Steven Spielberg talks about film music

[Aliandra 90]

He was on this soundtrack podcast: https://audioboom.com/posts/7996000-episode-282-steven-spielberg-on-his-love-of-music-score

 

Your thoughts?

 

 

 

 

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

I will include some thoughts later on... i will just say - GREAT TASTE in film scores.

[crumbs 14,317]

That was a fun listen, just geeking out with Spielberg on film scores! I could listen to him talk about music for hours.

 

It's fun that he even remembers JW's score for Images, specifically because he temped Jaws with it (before JW told him it was completely wrong! )

 

Interestingly he mentioned doing, "32 out of 35 films together" with John, which doesn't seem right. Didn't Spielberg say they were still aiming for their 30th collaboration together, around The Post? Maybe he's factoring in An Unfinished Journey and The Fabelmans in that count.

 

He's technically done 4 features without JW (Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One, West Side Story)... though arguably JW was music consultant for WSS.

[karelm 2,914]

Fantastic interview!  Thanks for posting it.

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

1 hour ago, crumbs said:

That was a fun listen, just geeking out with Spielberg on film scores! I could listen to him talk about music for hours.

 

It's fun that he even remembers JW's score for Images, specifically because he temped Jaws with it (before JW told him it was completely wrong! )

 

Interestingly he mentioned doing, "32 out of 35 films together" with John, which doesn't seem right. Didn't Spielberg say they were still aiming for their 30th collaboration together, around The Post? Maybe he's factoring in An Unfinished Journey and The Fabelmans in that count.

 

He's technically done 4 features without JW (Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One, West Side Story)... though arguably JW was music consultant for WSS.

 

I mean it was obvious he was speaking generally. He did not have IMDB in front of him. 

[mrbellamy 6,287]

I imagine he's just gone through life giving interviews with different counts in his head at different times and can't always keep track of them. 

 

If you go Duel to Fabelmans, it's 34, throw in something like Twilight Zone gets you 35. And separately he probably just remembers that three major occurrences he's had to go with another composer when he would have used JW (Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, RPO). So there's your "32" lol. It's obviously inaccurate but whatever. 

[Indianagirl 298]

I really loved listening to this!

[crumbs 14,317]

1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

I mean it was obvious he was speaking generally. He did not have IMDB in front of him. 

 

For sure. Was just curious because I recall he mentioned recently (I think during sessions for The Post) that he told the orchestra they were aiming for their 30th collaboration. At the time I think that was likely to be Indy 5... until Williams departed RPO, Spielberg departed Indy 5, JW passed on WSS, and various other projects were abandoned (Edgardo Mortara).

 

If Williams scores Fabelmans that will "only" be their 29th feature film collab. Obviously the number is higher if you factor in projects like Unfinished Journey, Timeless Call and Amazing Stories.

 

Actually, unless I'm forgetting something, that brings the number to 32!

[GerateWohl 4,370]

That interview is a pretty good start for these kinds of conversations about scores with Spielberg. Unfortunetly, people never manage to get past Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark in conversations with him about film music. Would love to hear more about their later collaborations.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Amaziing stories the mission was aired in cinemas in europe, i think…

[bollemanneke 3,349]

I need to listen to more episodes of this.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

LLL should do an Amazing Stories vol. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 then in a better presentation than the Intrada collection

[Jay 37,368]

Assuming JW is scoring The Fabelmans, that will absolutely be the 29th feature film directed by SS that JW scored

1. Sugarland Express
2. Jaws
3. Close Encounters
4. 1941
5. Raiders
6. ET
7. Temple of Doom
8. Empire of the Sun
9. Last Crusade
10. Always
11. Hook
12. Jurassic Park
13. Schindler's List
14. The Lost World
15. Amistad
16. Saving Private Ryan
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
18. Minority Report
19. Catch Me If You Can
20. The Terminal
21. War of the Worlds
22. Munich
23. Indy 4
24. Tintin
25. War Horse
26. Lincoln
27. The BFG
28. The Post
29. The Fabelmans

And then yes, it's a bit nebulous exactly how he arrived at the 32 and 35 numbers

 

SS certainly directed 3 feature length films that JW didn't score

1. The Color Purple
2. Bridge of Spies
3. Ready Player One

SS directed a segment of one feature length film that Jerry Goldsmith scored all of

1. Twilight Zone

SS is often known as the "actual director" of Poltergeist, but it's unlikely SS counted this as part of his numbers (but you never know!

1. Poltergeist

SS directed West Side Story that JW didn't compose, conduct, or arrange, but was "consultant" on, so does that count as doing it "with JW"?

1. West Side Story

Pre-Sugarland, SS directed 5 "movie-length" things for television

1. "LA 2017" episode of the Name of the Game (76 mins)
2. "Murder by the Book" episode of Columbo (76 mins)
3. Duel (74 mins)
4. Something Evil (73 mins)
5. Savage (73 mins)

Duel often gets special mention because Spielberg later went back and filmed new scenes to make a 90 minute cut for European theatrical release, so is the only one of the 5 that could be considered one of his "feature length theatrical movies"

 

JW has scored things directed by SS that can not possibly be considered movie length

1. Amazing Stories episode "Ghost Train" (25 mins)
2. Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" (46 mins)
3. The Unfinished Journey (21 mins)
4. A Timeless Call (7 mins)

 

So the 32 "with JW" could be the 29 main ones, West Side Story, Unfinished Journey, and Timeless Call

 

And then the 35 number could be adding The Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, and Ready Player One on top I guess.  Unless he wasn't counting The Fabelmans yet, then maybe Duel counts, but then there isn't 32 JW scored things unless you bring in the Amazing Stories eps and maybe drop Timeless Call?  

 

Yea, it's nebulous.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I hardly blame him for not being encyclopedic about his own career

[Jay 37,368]

I think 35 makes sense if he wasn't considering Fabelmans yet, but was counting the 3 tv-movies that weren't episodes of a larger show

Then, SS's 35 films are

1. Duel
2. Something Evil
3. Savage
4. Sugarland Express
5. Jaws
6. Close Encounters
7. 1941
8. Raiders
9. ET
10. Temple of Doom
11. The Color Purple
12. Empire of the Sun
13. Last Crusade
14. Always
15. Hook
16. Jurassic Park
17. Schindler's List
18. The Lost World
19. Amistad
20. Saving Private Ryan
21. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
22. Minority Report
23. Catch Me If You Can
24. The Terminal
25. War of the Worlds
26. Munich
27. Indy 4
28. Tintin
29. War Horse
30. Lincoln
31. Bridge of Spies
32. The BFG
33. The Post
34. Ready Player One
35. West Side Story

But of course, JW didn't do 32 of those 35, he did 28 (29 if WSS counts), so yea, he probably just misspoke.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

As i said, now with proof: In some european countries 3 episodes from Amazing Stories aired together as a theatrical film. "The mission" was one of them...

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7763324/

 

Quote

Trivia

A feature film edited from three episodes of Amazing Stories (1985): The Mission, Mummy Daddy and Go to the Head of the Class.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

6 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I hardly blame him for not being encyclopedic about his own career

He doesn't need to be. He's got Jay 

 

 

Did THE UNFINISHED JOURNEY have a theatrical showing? If "yes", then it counts as a film.

[WampaRat 1,105]

I just want to know how to get Edith Bowmans job She’s fantastic and I’ve always enjoyed listening to her podcast. And the interviewees always seem genuinely excited to talk to her.