Steven Spielberg is Making a John Williams Documentary

[bollemanneke 3,566]

I'm suddenly really excited about this! Wondering what to expect. I mean, I know what to expect, but you know what I mean.

[geom_00 63]

I am not sure this would have one, but is there a trailer??

[Andy 5,066]

Hope it’s at a theater near me and near you. 

[mrbellamy 6,679]

1 minute ago, geom_00 said:

I am not sure this would have one, but is there a trailer??

 

Not yet but I'm sure it'll get one. Especially with a theatrical release, and Disney+ docs always do, anyway. 

[Steve 608]

Can't wait for this! Hopefully it is at least two hours long!

[geom_00 63]

2 minutes ago, Steve said:

Can't wait for this! Hopefully it is at least two hours long!

Two Hours?!?

 

I want this thing to be a Ken Burns length docuseries!

 

/I keed...kinda

[Bayesian 1,427]

Limited engagement in theaters… I wonder if this means only the biggest markets (NYC, LA) will have showings. I hope it’s wider than that. 

[bollemanneke 3,566]

Yeah, Belgium. I can dream I guess.

[Ricard 2,254]

Original announcement from the American Film Institute:

https://www.afi.com/news/world-premiere-of-music-by-john-williams-to-open-afi-fest-2024/

[mrbellamy 6,679]

Guessing the runtime will probably show up there first

[Mr. Hooper 3,106]

"In Music by John Williams, documentary subjects speaking to the ways in which their lives have been touched by Williams’ timeless music include Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Kate Capshaw, Gustavo Dudamel, J.J. Abrams, Chris Martin, Ron Howard, Chris Columbus, George Lucas, Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Kasdan, Yo-Yo Ma, Ke Huy Quan, James Mangold, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Seth MacFarlane, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Branford Marsalis."

 

That Seth MacFarlane really does get around. I guess he's going to comment on the cheesy JW 'Family Guy' gags...

 

I'd rather hear what Stéphane Denève has to say, who doesn't appear to be part of the lineup.

[Thor 8,190]

MacFarlane makes sense, but what the hell does Chris Martin have to do with anything?

[mrbellamy 6,679]

I think (HOPE) it's renowned trumpeter and Lincoln soloist Chris Martin, not Coldplay Chris Martin

 

Seth MacFarlane is a big Williams fanboy, IIRC he spoke at the AFI Tribute about the importance of orchestras in film 

[A. A. Ron 1,892]

2 hours ago, geom_00 said:

Two Hours?!?

 

I want this thing to be a Ken Burns length docuseries!

 

Eight 1 hour episodes narrated by Peter Coyote and scored by Hans Zimmer.

 

7 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I think (HOPE) it's renowned trumpeter and Lincoln soloist Chris Martin, not Coldplay Chris Martin

 

Seth MacFarlane is a big Williams fanboy, IIRC he spoke at the AFI Tribute about the importance of orchestras in film 

 

He also sings a bit of "Indy's Very First Adventure" in an episode of Family Guy.

[mrbellamy 6,679]

"A bit" is an understatement 

[ricsim88 255]

31 minutes ago, Thor said:

MacFarlane makes sense, but what the hell does Chris Martin have to do with anything?

Chris Martin is the trumpet soloist on Lincoln. At the time he was principal of the Chicago symphony. He's now principal at the NY philharmonic.

 

Someone beat me to it.

[Andy 5,066]

Wish Mark Hamill made the cut.  He’s a geek like one of us and if there’s got to be celebrity input, his is one I respect. 

[Edmilson 8,680]

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

think (HOPE) it's renowned trumpeter and Lincoln soloist Chris Martin, not Coldplay Chris Martin

 

1 hour ago, ricsim88 said:

Chris Martin is the trumpet soloist on Lincoln. At the time he was principal of the Chicago symphony. He's now principal at the NY philharmonic.

 

Someone beat me to it.

As a Coldplay fan I kinda wish it was Chris Martin the singer... 

 

2 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Thomas Newman

Curious to hear what they have to say, especially Silvestri (the Newman brothers are already familiar with JW).

 

Actually I wish it had more interviews with other film composers. Who knows what Hans Zimmer would say in a doc like this...

[Mr. Hooper 3,106]

11 hours ago, Andy said:

Wish Mark Hamill made the cut.  He’s a geek like one of us and if there’s got to be celebrity input, his is one I respect. 

Agree. Mark's also a good and enthusiastic communicator.

 

I just see Kate Capshaw and Ke Huy Quan representing the actor's viewpoint. But well, Capshaw is Mrs. Spielberg, and Quan is there because of his recent success.

[Andy 5,066]

Modern Kate Capshaw interviews always make me think she’s on drugs.  She projects a weird vibe. 

[The Great Gonzales 6,200]

Quan is there because of the guy who was whistling Short Round's theme behind him in line at a store/restaurant/convention/whatever

[Tom 5,023]

I doubt that there will be anything new for us fanatics, however, a high-production-value documentary edited by Spielberg himself is a great gift to us all.  I could not be happier.  I hope Williams is able to attend the premiere. 

[mrbellamy 6,679]

I mainly just want as many stories and clips of him behind the scenes as I can get. I don't need to be convinced of how good his music is by playing tons of clips from the movies, or especially by his friends reiterating his genius without ever really putting their finger on it. I've seen the movies, I've heard the music, JW is great. I just wanna know more about what he's like in action. 

[Brando 2,077]

I sure hope the theatrical engagement isn't only relegated to New York and Los Angeles.

4 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

That Seth MacFarlane really does get around. I guess he's going to comment on the cheesy JW 'Family Guy' gags...

