John Williams on Composing for ‘Star Wars’, Potential for Future Scores, and More
In a sweeping piece from Variety, Chris William breaks down all the highlights of John Williams’ illustrious career in celebration of his Academy Award nomination for best original score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. This is Williams’ 54th Oscar nomination making him the most nominated living person and nonproducer to date.
In the piece, Williams speak fondly and frequently of his work on Star Wars, including back to the origins of the score for A New Hope:
“George was very clear to me that the music should be symphonic. I took it to mean late 19th century, maybe European — Mahler, Wagner, Strauss, that period of orchestral writing. He said it should be classical. Not Bach — not classical in the baroque sense, but in the romantic sense, the Byronic sense. Why? Because all the images you’re going to see are images of desolate places or places you’ve never seen before, with people wearing clothes you’ve never seen before. It’s all alien, the whole visual experience. So the emotional experience should be familiar. It should be a classical modality that describes heroism and romance and adventure and operatic emotions higher than reality.”
Of course, the score went on to become a rousing success along with the rest of the film and would heavily influence future film scoring. Despite the success, Williams still speaks humbly of a now small bump in the road for the legacy of that score:
“I mistakenly wrote a love theme for Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. I learned later that they were brother and sister, so it was an incestuous idea to have a love theme for them. But George never told us there was going to be a second film!”
Naturally, this isn’t news for us Star Wars fans. You roll with the punches on some of those early creative decisions. Regarding why he committed so fully to the franchise, Williams commented:
“I wanted very much to do all the Star Wars films if I could, to keep the whole thing in one piece in a way. And I’ve been asked why I wanted to do five Indiana Jones films: Same reason.”
In terms of future scores, never count him out. Williams provided some detail on his upcoming schedule availability:
“We’ll see how the time goes. I have the time I need to finish this concerto, and I will begin to have some free time later this year. If there’s an opportunity there that I think I can fill and enjoy doing with people I will enjoy, I see no reason not to do it.”
Perhaps one more for Rey’s upcoming New Jedi Order film? You never know! Williams had said a couple of years ago that Dial of Destiny would be his last score, but walked those comments back a year ago during The Fabelmans‘ Oscar push. Amblin TV was reported last year to be working on a John Williams documentary, of which we still don’t know much.
If you’re looking for more Star Wars reading, check out our review from today’s episode of the The Bad Batch.
When she isn't watching her friends and family's eyes glaze over at the mention of The Clone Wars, she's at the park with her dog, Melvin, or on the couch with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Physically, she lives in Ohio; spiritually, she lives in Naboo.
