See Steven Spielberg and John Williams Creating The E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial Theme
In 1982, Steven Spielberg mesmerized audiences around the world with the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It gave children something to root for while giving adults a sense of nostalgia and wonderment. The story of a lost alien and his friend Elliott, who helped him find his way, quickly became one of the highest-grossing films of 1982. It garnered nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Steven Spielberg. Heck, it’s just become one of the greatest movies of all time.
To capture that magic, Spielberg enlisted the help of his long-time collaborator, composer John Williams. Williams had written every piece of music for every single Steven Spielberg film to date.
For E.T., Williams went for something more heartfelt than adventurous. It seemed like the pair wanted to capture something magical with the lovable abandoned alien featured in the film. And there’s even a video showing Steven Spielberg and John Williams working together to create the main theme from E.T.
For movie fans, or just Steven Spielberg diehards, this is a must-see on how the two collaborated for one of the most iconic musical refrains in movie history.
Just beautiful. It’s really something to look back and see both Steven Spielberg and John Williams coming together for this. With the projector showing scenes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial off to the side, the two are working to make the music perfect, hitting the notes at the exact moment they’ll line up with what’s happening on screen.
We sometimes take for granted what goes into this process. When it is seamless and wonderful on the big screen, it almost seems like that is the way it was just meant to happen. Almost as if the movie just couldn’t have been done any other way. Considering the connection Steven Spielberg and John Williams have, for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and other movies, this becomes abundantly clear.
The two iconic figures worked together on 26 films in total. At the time of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial they had already collaborated on The Sugarland Express, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Many of those have their own iconic pieces of theme music. This was just a match made in movie heaven.
And at least we have a chance to see how these two came together in the quieter creative moments, making something legendary that stands across the full test of time.
