Williams conducts at Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny US premiere

[DangerMotif 1,248]

https://twitter.com/Borys_Kit/status/1669159053078204417?s=20

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1669159133764005888?s=20

https://twitter.com/DEADLINE/status/1669160064123568128?s=20

https://twitter.com/jrnepales/status/1669160465673654273?s=20

https://twitter.com/DEADLINE/status/1669160993354813440?s=20

[Tom 5,406]

Glad to see him up and about.  I forgot how much I like Adventures of Mutt.  

[crumbs 15,345]

Great to see Mangold, Spielberg and Ford as the 3 who go to shake Williams' hand after the curtain rises. You can tell Mangold adores the man.

 

Shame Lucas just walked off the stage.

[Brando 2,367]

Just now, crumbs said:

Shame Lucas just walked off the stage.

He didn't have a Diet Coke today so he's pretty tired.

[crumbs 15,345]

This franchise just didn’t change people’s childhoods “it embraced them and became over obsession” that grew up with it. Even John Williams has spoken heavily to retire after #DialOfDestiny but, cannot deny the #IndianaJones theme sends chills.
pic.twitter.com/eY4jEwDrLS

— Brian Saeger (@SkywalkerBrian) June 15, 2023

 

He added a Star Wars-esque flourish at the end of the Raiders March. I've never heard this before!

 

Mutt and Helena were the two other pieces performed.

 

I missed the beginning of this and kind of lost it at the end but here’s Steven Spielberg thanking George Lucas, Harrison Ford and surprise introducing John Williams at the #IndianaJones premiere. I’ll never forget this. pic.twitter.com/gwkPDRPOSt

— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) June 15, 2023

 

JOHN WILLIAMS pic.twitter.com/8a2wCmyDPd

— Ash Crossan (@AshCrossan) June 15, 2023

 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s #IndianaJones character, Helena Shaw’s theme from John Williams pic.twitter.com/ojQmWZ0Jc9

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 15, 2023

 

Wow. #JohnWilliams and a full orchestra! #IndianaJones premiere pic.twitter.com/RYSs7IW0LH

— ruben nepales (@nepalesruben) June 15, 2023

 

Love the reaction to JW appearing in this video:

OMFG…

JOHN WILLIAMS!!! pic.twitter.com/bRrzdznMP6

— Dan Veesenmeyer (@dveese) June 15, 2023

[Brando 2,367]

Oh thats super cool!

[DangerMotif 1,248]

https://twitter.com/jordiepoblete/status/1669207962236366848?s=20

[crumbs 15,345]

Harrison Ford, John Williams and George Lucas at the US premiere of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ pic.twitter.com/Q8CZKPMHGT

— Fan Flick 🍿 (@Fan_FlickOn) June 15, 2023

[tomsmoviemadness 3,947]

Love the audience's reaction when the screen goes up and Williams and orchestra appear.

 

 

[crumbs 15,345]

Someone uploaded the entire JW mini-concert to YouTube, including JW's comments between tracks.

 

 

[lairdo 906]

Just got back to the hotel after the premier of Dial of Destiny, and the John Williams moment was one I had predicted at breakfast would happen. But that takes nothing away from the moment when the screen rose to reveal the Maestro and the orchestra. Truly an amazing moment even from the back row of the mezzanine section. Hearing Helena's Theme live was truly wonderful. I think Adventures of Mutt was not as amazing as other live performances I heard. Raiders March was fantastic. 

 

The place was hopping after the performance.

 

And I very much enjoyed the film and cannot wait to see it again.

 

On the soundtrack - ordered the LP and CD from Disney although hoping to get the CD sooner from Amazon. Really surprised at the August date for both. I do hope we'll get a digital release on June 30.

 

 

[crumbs 15,345]

13 minutes ago, lairdo said:

And I very much enjoyed the film and cannot wait to see it again.

 

Great write up @lairdo!

 

Any spoiler-free opinions on the score as heard in the film?

[Davis 3,821]

So John Williams definitely doesn’t wear glasses anymore. 

[tmarps 218]

ever since the 2020 Vienna concert JW seems to have aged backwards… remarkable energy for a nonagenarian. 

[That_Bloke 163]

Williams's quip about the musicians: "you can discover they are actually people".

 

I wonder if that was a sly barb against the current (over)reliance on synthetics to score films. 

