From Star Wars to Jaws to Harry Potter to Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park and much more, John Williams has crafted some of the most memorable and beautiful scores in cinema history. The famed composer hinted last year that he was considering retiring after he completed his scores for The Fabelmans and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but at a special event with Steven Spielberg, John Williams revealed he has changed his mind about retiring.
“I’ll stick around for awhile,” John Williams said. “I can’t retire from music. A day without music is a mistake.” He added that his decades-long collaboration with Steven Spielberg was as good a reason as any not to retire. “One thing Steven isn’t is a man you can say no to,” Williams said. He used Spielberg’s own father as an inspiration. Arnold Spielberg worked with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education up until just a year or two before his death at the age of 103. “I’ve got ten years to go,” joked the 90-year-old composer.
When asked to summarize his relationship with Steven Spielberg, John Williams said, “I’ve enjoyed his company and the pleasure and the gift of his inspiration. Can a muse be a man? He’s certainly been a muse for me.” As for Spielberg, he likened their relationship to the ideal marriage. “I don’t know we’ve ever had a disagreement,” he said. “I mean, what am I going to do? Sit down and write the music myself? In the art form that we’ve both chosen, he has been the most steadfast brother and collaborator that I’ve ever had in my life. And that’s how I would sum up how much I love you.” It’s hard to think of the day when we will have heard our last John Williams score, but I’m grateful he won’t be retiring quite yet and that we still have a few more to enjoy.
John Williams’ next score will be heard in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The film stars Harrison Ford as the legendary hero archaeologist, as well as Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Toby Jones (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Shaunette Renne Wilson (Black Panther), Thomas Kretschmann (Das Boot), Oliver Richters (Black Widow), Ethann Isidore (Mortel), and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark). James Mangold directed and also co-wrote the script alongside Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. Indiana Jones will be back in theaters on June 30, 2023.