- The beauty of "Star Wars" it's not a science fiction film.
It's a musical, where the orchestra starts
with a trumpet blast, and it sort of
ends with a trumpet blast.
And everything in between is the score.
["STAR WARS" THEME SONG PLAYING]
- Everything about the experience with John Williams
was magical.
To sit on the sound stage and to hear that 100-piece orchestra
light up, and he's up there conducting,
and to feel that music hit you, it's an emotional experience
unlike anything I've ever had.
- Remember that E flat will just continue.
- OK.
[ORCHESTRA PLAYING]
- We have actually recorded him with the orchestra 183
minutes of music, which I think is something of a record
actually.
It's more than "Force Awakens."
- So with "Canto Bight," I had always figured, OK,
that was going to be source music, which means it's
not an abstract score playing.
It's supposed to be music that's actually in the scene.
And I didn't know whether John was going to want to do that
or not.
And he really wanted to do it.
He was so-- [LAUGHING] he was like, nope, I'm doing that.
[MUSIC - JOHN WILLIAMS, "CANTO BIGHT"]
And the day we were recording it,
he was having so much fun because they
were like playing, like, plastic trumpets.
[LAUGHING] And they were like--
they had all the wacky instruments out.
They went to a wacky drawer.
[MUSIC - JOHN WILLIAMS, "CANTO BIGHT"]
He was like a little kid, just kind of like experi-- oh, what
if we do that?
And what if we try-- can you try using that thing
as a plunger in that thing?
It was so much fun to watch.
And then you see it in the movie,
and it's got this wacky, beautiful life to it, you know.
It's pretty cool.
[MUSIC - JOHN WILLIAMS, "CANTO BIGHT"]
I've had my morning coffee on the Millennium Falcon.
I've had I've done some pretty cool stuff.
And nothing compares to sitting there next to John
when he's at work.
It's hard to separate the emotional reaction
of the movies that you grew up with and John's score.
And you can't pull them apart.
They're merged.
[ORCHESTRA PLAYING]
- Well, I don't feel any different than I
might have done 40 years ago.
I'm no less excited by bringing it to life with the orchestra,
maybe more so.
You can never stop learning.
You don't want to retire from music anymore
than you retire from breathing.
This is probably the only time in the history of cinema
where a composer has had the opportunity
to do eight episodes of something,
using material from episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 always--
and then adding something new every time.
What a treat to be able to have had
the good fortune to do that.
Quite happy to continue on with it, if I'm able.
It's been too much fun.
[ORCHESTRA PLAYING]
- What does it do? [LAUGHTER]
- Can it conduct?
[LAUGHTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- Sean, I got distracted.
[LAUGHTER]
[INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
New orchestra member.
A soloist.