[Jurassic Shark 14,491]

So Harrison and John are kissing now. Interesting development.

[Ricard 2,282]

 

 

 

 

https://whatsondisneyplus.com/indiana-jones-and-the-dial-of-destiny-us-premiere-photos/

 

[Damien F 1,830]

2 hours ago, JTW said:

So John Williams definitely doesn’t wear glasses anymore. 

 

Maybe he heard that Daisy Ridley doesn't like guys who wear glasses.

[Jay 41,617]

Yea it's weird seeing him without glasses again! 

[Bespin Copilot 9,369]

3 hours ago, JTW said:

So John Williams definitely doesn’t wear glasses anymore. 

 

I was just about to write that! So he underwent eye surgery, which possibly included vision correction along with the removal of cataracts.

[Sunshine Reger 3,634]

The three men behind the IJ films felt a bit like:

 

[Cerebral Cortex 3,359]

1 hour ago, Ricard said:

 

 

If film music has a name, it must be Johnny T. Williams!

 

[crumbs 15,345]

12 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

I was just about to write that! So he underwent eye surgery, which possibly included vision correction along with the removal of cataracts.

 

Maybe images from TROS were burned into his retinas and he wanted to stop the nightmares.

[BB-8 4,584]

I like that American sound of the orchestra!

[lairdo 906]

7 hours ago, JTW said:

So John Williams definitely doesn’t wear glasses anymore. 

 

Yes, I thought was interesting too! Glad he had the cataracts removed. I hear from others who have had that it is truly altering to see more colors. I hope JW is getting the joy of that experience.

 

7 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

Great write up @lairdo!

 

Any spoiler-free opinions on the score as heard in the film?

 

Thanks.

 

Really, there was way too much going on to even process everything. With my fellow IndyCasters who I have not seen since 2020 (or even longer ago), being out on the red carpet. Getting to meet Ke Huy Quan (Short Round) after the movie. The person who organizes these events for Disney is married to one of my former students, and that person spotted me in photos from the organizer and then told him to go meet me, to being steps from one of the actresses in the film. 

 

Still, while I had predicted the appearance of the Maestro to play music, by the time the event started, I had forgotten about that and then the curtain rose to reveal him and 80+ musicians. 

 

In terms of the music in the film and without giving spoilers (other than locations but all of which are in the trailer): First off, it's generally audible most of the time it plays. There is a lot of it as Mangold has told us, and still there are some action sequences where no music was used (not dissimilar to Star Wars when the music drops out). I do suspect those moments had music scored for them and the absence now was editorial. (I'm already pining for unreleased music!) The first 20% of the which takes place in the 40s is pretty much all scored and many old themes and motifs from the franchise can be heard winding their way through the action. I'm not entirely sure when we get to hear this separately (if we do) that it will feel very coherent though as I got a sense of jumping around a bit. It works in the movie though, and I wonder about it as a listening experience without the film.

 

As I hoped and guessed on our recent podcast, the sound and music of the era made appearances at times including one key early moment as the movie transitioned to 1969. That is not at all a decision by JW - it was clearly in the script as the music diegetic - but in terms of the overall score of the picture it worked. Generally after that the score charted to some new areas and themes. Helena's music is very differently used than say Marion's theme and different pieces of it the suite we have heard since last summer show up in the right spots with varying orchestrations, tempos and blends with other themes. I liked that. This felt similar to how the Solo suite was used as a basis for numerous moments in that film. Of course the difference being JW's own use of his themes vs. Powell's (which was still quite good).

 

There are plenty of action sequences and one in particular was scored in a manner that JW would have done in the late 60's or early 70's. I felt vibes of Lalo Schifrin and some amount of homage to The French Connection and similar films set in NY in that era. I found that refreshing although perhaps a bit of an oddity compared to to the rest of the score.

 

Definitely heard shades of Tintin when the film was in North Africa which was either how JW scores all those locales or was his own homage to his past work. I suspect the former. It was not a straight lift or anything blatant and worked with the action.

 

Probably missing for me was a clear statement of themes for the Dial itself (although I think it is there) or Voller, the main bad guy. 

 

A few times, clearly Mangold just let the music dominate as much as the visuals would allow. Not to the level of Spielberg (e.g. the Truck Chase, Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra, the jungle chase stuff in Skull), but not as infrequent as in the recent Star Wars films.

