When Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes home to DVD, Blu-ray, and digital platforms,
it comes with a bonus feature you might not know existed. According to director Rian Johnson, it’s a music-only version of the film — sans dialogue, sans any major special effects, sans backgrounds. Just John Williams‘ score.
The thing is, there are a few steps to access it.
“I really wanted to put this out, it’s really something to see John’s music play with the movie, like a silent film,” Johnson put it in a series of tweets.
“The one hoop you have to jump through to get it,” he continued, “get the [Disney] Movies Anywhere app and link whatever account you bought the movie with to it. It’s free, it works pretty painlessly. Kinda a pain I know, but I think it’s worth it to get this version.”
The Last Jedi’s out today in the states for digital download, blu in two weeks. Of all the special features, my favorite one is kinda hidden, so wanted to call it out. If you buy the movie anywhere online (or the blu) you have access to a music only version of TLJ.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) March 13, 2018
The one hoop you have to jump through to get it: get the Movies Anywhere app and link whatever account you bought the movie with to it. It’s free, it works pretty painlessly. Kinda a pain I know, but I think it’s worth it to get this version.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) March 13, 2018
This is Johnson’s latest play with sound, an approach that percolated throughout The Last Jedi. In one scene involving Laura Dern’s purple-haired Vice Admiral Holdo, the sound cuts out to create a vacuum-like effect. It was so noticeable that movie theaters ended up posting signs that warned audiences about the moment, which then led to more of a kerfuffle than perhaps intended.
Suffice it to say, The Last Jedi does interesting things with sound — even before you factor in Williams’ Oscar-nominated compositions.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is currently available as a digital release, and the film will hit DVD and Blu-ray this March 27.