioned, Holt composed the ticking-clock themes to Marvel’s “Loki” series and is currently working on DC’s upcoming “Batgirl” film. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” will debut May 27.