 

Overall, highly satisfied and looking forward to whatever we get on the soundtrack (which is going to woefully inadequate unless there is a surprised deluxe digital version) and looking forward to deciding where this sits amongst the other 4 films. 

 

 

[Jay 41,617]

Lalo Schifrin not Lala Schifrin

 

Tintin not Tin Tin

 

Thanks for the write-up!

[Davis 3,821]

14 minutes ago, lairdo said:

I hear from others who have had that it is truly altering to see more colors. I hope JW is getting the joy of that experience.

I hope so too. But my Father had done similar eye surgery two years ago and lost vision in one eye, and had to later undergo several more surgeries and had to have injection therapy every 6 weeks for the rest of his life. He passed away this March at 83. 
So it’s not a sure thing for everyone. Williams is a very brave man for willing to do this procedure at such a late age. Happy for him being so well.

[Edmilson 10,053]

23 minutes ago, lairdo said:

There are plenty of action sequences and one in particular was scored in a manner that JW would have done in the late 60's or early 70's. I felt vibes of Lala Schifrin and some amount of homage to The French Connection and similar films set in NY in that era. I found that refreshing although perhaps a bit of an oddity compared to to the rest of the score.

 

Cool! 

[lairdo 906]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Lalo Schifrin not Lala Schifrin

 

Tintin not Tin Tin

 

Thanks for the write-up!

Thanks. Fixed. The first was autocorrect. The second was dumb. 

 

My pleasure.

1 hour ago, JTW said:

I hope so too. But my Father had done similar eye surgery two years ago and lost vision in one eye, and had to later undergo several more surgeries and had to have injection therapy every 6 weeks for the rest of his life. He passed away this March at 83. 
So it’s not a sure thing for everyone. Williams is a very brave man for willing to do this procedure at such a late age. Happy for him being so well.

So sorry to hear this, and my condolences to you and your family. My parents are just shy of that age and I wonder how much longer they will last. If all goes well, I will be at the Hollywood Bowl with them to hear the Maestro. They do deserve credit for taking me to Star Wars and buying that 8-track soundtrack for the car and of course taking me to the Bowl for much of my teen years every summer. 

[Meredith McKay 7,489]

From what I have heard, there are several types of eye surgery procedures, some have advantages and disadvantages compared to others.

[Alex 2,919]

This is the quickest he´s conducted The Adventures of Mutt for a while. Maybe his cataracts were blocking the tempo markings on the score.

[Davis 3,821]

9 hours ago, crumbs said:

Someone uploaded the entire JW mini-concert to YouTube, including JW's comments between tracks.

 

 

Has anybody else noticed that Kathleen Kennedy didn’t

clap when Steven Spielberg thanked John Williams, and NOT because she dislikes Williams, bear with me.

Spielberg said thanks to 3 indispensable people without whom none of them would be there. 
He thanked the person who created Indiana Jones: George Lucas. Kennedy clapped enthusiastically.

Then Spielberg thanked the person who IS Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford. Again, Kennedy clapped politely.

Then Spielberg thanked the person who is the glue to all five of these films: The great Maestro John Williams. Kennedy just stands there, no clapping. 
Was she expecting Spielberg saying her name? If so, how embarrassing. 

 

[Jay 41,617]

New video with closeups

 

https://twitter.com/michaelwarbur17/status/1669341420195397632

[Davis 3,821]

Hope George Lucas is doing OK. He had to be escorted off stage. This isn’t the first time he had a hard time walking. May the Force be with him. 

[Luke Skywalker 2,109]

George lucas looks very old in that video. 

[Davis 3,821]

1 minute ago, Luke Skywalker said:

George lucas looks very old in that video. 

He’s 79 years old, but he looks ill. I hope it’s nothing serious. He just stood there the whole time. Maybe he just didn’t want to be there, but the way Kennedy and Marshall had to help him off stage looked very alarming. 

[Meredith McKay 7,489]

Kinda crazy that this discussion is about Lucas not Williams.

[Tom 5,406]

1 minute ago, A Farewell to Kings said:

Kinda crazy that this discussion is about Lucas not Williams.

There is enough juice here to keep us all fat and giggly.  

[lairdo 906]

2 hours ago, JTW said:

He’s 79 years old, but he looks ill. I hope it’s nothing serious. He just stood there the whole time. Maybe he just didn’t want to be there, but the way Kennedy and Marshall had to help him off stage looked very alarming. 

