John Williams Interview 4/9/99

What was it like the first time you met George Lucas? What were your impressions of him and of the first Star Wars movie?

George Lucas says that, when he works with you, he is able to make what are, in essence, silent movies. What does he mean by that? And what does it mean to you as a composer to work with someone with that sort of sensibility?

How important is the music in the Star Wars movies? How big a role does that create for you as the person responsible for bringing the music to these films?

It must be quite a different experience to work with a director like Lucas - a moviemaker who tries to make in sort of a classical style.

Can you describe how the process works between you and George Lucas? At what point to do you get involved with a new Star Wars movie and how do you two work together?

A lot of great artists and film-makers aren't musicians, and they have a hard time describing what they want in musical terms. How do you go about figuring out what kind of music a director is looking for a film?

How would you say the music in this new film is different from the first Star Wars films - and how is it the same? And wasn't it kind of intimidating to try and equal what you did twenty years ago?

Was it a challenge to come up with music for The Phantom Menace that wasn't too similar to what you did in the past? How important was it to you to come up with something fresh?

George Lucas' characters are really very symbolic. They're archetypes. When you wrote the music for these films, did it also incorporate grand archetypal themes?

When you were writing the music for Star Wars and The Phantom Menace, did you try to write something that was deliberately as grand and spectacular as the movie? And did you think that, because of that, your music would be really memorable and would stay with the audience?

It sounds like what you're trying to do is to lead the audience to a certain place...

Is the orchestration the same for The Phantom Menace as it was for the original Star Wars films?

Talk about the music for the ending of the film. Why did you use a chorus singing in the Sanskrit language in the final scene, and what were you trying to say in your music about the meaning of the action on the screen?

Someone wrote recently that George Lucas creates a faraway, fictional world that really is a lot like our world. Is what he is attempting to achieve in the Star Wars films an inspiration to you?

How do you think the audience is going to react to this new film?

The Phantom Menace is a prequel - it depicts events that happened before the events in original Star Wars movie. Did you try to write music for The Phantom Menace that hints, in a way, at the music in those original movies?

When you work on the Star Wars films, your music is one element of a very complex environments. Does that make it as a more memorable experience for you - more of a challenge?

What's the most special things, to you, about working on the Star Wars films?

When do you finally see the whole package together - the acting, the special effects and your music? Do you have a final say in how the music is used?

When you are first planning out the music for the Star Wars movies, how does George Lucas let you know what he wants in particular scenes?

How do you decide what music will make it onto the soundtrack album?

How much music can record for the movie soundtrack in a day? Does everything that you record for each film get used in the end?

When you go into the studio now, there is so much amazing technology that you can use. But, in the end, does the music still come down to the people - to you and the musicians you work with?