This week we’re talking to the man behind Solo’s music John Powell.
And Pablo Hidalgo is taking us on a top secret tour of Dryden’s Study to look at all of
his artifacts up close.
This is The Star Wars Show!
From the Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco, here’s your hosts Andi and Anthony!
Hello and Welcome to The Star Wars Show a show that has a mandatory policy where if
you take a week off of work you need to grow a beard.
It’s a very weird clause in both of our contracts.
I think it’s left over from the George era.
Let’s go to the news.
Ugh.
I keep getting hair in my mouth, how do you even eat with this?
[Off screen crash]
Oh, eating’s not the problem, it’s sneezing.
Battlefront II dropped a brand new trailer and a slew of information about their upcoming
Han Solo Season which is coming to the game on June 12th.
The new content, inspired by Solo: A Star Wars Story adds the mines of Kessel, lets
you pilot Lando’s Millennium Falcon, appearances by Young Han on Corellia, Young Han as part
of Beckett’s crew, Vandor Chewie and Young Lando sporting two different outfits
(because he’s a fashion maven.)
The Solo update also brings the new extraction mode, where an infiltration squad must receive
and escape with a critical payload while fending off enemy forces.
And if you’re in Los Angeles during EA Play later this week you can play Extraction on
Kessel at the FanFest from June 9-11.
For more details including the full trailer check out this link.
Yesterday, tickets for the 5-day, Star Wars Celebration 2019 went on sale at StarWarsCelebration.com
And while the Jedi Master VIP tickets sold out immediately, Adult and Kid 5-day as well
as Adult and kid single day tickets are still available.
But you'll want to hurry because the 5-day passes are almost sold out.
Star Wars Celebration takes place in Chicago on Thursday April 11th through Monday April 15th 2019.
Less than a year to go folks!
Time to start planning!
So excited!
And for more breaking news from across the galaxy check out Star Wars.com
Welcome to the private offices of Dryden Vos, Galactic gangster.
He’s not around, otherwise I wouldn't dare sit in his chair.
Now in actuality I’m at Pinewood Studios where they’ve created this amazing 360 degree set.
What I want to show you is the kind of cool stuff you’ll find in Dryden’s office.
The thing you recognize about Dryden Vos is that he likes to show off his collection,
including this trove of rare artifacts taken from various cultures around the galaxy.
Long time readers of the Star Wars comic may recognize the Dancing Goddess
I’m standing in the presence of some more rare artifacts.
These ones are covered in gems but the highlight item is Xim’s Deathhead.
Now that’s something that’s on the cover of Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.
Joining me today is Daniel Nussbaumer, assistant art director.
This movie has a wide variety of looks and feels.
Here, this is quite the elegant place.
What’s your approach to elegance in the Star Wars universe?
Part of it is just Dryden’s character, as in a gangster boss.
He’s just exhibiting the things he probably has stolen or got given and just amassed over
the years to show off.
And also it’s a well kept place.
It has a bit of an age because it’s been around, it’s a ship.
Yeah, you know, upon first impression you may not think you are actually in a spaceship
so what kind of design consideration is there?
We have little tech details added so it still feels as if there are panelling, there’s
something going on behind it that wouldn't be there if it was a building.
Calling all Mando Mercs, you’re gonna to want to take a close look at this.
Dryden Vos has in his collection ancient Mandalorian armor and weapons.
Now the Mandalorians, we all know, are a warrior culture that’s extended in Star Wars history
for thousands of years.
And lastly we have a collection of ancient technology.
Including, quite literally, the capper on this collection, what appears to be a Sith holocron.
The fact that Dryden has a Sith one should settle any doubts as to the nature of his character.
[Porg sounds]
I’m here in the studio of legendary composer John Powell, with the man himself.
Thank you for having us out.
Legendary?
Legendary.
Hmmm.
I think so.
[Laughing]
I think the first time I had really taken notice of one of your scores, it was probably
Bourne Identity.
It’s one of those things, you always try and do music that works as well as it can for film.
And sometimes you just get these lucky moments when in this particular case I was trying
to change the way I sounded and the filmmaker didn’t want a big action score, as it sounded at the time.
So it was a reactive score, it was just simply whatever you would normally do for one of
these scores, just do the opposite.
But the way to do it, compare it with the way that John Williams writes.
I’ve been studying all his sketches from the original films and it’s extraordinary,
it’s compositional rigor at its highest level.
You and John have two very different sounds, two very different styles.
This is a Star Wars movie that very much has its own sort of identity.
John obviously wrote the Han theme, the score is you, how does something like that work
for you, first of all as a composer coming into Star Wars?
When I was asked, was I was interested in doing it, they upfront said and John’s going
to write a tune.
I wouldn't necessarily have done it unless that was the case.
I would have been too nervous to do it.
Knowing that he was going to be on, I realized that part from all the selfish reasons to
do it and meet him and get to sort of see his process and learn from it, I felt much
more secure that I would basically be able to use him to bring the music into the core
feature of what Star Wars always sounded like.
It’s like saying, well you’re going to have to go off on this mission but you’re
going to be able to take Yoda.
That made total sense to me so this is the way to do it.
What did you want to bring that was new to this?
What did you want to keep that was classic to this?
This is the really hard thing about doing this film.
This is what gave me sleepless nights.
I love the way that Ron works because he was so inclusive and he really wanted me to think
about the film and not just the music.
But in working with John he spotted that I was nervous because of that and he immediately
just said, it’s 2018, you should do what you feel is the right thing for the movie.
And then the filmmaker is pushing me and saying, you know it would be really nice if we had
a bit more percussion elements and a little bit more drive here, some of the things that
I guess I’m known for.
But the problem on this one was not freezing because of the wish to never change anything.
As soon as we tried changing things we love we have to ask the question, why are we changing it,
we love this, why are we changing it.
This is not change for changes sake.
This is a real attempt to tell a story that you know where it started, you know where
it’s going, and you know where it ends.
So what can we tell about Han in this film and what we can tell is how he became the
character that we love.
And I had to respect that.
But I also realized that I needed to respect my own voice in these things and that was
really what the filmmakers allowed me to relax and do more of that.
It does cross all of the transitional journeys that I had gone through as a composer in my life.
Everything that I have ever heard in my life, which a lot was Star Wars, is in there.
So some of it is going to come out as Star Wars I hope.
Well John, thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with us about Solo.
A pleasure.
With every new Star Wars film comes a slew of brand new hidden easter eggs and Solo is no exception.
That’s why we want to know what your favorite hidden easter egg inside of Solo: A Star Wars story was.
Mine is a bit of dialogue in a bar.
That’s all I’m saying.
You’re going to influence the answers, dude.
Let us know your favorites using the hashtag #SoloEasterEggs and we’ll feature our favorites
here next week.
And as always remember to like the video, subscribe to the channel, follow us on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram, and download the Star Wars app.
Thanks for watching and May the Force be with you.
You can’t tell people your favorite because they’ll be like, that too was my favorite.
Well that makes it less likely to be included.
So find a different one.
[Laughing]
But like if you, if you like that one too, you can let me know.
I’m keeping mine a secret.
You like pop culture?!
Ron Howard?!
[Laughing]
You got a little.
Let’s you pilot Lando’s Millennium Falcon.