John Williams drops out of Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies

John Williams is having a curious week. A couple of days ago, it was announced that the composer behind many of your favourite film themes won’t be scoring Star Wars: Rogue One, somewhat of a surprise as Williams has been behind each Star Wars movie to date, including The Force Awakens. And now it has been announced that he has dropped out of Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg’s upcoming cold war thriller starring Tom Hanks. This is an eyebrow-raising development, as it will mark the first time Williams hasn’t scored a Spielberg film since 1985’s The Color Purple (the music for that was written by none other than legendary producer Quincy Jones), and consequently also only the second time they haven’t worked together on a film.

In a press release from the studio, it states, ‘… John Williams’ schedule was interrupted and he was unavailable to score the film due to a minor health issue, now corrected.’ At 83, it’s not shocking that Williams had a small health problem, and that it conflicted with him scoring Bridge of Spies. The press release also reveals that Thomas Newman will be stepping in to create the music for the movie instead, who has scored The Shawshank Redemption, The Player and American Beauty among many others. It’s a shame that the long and fruitful Spielberg / Williams partnership will have a minor gap in it, but Williams is set to score the director’s next project, The BFG – so this magical partnership won’t stay separated for long.

Bridge of Spies is out October 16.