Washington DC [US], November 28 (ANI): Shawn Levy, the director set to leave his mark on the Star Wars franchise, has announced that 15-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman will compose the score for the upcoming film, 'Star Wars: Starfighter', according to Deadline.

During an interview on the On Film...with Kevin McCarthy podcast, Levy enthusiastically revealed the news, stating, 'I know, bro. I don't know if that's public, so now it is. Yeah, I think we're breaking news here.' He added, 'You don't understand. If you ask me to name my favourite scores, five of the top 10 are Tom Newman: Shawshank, Road to Perdition, Nemo, American Beauty. The guy is a maestro.'

Levy explained that he wanted a classically-inspired score that wouldn't rely on remixing John Williams' iconic themes. '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,' as quoted by Deadline.

Williams scored George Lucas' original Star Wars (1977), the music of which has since become synonymous with the franchise.

The director reached out to Newman, a fan of his work, and pitched the idea. After sharing the script and explaining his vision, Newman agreed to compose the score. '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,' reported Deadline.

A standalone film outside the Skywalker saga, Starfighter is set five years after Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Penned by Jonathan Tropper, the movie stars Ryan Gosling, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, Flynn Gray and Amy Adams, according to Deadline. (ANI)