John Williams Has Never Seen Star Wars—and Doesn’t Think Much of His Score

In the pantheon of great movie scores, few are more recognizable—or beloved—than John Williams’s iconic Star Wars compositions. Back in 2005, the American Film Institute even honored it with the top spot on its list of the 25 Greatest Film Scores of All Time, beating out well-known themes from Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Psycho, The Godfather, and Jaws (another Williams ditty), in that order. But the legendary composer, who holds the most Oscar nominations for a living person (with a total of 50), doesn’t think all that much of his Star Wars jams.

The AV Club recently came across an interview with Williams in The Mirror in which the 84-year-old got candid about his 60-year career, which included a couple of startling admissions: namely, that he has never seen any of the Star Wars movies—and that he doesn’t consider his work on them to be among his best, despite winning a Best Original Score Oscar for his work on the first film in the saga.

“I don’t know,” Williams told The Mirror of his work on the Star Wars franchise. “A lot of them are not very memorable ... It’s probably the most popular music that I’ve done.” While seeing his music paired with the action on the big screen might help Williams see his work in a new light, we’re not holding our breath that it will happen anytime soon.

“I let it go. I have not looked at the Star Wars films,” Williams admitted. "When I’m finished with a film, I’ve been living with it, we’ve been dubbing it, recording to it, and so on. You walk out of the studio and, ‘Ah, it’s finished.’ … I don’t have an impulse to go to the theater and look at it. Maybe some people find that weird.”

The Force is strong with this one.