Composer John Williams Reveals How He Came Up With Cinema's Biggest Scores

[tillychar]

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Five-time Oscar winner (and 54-time nominee) John Williams breaks down his career, from his earliest jobs as a pianist on films such as Some Like It Hot, to the way the Jaws theme has changed in the cultural landscape over time, to the time he wrote a love theme for Luke and Leia during the first Star Wars movie before George Lucas clued him in

Comments

[lamppost1911]

I’m a slut for Thomas Newman scores. The movie sucked ass but the American Beauty score was such a comfort for me back in the day and Road to Perdition and Finding Nemo are *chef’s kiss*

And of course In the Bedroom, Angels in America, Lemony Snicket and the Six Feet Under theme…and so many more.

[steffi_333]

SAME! I feel like when I speak to most people about soundtracks they don’t know him.

All the ones you mentioned are on heavy rotation in my Spotify. I put loads of them in playlists for when I need to focus at work.

The violins in Grave Drive from Road to Perdition make my heart do things. Nemo Egg from finding Nemo is so damn pretty.

[lamppost1911]

I hope this goes through because ONTD has not been my friend today but yes!!! Just reading “Nemo Egg” makes me tear up! So beautiful.

He has such a distinct sound and I love it.

I wish I could choose a fave from Road to Perdition! I love the movie in general but I def feel like it benefitted from his music.

Recently read that his daughter is now scoring music and it’s so crazy how musically talented this family is 😫

[jojito]

Same!

+ Meet Joe Black score.

[coulson]

one of my faves

[waffletaco]

Fav scores:

-Aliens, by James Horner (every piece of music. The finale theme was so good, it was in damn near every 90s movie trailer after).

-Crash, by Mark Isham (I dont care what you think of the movie. The score was beautiful. I still get goosebumps at the piece that plays when the little girl runs to her dad to stop the "bullet".

-Interstellar, by Hans Zimmer (all of it, but specifically the ending theme that even on its own makes my eyes well up thinking of Matthew seeing his elderly daughter)

[steffi_333]

Interstellar score is amazing (what a way to use an organ omg) but it’s also so fucking CLEVER. In the scene where they’re on the water planet, there’s a beat every 1.25 seconds to represent a full day passing on earth and for their colleague they left on the spaceship.

[waffletaco]

will have to watch out for that on a rewatch.
I love when a movie has a distinct SOUND associated with it. It's usually a musical instrument prominently used (like the organ, for Interstellar).

[abbylover23]

A Really Good Cloak 😭💛

[beignet]

i think the lord of the rings (howard shore) score and the dark night (hans zimmer) will always be my top two.

[mandapandao_o]

Howard Shore and the work he did for the LotR films will always be in my top. But a super underrated score that I wish got recognition was John Powell's work in How to Train Your Dragon. It is criminal that he wasn't widely recognized for those pieces. Romantic Flight (and Test Drive) will forever have an emotional hold on me!

[steffi_333]

I love Test Drive! It’s gotten some popularity on TikTok - lot of horse people use it for galloping clips

[jojito]

The score of HTTYD movies is perfect. I listen to 1 and 2 regularly. Test Drive, Flying with mother, Forbidden Friendship, Stoick's Ship... so beautiful.

[mandapandao_o]

Forbidden Friendship will never not make me cry lol