The Big Picture

John Williams’ iconic career as a composer spans jazz and film scores, with 54 Oscar nominations and five wins.
The documentary ‘Music by John Williams’ delves deep into the impact of Williams’ work, featuring interviews with notable filmmakers.
Director Laurent Bouzereau’s personal connection to Williams’ music helped shape the emotional storytelling of the film.

From director Laurent Bouzereau, the Disney+ documentary Music by John Williams digs into the iconic composer’s music, from his early days as a jazz pianist to his award-winning work throughout cinema. His impact on movies and popular culture is immeasurable, with instantly recognizable themes heard in Jaws, E.T., Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and so many others. And while the music absolutely speaks for itself, the doc also includes interviews with notable filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg (who Bouzereau has chronicled the career of through a variety of documentaries), George Lucas, Ron Howard, J.J. Abrams and James Mangold, actors and musicians, and insightful behind-the-scenes footage.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Bouzereau talked about his own personal connection with the work of Williams, who’s had 54 Oscar nominations and five wins, how that connection was crucial to making this documentary, that Williams needed some convincing to have the attention turned to him, revealing the people behind the Hollywood magic, marrying the pieces of music to personal stories, and what it was like to put it all together for one film.

‘Music by John Williams’ Director Laurent Bouzereau Had a Personal Connection to the Music From ‘E.T.’
Image via Universal Pictures

Collider: I’m such a big music fan. There are bands and music that has changed my life and songs that have affected me very deeply. I saw John Williams live once, at the opening event for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where he was conducting the L.A. Philharmonic in front of the castle, and I got very emotional. Have you, yourself, felt that meaningful connection to music, and to the music of John Williams, before doing this? Did you have that emotional connection before digging even deeper into it all?

LAURENT BOUZEREAU: Oh, absolutely. I don’t think I could have made the movie without that connection. It’s a connection I’ve had since I was a kid, when I discovered movies. I loved American cinema. Films would arrive seven months after the U.S. market because I grew up in France, but the albums were available, so I would discover the music before I discovered the movies. I was introduced to all my favorite films of the seventies through John’s music, so I’ve had a connection to John’s music, and it’s always conjured storytelling and themes and characters for me. I can also tell you that in 1982, when I moved to America from France, I was super young, and I was scared.

That was the summer of E.T., and I had a Walkman and would play E.T. on my Walkman nonstop, as I walked and discovered New York. One could say that I related to E.T., as a strange man in a strange land. The music brought that aspect of humanity to me, where you can really experience his music outside the movies and still find something soulful about it. I don’t think I could have made this movie without my lifelong knowledge of his work. At the same time, the function of the film is to really inspire new generations who may not recognize him. It’s fascinating to me that he was the music of my childhood in the seventies with Star Wars, and then the next generation with Jurassic Park, and the next generation with Harry Potter. Who else has that kind of breath of outreach to the world? His humanity is equal to the talent he puts into his music.

Related ‘Music By John Williams’ Review: A Great Look at the Composer’s Art, a Shallow Look at The Man Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary goes deep on the music of this legend, but doesn’t dive deep enough into the person behind the music.

People say you should never meet your heroes, but is this a very different situation?

BOUZEREAU: I met him 30 years ago. I’ve had the privilege of doing all the documentaries on the singular films of Steven Spielberg, so I’ve known him for 30 years. The first time I met Steven was around the same time that I met John, and I was equally scared. He meant that much to me. I was more intimidated than I would have been meeting the biggest movie star in the world. At times in the past, I would geek out and say, “Oh, my God, I love this and that.” And he would always be like, “I don’t wanna hear about this.” And I learned very quickly that he’s someone who is extremely modest, extremely private, and doesn’t necessarily like to look back. The biggest challenge was really to convince him to do this film, which Steven and I really rallied to get him on board with.

Related John Williams Isn’t Retiring After All The legendary composer had previously said that he would retire after the fifth ‘Indiana Jones’ film.

Once he did agree and was on board, was he then open about things?

BOUZEREAU: It was so amazing because, after the first sit-down, he got so excited. I don’t wanna talk about myself, but I realized I only wanted to approach him through music and show him how much I respect him. You approach people with dignity. I’m not trying to look for anything, but inspiration and great storytelling, so I think he recognized my integrity. I would bump into him, because I’m always at Amblin, and he would say, “So when are we doing the next one? That was so fun.” He was excited. And when he saw the film, finally, he was just so grateful. Again, I don’t want to praise myself because it’s not the point, but I was so happy that it was a good experience for him, in the end.

‘Music by John Williams’ Is Revealing More About Who the Composer Is Than the Magic Behind the Music

You’ve done a lot of documentary work around movies and what goes into making them. Did you ever worry that it might take the magic away for you?

BOUZEREAU: Absolutely. I knew a lot of collaborators of Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Boyle, who was his production designer on many movies, like The Birds, etc. At first, I approached him because I was doing a feature doc on The Birds and Bob Boyle said, “I don’t want to talk to you because I don’t want to reveal the secrets of how we made it. Give me one argument.” And I said, “Well, Bob, if not for The Birds, there would be no Matrix and there would be no superhero movies because you guys invented it. You’re the origin story.” And he said, “When do you want to do this interview?” I think there is an aspect to what we do that reveals the magic a little bit, but it’s really revealing the people. Here, I’m not revealing the magic of what makes the music so great. It’s revealing who John is. It boils down to the humanity and to the inspiration that those people have and convey through their art form, their dedication, and the sacrifices they make to do incredible work that lasts forever. It’s not so much the technique, as much as it’s the people that fascinates me.

Related John Williams’ Most Iconic Movie Soundtracks, Ranked The iconic composer has lent his talent to some of biggest blockbusters of the last 50 years!

What was it like to narrow down everything you wanted to include in this? You have all the films, you have his personal story, interviews, and Super 8 behind-the-scenes movies. Was there much that you couldn’t include? How do you figure out how to make one movie out of that?

BOUZEREAU: I write scripts. After I’ve done the interviews, I have transcripts and I figure out the story I want to tell. I try not be so predictable and chronological. I knew that with the story, I needed to hook people in right away, so that’s why we go to Jaws, as opposed to, “I was born . . .” I study a lot, so that if I’m talking to John or I’m talking to Steven, I can say, “Do you remember this? Do you remember that?” But that’s really second to the story itself. Frankly, I was guided by John, who is an incredible conductor, rather than doing a hit parade of all of this great music, to really marry those titles to a story. You may recognize the music, but this was the journey to that particular music. It was fairly easy, in that sense, because I was so ready to do this, but the complication was really to always feel that you’re entering a segment naturally and it leads to another idea, as opposed to feeling like you’re in a rabbit hole and talking about a movie, and then you don’t know how to turn that page. Some of the things that are not in the film may be great stories, but they just didn’t fit the narrative in a way that felt organic.

John Williams’ career spans jazz, film scores, and concert music, earning him 54 Oscar nominations, five wins, and a significant cultural impact. This documentary explores the life of this prolific musical icon.Release Date October 25, 2024 Director Laurent Bouzereau Cast John Williams , Steven Spielberg , Kathleen Kennedy , Frank Marshall , Kate Capshaw , Gustavo Dudamel , J.J. Abrams , Chris Martin , Ron Howard , Chris Columbus , George Lucas , Itzhak Perlman , Lawrence Kasdan , Yo-Yo Ma , Ke Huy Quan , James Mangold , Alan Silvestri , David Newman , Thomas Newman , Seth MacFarlane , Anne-Sophie Mutter , Branford Marsalis Expand

Music By John Williams is available to stream on Disney+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Disney+