Steven Spielberg To Produce Documentary About Legendary Film Composer, John Williams

In a new interview with Variety's film and music writer Jon Burlingame at the Writer's Guild Theater, Williams was asked if he'd really retire from music after Indiana Jones 5, confirming that he might not retire after all.

"Well, Steven is a lot of things," he began. "He’s a director; he’s a producer; he’s a studio head; he’s a writer; he’s a philanthropist; he’s an educator. One thing he isn’t is a man you can say no to."

Spielberg responded, "You never told me that before today."

Williams continued to tell a story about a woman in her 90s who gave him some sage advice. 

"I had a 90th birthday, and I met a woman at my age up in Boston. She was a very nice lady, exactly the same age as I, and I said to her, the greatest decade in a man’s life is 80 to 90, if you have your health, because if you get to 90, there’s an enormous compensation. You see everything with such magnetic vision that you recognize the most beautiful thing in the world are Peruvian butterflies. There’s nothing more beautiful than that. And so it’s the greatest decade. And she said, ‘No, the greatest decade in a person’s life is 90 to 100. So I’ll stick around for a while."

The composer added, "But also, you can’t retire from music. I said earlier, it’s like breathing. It’s your life. It’s my life. And so a day without music is a mistake."

Spielberg then said, "I gotta get working to find out what the hell I’m doing next."

The two have collaborated for decades. In his 67-year career, Williams has scored 27 Spielberg-directed films, including E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Schindler's List, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and most recently, last year's The Fabelman's, which was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Score.