John Williams

We almost missed out on one of the greatest scores in film history.

He's in a league of his own.

The video combines an immersive sneak peek into the set of ‘The Last Jedi’ and an overview of what went into designing the score.

Silent films are making a comeback, and it’s the loud, exciting action movies that are doing it.

The composer is retiring from the franchise because nine movies “will be quite enough for me.”

The ‘Star Wars’ composer is about to be 86 years old, but he’s not stopping yet.

The ‘Han Solo’ director teases a look at a cockpit, but what ship is it from?

John Williams is one of Steven Spielberg’s most frequent collaborators, and earlier this year he was set to score both of the director’s upcoming movies: Pentagon Papers drama The Papers and pop culture-infused sci-fi Ready Player One. But because both of these movies are being put together at about the same time (Ready Player One’s production began last year, and The Papers was filmed this spring in a matter of weeks for a December release) Williams has had to give up scoring duties on the latter in favor of the former.

The best part of The Force Awakens, if I had to pick just one, is probably the fakeout when Kylo Ren is chasing Rey and Finn through the snowy forest, and the lightsaber he reaches for zooms past his face and into Rey’s outstretched hand. I went to see that movie three times in theaters, and every time that moment happened, people cheered. It’s made even cooler by the addition of John Williams’ “Force Theme,” also known as “Binary Sunset” from the original Star Wars. It was adopted somewhat as Luke’s personal theme, but generally signals the Light Side of the Force.

Look, I’m a pretty simple guy. I don’t ask for a lot out of life. Life doesn’t ask for a lot out of me. But I do have one very small goal, and that’s to eventually do something well enough that a bunch of colleges around the United States decide to praise me with honorary doctorate degrees. A pretty modest aim, right? One pithy news article about Star Wars rumors, and suddenly, the University of Southern California and UCLA are competing to see who can give me the most pieces of paper with my name on it. In the immortal words of Cannibal! The Musical, that’s all I’m asking for.