Steven Spielberg Chooses His Favorite John Williams Score
Picking a favorite John Williams score is no easy task, and it’s probably even harder if you’re the director of the movies that Williams worked on. Steven Spielberg and John Williams have created some of the most timeless films and film scores of all time together, but Spielberg revealed that if he had to make the impossible choice of picking the best score from the Oscar-winning composer, it would be Williams’ score for Schindler’s List.
Spielberg explained, “Schindler’s List is the greatest piece of scoring John has ever done for me,” adding, “It doesn’t just reach deeper into my soul — that score has reached the depths of so many others who know how important it was to the images that I was creating.”
Schindler’s List
Steven Spielberg’s choice of Schindler’s List definitely makes sense, as John Williams’ devastating and heartbreaking score helps to drive home the horrific and tragic subject matter of the Holocaust drama. Of course, the film won numerous awards, including Best Picture, Best Director of Spielberg, and Best Score for Williams. In fact, Schindler’s List ended up being the most recent Oscar that Williams took home, despite being nominated many times since then.
An Amazing Collaboration
Steven Spielberg and John Williams’ collaborations over the years have brought us some of the best film scores of all time. While Schindler’s List is undoubtedly on many people’s favorite lists when choosing the best collaborations between the two, there are also other iconic scores like Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, Hook, Catch Me If You Can, and Jurassic Park. Spielberg also introduced George Lucas to Williams, which led to his incredible work on the Star Wars franchise.
A Lasting Part Of Hollywood
Of course, Williams has made plenty of iconic scores without Steven Spielberg as well, composing music for Superman (1978), Home Alone, Fiddler on the Roof, The Patriot, and the Harry Potter franchise. Along with Schindler’s List, John Williams took home Oscars for his work on Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Williams was again nominated this year at the Oscars, making 54 total nominations, for his work on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
54 Oscar Nominations
John Williams’ impressive 54 Oscar nominations put him only five nominations behind Walt Disney, who holds the record for most nominations. Williams’ nominations are especially impressive when you consider they’re almost all in the same category, barring a few nominations for Best Original Song. It’s possible that the Academy could award Williams with his sixth win this year, but he does have stiff competition from Laura Karpman (American Fiction), Ludwig Goransson (Oppenheimer), Jerskin Fendrix (Poor Things), and Robbie Robertson (Killers of the Flower Moon).
John Williams Isn’t Done Yet
One would think that at age 92, Williams would be happy to call it a day for scoring films, but he actually retracted his statement about retiring when appearing at an event with Steven Spielberg. It’s definitely possible that we could get another Spielberg and John Williams collaboration in the future, as Williams said, “If there’s an opportunity there that I think I can fill and enjoy doing with people I will enjoy, I see no reason not to do it.” It’s pretty safe to say that people would enjoy it, so here’s hoping we get another Williams score sooner rather than later.
Source: Variety
