Jon Burlingame editorWith “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” debuting Friday on Disney+, English composer Natalie Holt becomes the first woman to score a live-action “Star Wars” project, on the heels of her success with Marvel’s “Loki.”She spent four months on the project, including two months in Los Angeles recording with many of the same musicians who recorded John Williams’ new theme for the series, as revealed by Variety in mid-February.“It’s been such a fine balance, all the way along, finding the right level of ‘Star Wars’ homage, because we’ve got heritage characters,” she says, referring to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) and others, “and adding in new elements as well,” she says. “These heritage characters have big themes that everybody expects to hear when they get on screen.
But we’re also doing something new for them. [The story takes place] just before ‘A New Hope’ so we’re leading to that place.”Holt began before Williams contributed his new theme.
Her first meeting on “Obi-Wan” actually occurred before the debut of her much-talked-about “Loki” score a year ago. Then, in late December, as post-production ramped up, Holt got together for two days with director Deborah Chow and “we musically explored what she wanted.”In episode 1, Holt explains, “Obi’s in the desert, he’s given up everything, he’s lost, he’s alone.
I tried some single instruments but it just didn’t feel right. Suddenly John was on board, and his involvement unlocked the use of those heritage themes.”Williams, of course, scored all nine “Star Wars” films, winning an Oscar for the 1977 original and earning nominations for five of the sequels including the last three, “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” and “The.
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