This is one of my favorite movie anecdotes:
When his longtime collaborator, the director Steven Spielberg, showed him Schindler’s List, the composer felt it would be too challenging to score. He said to Spielberg, ‘You need a better composer than I am for this film.’ Spielberg responded, ‘I know. But they’re all dead!’
I love that! It’s a funny anecdote and very endearing. John Williams is a giant in the industry but didn’t seem to have an ego about himself when it came to the daunting task of scoring such a powerful film.
I think that’s the kind of attitude you’d want from a composer for a film like Schindler’s List. Someone that recognizes the importance of the film and who is going to work their ass off to do the film justice rather than someone waltzing in and treating it like they’re working on a run of the mill movie gig.
The best thing I ever did in life was use “John Williams” as my seed artist for a Pandora station.
He’s one of the best of all time, without question, IMO.