It’s been announced that John Williams will not be writing the music for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Cold War thriller, “Bridge of Spies,” scheduled for release on October 18. This is perhaps not surprising, since Williams is committed to score the next “Star Wars” film, slated to open on December 18. The man is, after all, 83 years-old.

However, it is not his age, but rather an unspecified, apparently minor health setback that caused Williams to walk away from the Spielberg project. It is said that the issue is now “corrected.”

Thomas Newman will be stepping in to write the music. It will be only the second Spielberg feature not to be graced by one of Williams’ scores. (The other was “The Color Purple,” released in 1985.) Williams and Spielberg first worked together on “The Sugarland Express,” in 1974.

I confess that this is a personal disappointment, since I was looking forward to two fine film scores this year, which has become a rarity in the Age of Zimmer.

The last film scored by Williams was “The Book Thief,” in 2013. He plans to return for Spielberg’s next project, a film based on Roald Dahl’s novel, “The BFG,” projected for a July 1, 2016 release.

Read the news here:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/18/8243915/john-williams-not-scoring-spielberg-film

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