John Williams Faces His Legacy: 54 Oscar Noms, ‘Star Wars’ Mistakes and Changing the Movies Forever
John Williams Faces His Legacy: 54 Oscar Noms, ‘Star Wars’ Mistakes and Changing the Movies Forever
With 54 Oscar nods, John Williams is now the most-nominated living person in Academy history. He reflects on his legacy and work with Spielberg.
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This is one of my favorite movie anecdotes:
When his longtime collaborator, the director Steven Spielberg, showed him Schindler's List, the composer felt it would be too challenging to score. He said to Spielberg, 'You need a better composer than I am for this film.' Spielberg responded, 'I know. But they're all dead!'
I love that! It’s a funny anecdote and very endearing. John Williams is a giant in the industry but didn’t seem to have an ego about himself when it came to the daunting task of scoring such a powerful film.
I think that’s the kind of attitude you’d want from a composer for a film like Schindler’s List. Someone that recognizes the importance of the film and who is going to work their ass off to do the film justice rather than someone waltzing in and treating it like they’re working on a run of the mill movie gig.