 

I saw him walk in with his wife, Melody Hobson, on the red carpet. He definitely looked frail. Melody was holding his hand (which was very sweet), and he almost tripped transitioning from the red carpet on Hollywood Blvd itself to the red carpet that goes on the curb up towards the Dolby theater (itself a pretty good walk because the theater is behind a number of retail stores.

 

He is only slightly older younger (79) than Harrison (turning 81 in July), is way younger than Johnny (91), but he looked the oldest of anyone out there. Frank Marshall is 76, and he looked spry.

 

[Davis 3,821]

20 minutes ago, lairdo said:

He is only slightly older than Harrison

Oh… This makes me very sad. 
Btw. Lucas is two years younger than Harrison Ford. Ford will be 81 in July, Lucas was 79 in May. 

[Tom 5,406]

The average age of death for a man in the US, subtracting out accidental deaths, murder, and such, is 77.  Lucas looks exactly like most of that segment look.  He has had a remarkable life.  The rest is just the reality of human existence. 

 

JW exists in a quite rarified sphere, given the combo of age and health.  

[Davis 3,821]

It’s possible he had a stroke. 

[lairdo 906]

26 minutes ago, JTW said:

Oh… This makes me very sad. 
Btw. Lucas is two years younger than Harrison Ford. Ford will be 81 in July, Lucas was 79 in May. 

 

Adjusted. Thanks. I'm making all sorts of errors on my posts today. Still tired from last night.

 

Here's a photo of me with the IndyCasters and Ke Huy Quan who Mitch (far right) knows. That was a treat getting to speak to him.

 

 

[pete 1,061]

11 hours ago, That_Bloke said:

Williams's quip about the musicians: "you can discover they are actually people".

 

I wonder if that was a sly barb against the current (over)reliance on synthetics to score films. 

 

I really don't think so. I think he was just pointing that these are never seen during the film but they contribute so much, and when most people see a movie, it is easy to forget or rather not consider the people that perform the music. He's too classy to take an opportunity like that to take a dig at anything really. And is this a first = the musicians who performed on the soundtrack performing live at the premier? It might not have been everybody who performed on the score,  but if not it was probably most of them.

 

Back to the performances. A new little ending to the Raiders's March and The Adventures of Mutt had more changes, mostly in the second half of the piece, right? Do my ears on Covid Day 2 deceive me? Either way, the performance brightened my otherwise non-fun day!

[Pieter Boelen 902]

According to this video, Williams conducted TWO pieces from Dial of Destiny at the USA premiere yesterday.

We know the first was Helena's Theme.

But what was the second?

 

 

Oh...

Please move my post here instead:

 

That's more appropriate...

[Meredith McKay 7,489]

He dug at the SFX mix of TFA....

[DangerMotif 1,248]

1 hour ago, Pieter Boelen said:

According to this video, Williams conducted TWO pieces from Dial of Destiny at the USA premiere yesterday.

We know the first was Helena's Theme.

But what was the second?

 

 

Oh...

Please move my post here instead:

 

That's more appropriate...

Raiders march

[mrbellamy 7,154]

They obviously didn't recognize Adventures of Mutt

[Tom 5,406]

2 hours ago, pete said:

 

I really don't think so. I think he was just pointing that these are never seen during the film but they contribute so much, and when most people see a movie, it is easy to forget or rather not consider the people that perform the music. He's too classy to take an opportunity like that to take a dig at anything really. And is this a first = the musicians who performed on the soundtrack performing live at the premier? It might not have been everybody who performed on the score,  but if not it was probably most of them.

 

Back to the performances. A new little ending to the Raiders's March and The Adventures of Mutt had more changes, mostly in the second half of the piece, right? Do my ears on Covid Day 2 deceive me? Either way, the performance brightened my otherwise non-fun day!

Indy's theme was more pronounced in Mutt.  I think it was more of a performance accentuation than change, but maybe Williams did revise it.  I'll have to listen again.  

 

I swear the ending on Raiders was just to mess with people, though maybe since it is the shortened version, Williams likes a few extra measures of drama.  

[Alejandro 28]

12 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

I was just about to write that! So he underwent eye surgery, which possibly included vision correction along with the removal of cataracts.

Didn’t someone see him in an optometrist office recently and snapped a selfie ?