Shawn Levy ‘stoked’ to have ‘maestro’ Thomas Newman score Star Wars: Starfighter

Shawn Levy is “so stoked” to have enlisted “maestro” Thomas Newman to score Star Wars: Starfighter.

Shawn Levy is “so stoked” to have enlisted Thomas Newman to score his Star Wars movie.

The 57-year-old director is working on the stand-alone story Star Wars: Starfighter – which will star Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams and Mia Goth – and he is delighted to have the “maestro”, a 15-time Oscar nominee, on board to work on the music.

Speaking on the On Film… with Kevin McCarthy podcast, Shawn revealed: “I know, bro. I don’t know if that’s public, so now it is. Yeah, I think we’re breaking news here.

“You don’t understand. If you ask me to name my favorite scores, five of the top 10 are Tom Newman: Shawshank, Road to Perdition, Nemo, American Beauty. The guy is a maestro.”

Shawn explained he was keen to bring someone on board to create a “big-hearted movie score” but wanted more than just “remixes” of John Williams’ iconic Star Wars music.

He continued: “And I was thinking about this movie and what I need the music to be, because it wants to be sort of classically inspired. But no, it’s not gonna be remixes of Williams cues. It may be inspired by some of that, but I knew that I needed a big-hearted movie score from a composer, who like John Williams, doesn’t shy away from themes.

“So, I called up Tom Newman. You don’t understand, I’m a fan,” added Levy. “And I said, ‘Hey, it’s Shawn Levy. Would you ever consider…?’ And he said, ‘Send me the script, and describe your vision.’ And I did both those things, and it was yes.

“And I’m so stoked. … I’m so excited about it.”

The Deadpool and Wolverine filmmaker recently admitted he is “gleeful” to be working on one of his all-time favourite franchises.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, he said: “Every day on set with Star Wars, I’ve got my 10-year-old self next to me.

“I’m sort of inspired and – in the midst of a huge amount of stress – gleeful. Younger me is there every day, and he’s losing his mind with excitement.”

Shawn also compared directing Star Wars: Starfighter to other projects like Free Guy and Deadpool and Wolverine, and said the sci-fi blockbuster is “uniquely intricate” to make because he has free rein over where to take its story.

He explained: “Nothing quite prepares you for the unique experience of directing Star Wars. I’ve done ambitious movies with high levels of complexity – certainly things like Free Guy and Deadpool and Wolverine were not chamber pieces.

“So I thought I was used to big-scale complexity and production. But Star Wars is uniquely intricate, because not only are you inheriting a beloved legacy, but in the case of Starfighter, I’ve got this self-imposed but very Lucasfilm-supported mandate of making a new adventure.

“And so every creative decision, it’s all bespoke and new. So it’s the normal number of decisions per day the directors are used to, but probably times 10.”