‘Music By John Williams’ Director Talks Iconic Scores, Lessons Learned, and Steven Spielberg
After a successful premiere at the 38th AFI Fest on October 23, Music of John Williams officially premieres on Disney+ today.
The new documentary will give fans a peek into the mind of John Williams, one of cinema’s great composers, as he reflects back on his storied career.
The result of a partnership between Lucasfilm Lt, Amblin Documentaries, and Imagine Documentaries, Music by John Williams was directed (and executive produced) by Laurent Bouzereau, who sat down with the 92-year-old Williams to gain insight into how the composer viewed his life and career.


Photo: Deadline
As it turns out, Bouzereau, who has known Williams for 30 years, has been trying to get the film made for a long time.
“I have been obsessed with John Williams, his work and movies really, that he scored for as long as I can remember. So he’s been part of my film education, and I’ve always felt that there was a story there to be told and to be inspired by,” he explained.


Director and Executive Producer Laurent Bouzereau with Williams. Photo: Disney
“I’ve known John for 30 years and I’ve been trying to do this film for a long time. It’s something that I brought up on several occasions and was always told “No.” But, given my relationship with Steven [Spielberg], it eventually got made.”
Lessons Learned
Looking at the completed film, the director hopes that viewers see the perseverance and dedication that Williams has shown throughout his career.
“I really feel that John is an eternal student. Actually, the resistance he had about doing this was, “I don’t like to look behind or in the past, I like to look forward,” because he’s constantly challenging himself,” Bouzereau continued.


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“I think that for young people sometimes because of technology today, [they] think that you can be an overnight [success]. It’s kind of a real interesting lesson to realize that it takes work and it takes curiosity and it takes a really big amount of courage to keep on challenging yourself.”
Iconic Scores
Throughout his storied career, Williams’ music has come to define some of the biggest franchises in movie history. In fact, the themes that the composer wrote for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park have become as recognizable as many of the franchise’s characters.


Williams at a scoring session for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo: Disney
“Here’s the thing: a lot of the movies that John was working on were benchmark films that had a world that was very new to the audience. Think about Star Wars, we had never seen anything like Star Wars. To have the ability to create a score that hits you at the same time as the title and the crawl was a way to pull the audience into a world that we had no idea what to expect,” Bouzereau muses.


Image: Star Wars
“And that alone, I think, gives you permission to enter something otherworldly. But the music is identifiable as very much classical music, something you actually know. So the music plays a role that not only gives you the pathos of the characters and the world you’re your meeting, but by being relatable as a viewer, as a listener, allows you to enter those worlds and feeling usually comfortable in them.”
The Importance of Spielberg
As previously noted, Steven Speilberg was instrumental in getting Music By John Williams made. Not only did he produce the film through Amblin, but he also provided much of the footage of Willaims conducting his scores.
“Steven, I owe everything to him. Steven is the one who really, when I went up to him and I said, ‘We’ve got to do this film,’ he’s the one who approached John. But not only was he the bearer of great news to me when John said yes, finally, but he literally said, ‘This is an important film, and I want to be there with you the whole time,” Bouzereau explained.


John Williams with Steven Spielberg. Photo: Disney
“So we communicated about every single aspect of the film, from who is going to be interviewed to the structure to the design of the title, to everything, the final mix, which we did at Skywalker [Ranch]. So, his contribution to the film is gigantic. And it was also very reassuring to me, as was having Kathy Kennedy and Frank Marshall and, of course, Ron and his company [Imagine Entertainment].”
Why Disney?
Finally, as for the film’s new home on Disney+, Bouzereau says the streaming service is exactly where it should be.
“Well, that’s where it belongs. That’s where it belongs. The combination of Steven, Kathy, and Frank is just essential to me and that part of your family. I couldn’t have done it without the support of Disney and Lucasfilm.”


(Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Music by John Williams premieres today on Disney+.