Reminds me of this clip of him interviewing Lucas and he asked him about the music in certain scenes. My favorite line is Seth humming a section of the Hoth battle that was dialled out and Lucas can't remember where its from

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,679]

My ultimate dream is that something like this would leak for ANY of his scores 

 

 

[Tom 5,023]

38 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

My ultimate dream is that something like this would leak for ANY of his scores 

 

 

The BBC documentary is probably the closest that we will get to this one.  

[Amer 2,210]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

The BBC documentary is probably the closest that we will get to this one.  

Apparently the full documentary source is residing in their Lucasfilm vaults. Since they reused portions of that in their EMPIRE 40th ANNIVERSARY release documentary short back in 2021.

[Sandor 840]

7 hours ago, ricsim88 said:

Chris Martin is the trumpet soloist on Lincoln. At the time he was principal of the Chicago symphony. He's now principal at the NY philharmonic.

 

Someone beat me to it.

Well, Coldplay did use Williams’ Flying Theme to open the shows of their succesful Music Of The Spheres tour (much like Metallica has been using Morricone’s The Ectasy Of Gold for years now) so there is a link. 

[BB-8 3,877]

Blu Ray, please.

[Thor 8,190]

9 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

I think (HOPE) it's renowned trumpeter and Lincoln soloist Chris Martin, not Coldplay Chris Martin.

 

LOL, yes that makes more sense. Was not aware of trumpeter Chris Martin.

[mrbellamy 6,679]

You gotta give Lincoln another spin 

[Marian Schedenig 8,891]

7 hours ago, Sandor said:

Well, Coldplay did use Williams’ Flying Theme to open the shows of their succesful Music Of The Spheres tour (much like Metallica has been using Morricone’s The Ectasy Of Gold for years now) so there is a link. 

 

I'd be more interested in what Matt Bellamy of Muse has to say about him. He did play the CE3K theme on the guitar as the first few notes when he came on stage at Wembley, and United States of Eurasia has an instrumental refrain that's an almost-quote of the slave children theme from Temple of Doom.

[karelm 3,013]

American Film Institute (wordfly.com)

 

I think it's only at the AFI festival.  

[Jay 39,156]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

United States of Eurasia has an instrumental refrain that's an almost-quote of the slave children theme from Temple of Doom.

 

In case anybody reading this has never heard that:

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,891]

I thought about posting a link but didn't want to derail the thread too much.

 

…but since we're there already, here's the CE3K bit:

 

(Williams gets credit for that on the album)

((Odd that this video is an upload by the official channel yet only comes in 240p resolution))

[kingtolkien 5]

I am disappointed that his family didn't give interviews. His children, his wife his brothers. His brothers would offer us wonderful information about his early jazz pianist career. I would love to listen to their stories. 

[Thor 8,190]

45 minutes ago, kingtolkien said:

I am disappointed that his family didn't give interviews. His children, his wife his brothers. His brothers would offer us wonderful information about his early jazz pianist career. I would love to listen to their stories. 

Indeed.

[pete 950]

Has that been confirmed? The list of interviewees I saw above just said "include" which means it's not complete

[Once 680]

I'm curious about the length of the doc. I hope it's not too short (although I'd probably find even a 20-hour documentary series too short ).

[Mr. Hooper 3,106]

18 hours ago, pete said:

Has that been confirmed? The list of interviewees I saw above just said "include" which means it's not complete

Ah, I missed that. Then let's hope that Williams' family is in there, and Stéphane Denève, who I love to hear gush about him in his French accent.

 

And Mark Hamill!

 

17 hours ago, Once said:

I'm curious about the length of the doc. I hope it's not too short (although I'd probably find even a 20-hour documentary series too short ).

 

Because Spielberg is behind it, it should be a definitive and all-encompassing documentary, and not a superficial puff piece. But it won't be "Ken Burns' John Williams" either... Somewhere in-between!

[Marian Schedenig 8,891]

"Includes" could mean "these are some, there are more", or "these are all, but we're not saying so, in case we forgot someone"/"but we're not saying so so that people think there's more".

[karelm 3,013]

On 25/08/2024 at 2:32 PM, kingtolkien said:

I am disappointed that his family didn't give interviews. His children, his wife his brothers. His brothers would offer us wonderful information about his early jazz pianist career. I would love to listen to their stories. 

 

Totally, they have so, so many great stories that shed a lot of light on JW, his childhood, creative process, and just who he is. 

[ricsim88 255]

About Seth Macfarlane and Williams connection, I’m guessing most of you have seen this.

 

 

[Thor 8,190]

I'm not on Tik Tok, but it worked when I opened it in a new window. Pretty decent playing there.

 

[bollemanneke 3,566]

Will they include the CE3K fart scene from Family Guy?

[MusicforMovies 0]

This needs to be made available on physical media at some point.  

[Jay 39,156]

Various shows (Mandalorian, Andor, Falcon & Winter Soldier, etc) and movies (Soul, Luca, Turning Red, etc) that were once Disney+ streaming exclusives eventually got 4K UHD / Blu Ray releases, so there's precedent

[pete 950]

Another Seth video - Somewhere in my Memory. This makes me want to start playing piano again. I have an electric keyboard in my bedroom, but it mostly serves as a place to put my coffee cup and sometimes dry some laundry.

 

 

[scoreman36 85]

Whilst excited about this doc, I’m 100 times more excited about the book. 

[enderdrag64 833]

The book will have more substance for sure, but I'm hopeful we get a lot of new sessions footage and clips from the documentary