‘Music By John Williams:’ Director Laurent Bouzereau Explores the Life, Influence Of the Iconic Composer

The Contending’s Clarence Moye sits down with Laurent Bouzereau, the director of Music By John Williams, to talk about the life and influence of the iconic and beloved composer.

Raiders of the Lost Ark. Star Wars. Jaws. These films — among many, many others — helped define the language of cinema for an entire generation. These films are populated with imagery that burns into your brain and boast timeless stories that have fascinated, thrilled, and entertained millions for decades. Now, imagine even a frame of these iconic films without the accompanying score, composed by the brilliant Academy Award-winning John Williams.

It’s impossible to do.

John Williams’ compositions not only support the adventure and the emotion of their parent films, but they also often take on lives of their own. Fans flock to orchestral concerts of Williams’ work across the world. These events are joyous celebrations of both the art of film and of the art of composition. For a very lucky few, Williams himself may conduct or appear at these events, as he did at the Hollywood Bowl last year. One thing remains consistent: everyone in attendance deeply loves both the music and the man, celebrating him any chance they have. From his recent visit to the Walt Disney Hall, we are slowly coming to terms with the fact that this genius won’t be with us forever, even if his beautiful scores will.

Enter director Laurent Bouzereau and Music By John Williams. A 30-year friend of Williams, Bouzereau received the intimidating task of consolidating the life, the influence, and the brilliance of Williams. Even more challenging: Williams himself wasn’t always keen on the idea of exploring his legacy in a documentary focusing solely on him.

“I was having a conversation with Imagine, just a general meeting, and they said, ‘Oh, we want to do a documentary on John Williams, and we think you’re the conduit to it.’ So, suddenly, we build this family that John Williams is very familiar with around him, and he said yes. Then, he was much more reserved and, within a few days, didn’t wanna do it,” Bouzereau recalled. “I said, ‘John, it’s not about you.’ He asked, ‘Well, if it’s not about me, what is it about?’ I said, ‘It’s about your music. It’s about the musicians.’ It’s about this love [for his scores], scoring everybody’s lives for so many years. This is really about music, and you have to do this. So, he finally agreed.“

Music By John Williams manages to explore his full life and his deep and persistent connection to music. Of course, it hits the big notes — the Spielberg collaborations, Star Wars, and many more. Yet, it also explores his childhood and personal details he doesn’t typically discuss. He also dives into a shocking segment of his life, the contentious early partnership with the Boston Pops, unknown to many.

The documentary illustrates how influential Williams was to bringing film composition to not only the masses but to the very insular world of classical composition.

“That was a huge goal of mine, particularly after I learned of that story. When I was growing up, I had John Williams, but I also started looking backwards and looking at Bernard Herrmann. This man composed Psycho and many more films, but John made film composition legitimate. Herrmann used to tell [Williams], ‘Don’t call me a film composer,’ and John asked why,” Bourzereau explained. “When a medium is actually perceived sometimes as a crutch or as unmemorable, he changed that completely and forever. I think that the function of this film, if it has any sort of value in opening up people’s eyes and ears to the function of a craft, I think that that’s the aspect I’m the most proud of.”

Music By John Williams streams exclusively on Disney+. Check out the links below for more on my interview with Music By John Williams director Laurent Bouzereau.

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