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Star Search: Forcing a Wake-Up Call
Star Wars is everywhere. That’s real life. And since it’s Friday, let’s kick off the weekend with some flashback fun.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was a spectacular movie, as well as a wonderful first chapter in the franchise’s newest trilogy. But before the force awakened, J.J. Abrams and Co. needed to cast the best young talent to try to do what Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford did in the late ’70s and ’80s with Episodes IV-VI. An impossible feat, but still worth a shot.
SNL created a few laughs with this audition-based set-up in late 2015 before the theatrical release of The Force Awakens. And thank goodness they did.
Believe it or not, the most disturbing audition parodied above for the new Star Wars trilogy was George Lucas. He is not the director the franchise (yes, the very same franchise he created) is looking for these days.
(Cough cough Jar Jar Binks…and Episodes I-III).
These Musical Chairs Are a Force Unlike Any Other
Continuing yesterday’s blog post, let’s explore a bit of the force and its enduring power…
John Williams.
Enough said, I know. Mr. Williams is a masterful music composer who is responsible for some of the most iconic and treasured movie scores in history. Among them, the theme from Jaws (1975), all the Star Wars films (starting in 1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Superman (1978), all the Indiana Jones films (starting in 1981), E.T. (1982), Home Alone (1990), Schindler’s List (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and so on.
Forgive me for not listing all his movie soundtracks, but it’s a very long list.
Returning to the Star Wars franchise was a thrill for Mr. Williams, as he explains in the video below. Inspired by the chance viewing of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope on the first day of 2017, any reason to listen to and learn from a genius is a good one. And this is one of those occasions. For any fan of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (or of brilliant music in general), please enjoy a special behind-the-scenes look into the process for writing and imagining the soundtrack for the blockbuster smash hit The Force Awakens.
If that interview makes you ponder life in a slightly unorthodox, yet better way, then the force may not be that far off for you…
Happy Monday
The first movie I watched (well, re-watched) in 2017 was Stars Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Fitting.
Movie soundtracks are a source of great intrigue, analysis and enjoyment on Jimmy’s Daily Planet. Instrumentals, if done correctly, are genuine works of art. A masterpiece of this variety that’s written and performed for a major motion picture evokes powerful emotions in our conscious and subconscious, all the while inspiring and accompanying unforgettable moments of cinematic storytelling that have the very capability to change how we view the real world around us.
One such instrumental is featured in the intergalactic blockbuster Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Musical genius John Williams composed a wonderful score for The Force Awakens, including the gem that can be heard below with the single click of your computer mouse.
2017: How will you awaken your force this year?
Have a Better Week than Last Week.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 