After garnering great reviews for her work on Marvel Studios superb Loki series for Disney Plus and moving into the realms of the DCU for the upcoming Batgirl movie, Natalie Holt is confirmed as the composer for Obi-Wan Kenobi, coming to Disney Plus on 27th May. Speaking to Vanity Fair she discussed her entry into Star Wars and working with the legend John Williams and many of his key musicians.
VF: What can you tell me about your approach? How did you begin developing the music on this show?
NH: Well, I think I’ve just always been a huge Star Wars fan. I watched the original trilogy with my dad when I was five years old. So the music from John Williams basically narrated my childhood: E.T., Raiders, Jurassic Park. So yeah, my starting point was just being a huge fan of the music for the show already. I’m a violinist and I come from an orchestral background, so I’ve been able to do something on an epic scale with these big forces.
VF: How did you and Williams come to work in tandem?
NH: 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. So he spoke to [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy and said, “I just want to write Benny a 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.
VF: How does his contribution fit with the broader music you created for this show?
NH: For me, the tentpoles are set out by John Williams. There are elements to the show that are new and fresh, and I’ve been able to have my own interpretation with elements—that I can’t reveal. So it’s been glorious, working with my hero and also bringing my own voice to the show.
VF: How would you describe his new Obi-Wan theme?
NH: It’s reflective, and it’s just entirely appropriate. And it distills what the show is about in just the perfect way that John Williams can. It’s wistful, but there’s an element of hope to it. It’s doing something new and I think people are going to be really blown away by it.
We’ll be talking about this and much more on episode 134 of Making Tracks, out 7.00pm UK time next Tuesday.
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