The Star Wars movie franchise may be one of the most popular ever, but its renowned composer, John Williams, isn’t a fan.
He was the brains behind the memorable Rebel Fanfare and The Imperial March, but he said that when he finishes a job: “I let it go. I have not looked at the Star Wars films and that’s absolutely true.”
Admitting that it wasn’t a trait he was especially proud of, the 84-year-old still said that he won’t be going to see the Spielberg film he is currently working on, either.
John leads the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra for the opening celebration of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (John Raoux/AP/PA)
He said: “I’m not particularly proud of that, I have to say, but it’s also part of the fact that I finished Star Wars now and I’m already working on Spielberg’s new film and I don’t want to listen to music or see films.”
Why not? Because, he said, you have to be humble when you are “standing on the shoulders” of composers like Mozart and Beethoven.
Recognising the enormous popularity of his Star Wars work, he said he believed they are still not “classics”, adding: “I’m not so brilliant that I can sit down and write a melody or a theme or a whole scene or a whole work as Mozart might have done.”
Describing writing music for an orchestra as “hard”, “labour-intensive” and even “lonely”, he revealed that he still uses a pencil and paper rather than a computer.
John did not write the score for the latest Star Wars film, Rogue One, which was composed instead by Michael Giacchino.
