Star Wars: Who convinced who?

[indy4 152]

I've heard a variety of stories regarding how John Williams ended up scoring Star Wars. We know that Spielberg introduced the two, but the rest is a little foggy. Who initiated the meeting (did Lucas asked Spielberg for a composer, even though he was probably going to track classical music, or did Spielberg initiate the meeting)? And once Williams and Lucas had met, who convinced who? I've heard people say JW convinced George that he needed an original score, but that doesn't seem like something JW would do. I've also heard that Lucas decided it on his own, and that Spielberg convinced him. Anybody have a piece of evidence, source included, that answers these questions?

[KK 3,202]

I'm not sure about who convinced who, so I really don't have an answer to your question. But Jonathan Broxton recently had a meeting with Conrad Pope and they talked a lot about the brilliance of John Williams (Pope clearly adores the man).

Here is what he told me:

"He was full of praise for John Williams, and he clearly thinks that JW is the greatest film composer who has ever lived. He was trying to explain to us how scarily intelligent Williams is in musical terms, and also gave us an insight into how much of a sneaky sense of humor he has, and how he is a master at being able to make the director think he is in total control while he goes off and writes the music HE wants to write! He also told us about how Williams seems to have this innate knack for sniffing out commercial successes that everyone else thinks will be a flop - Home Alone, for example, which Bruce Broughton was originally going to score until Williams decided he wanted to do it instead because he understood its potential."

Just goes to show how Williams usually gets what he wants (so maybe JW convincing Lucas to adapt to his opinions isn't such a far fetched idea after all).

- KK

[indy4 152]

Interesting read, KK. Thanks for that. I really want to know more about John Williams as a person, I definitely think there's more than the polite humility of the man we see in interviews.

[KK 3,202]

Indeed! Who would have thought that that gentle man you see on screen is really one conniving, manipulative little mastermind! That just makes me love him more than ever!