John Williams won’t be retiring from composing film scores, actually
"A day without music is a mistake," said five-time Oscar-winning composer John Williams on retracting his decision to retire
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The music plays on for legendary film composer John Williams. After announcing that he’ll be retiring on the back of his final film score for Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, Williams is tracing back that statement and ready to continue making tunes that leave us teary-eyed.
Though no one would fault the 90-year-old composer, responsible for iconic scores including Star Wars and Jaws, for taking some time off, Williams’ surprise declaration came as he and frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg discussed their recent film The Fablemans at an American Cinematheque event on Thursday, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ll stick around for a while,” said Williams to the audience. “Also, you can’t ‘retire’ from music. It’s like breathing. It’s your life. It’s my life. A day without music is a mistake.”
So, what’s gotten Williams back (though he never really left) into the game? His good ‘ole pal, Spielberg.
“Steven is a lot of things,” he said. “He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist, he’s an educator. One thing he isn’t is a man you can say ‘no’ to.”
The news came as a surprise to Spielberg, who The Hollywood Reporter noted was “visibly taken aback” by Williams’ decision to take back his statements of retirement.
“I’d better get to work to find out what the hell I’m doing next,” declared Spielberg to the crowd.
If we’re looking at what Williams’ next big score could be, it seems like a good hunch to look no further than Spielberg’s upcoming Bullitt remake, starring Bradley Cooper as Steve McQueen’s hard-edged cop. In terms of Williams’ decades-long career, there couldn’t be a better cap off than composing for a fast-paced car chase through San Francisco’s hilly terrain.
12 Comments
I thought a day without wine is like a day without sunshine.
A day without sunshine is like… night.
Williams is in good health and writing music won’t have an impact on his physical health, aside from keeping his mind sharp, so it makes sense.
One of his first well-known scores was the excellent Phillip Marlowe story The Long Goodbye from ‘73, so I’m excited to hear what he could do with another detective story like Bullitt. I’m also hoping Spielberg can bring something new to Bullitt. I know people (like my dad) who would consider this blasphemy, but outside of that great car chase, it’s pretty boring.
John Williams worked as a jazz pianist with Henry Mancini for a while, most notably on the Peter Gunn theme. His nickname was “Curly”. I really wish I could find the article proving this.
Well I guess Indy 5 is now slightly less special. Oh well, I’m fine with the old man still composing.
Better than decomposing!Too soon?
If he drops dead in the next six months maybe. I still feel bad making jokes about Betty White dying before she turned 100 days before she actually died.
You say that like people hadn’t been joking about her dying for years.
After Mozart died, strange music was heard coming from his grave. It was determined that it was his music starting from his last piece but played backwards. People were puzzled until an expert assured them that nothing was amiss. “Mozart is just decomposing”.
Legend.
‘nuf said
Maybe he could compose the soundtrack to the next Michael Caine movie, as both are in the quantum state of retiring/not retiring.