Steven Spielberg Developing a Documentary About Legendary Film Composer John Williams
John Williams' film scores have inspired me ever since I was a kid through the films that I watched. Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is the first movie I remember ever seeing in a movie theater and Williams’ score is seared into my memory.
While I am. a huge fan of Williams and his beautiful work, I know nothing about the man behind the magical scores of the films that I love. Well, that’s going to change with a new feature-length documentary that’s being developed by Wiliams’ longtime friend and collaborator, Steven Spielberg.
Amblin Television, Imagine Documentaries and Nedland Media are in the very early stages of production on the documentary that is being directed by Laurent Bouzereau (Five Came Back, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind and Mama’s Boy: A Story From Our Americas). He’s also been directing several “making of” behind-the-scenes featurettes since the 90s, many of which were for films of Spielberg.
Spielberg is executive producing along with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Justin Wilkes, Sara Bernstein and Meredith Kaulfers.
Willaims is 90 years old and he recently revealed that he isn’t retiring anytime soon. He said: "I'll stick around for a while. I can't retire from music. A day without music is a mistake." He went on to say that he’s got ten more years to go! It’s pretty amazing how long he’s been doing this… six decades! And that he’s not slowing down, he’s currently working on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Spielberg recently said of his working relationship with Williams: “I don’t think we’ve ever had a disagreement. I mean, what am I going to do? Sit down and write the music myself?”
With a career spanning more than six decades, Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than 100 films, including all nine Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away, The Accidental Tourist, Home Alone and The Book Thief.
THR shared some details regarding Willaims’ career saying: “He began his career working on hundreds of episodes of television in the early days of network broadcasting, composing music for the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island and shows such as Lost in Space. He also created themes for NBC Nightly News (“The Mission”), NBC’s Meet the Press, and the PBS arts showcase Great Performances. And he has also composed themes for the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. With five Academy Awards and 52 Oscar nominations, he is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second-most-nominated person in the history of the Oscars, after Walt Disney.”
I’m looking forward to this doc and It’ll be great to learn more about Williams’ life and career.