The Terminal is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is about a man trapped in a terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country, the fictitious Krakozhia, due to a revolution. The film is partially inspired by the 17-year-stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Terminal I, Paris, France from 1988 to 2006.^[2]

Plot[link]

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) arrives at JFK International Airport, but finds that his passport is suddenly not valid, so he is not allowed to enter the United States. While he was en route to the U.S., a revolution was started in his home nation of Krakozhia. Due to the civil war, the United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as a sovereign nation and denies Viktor's entrance to the U.S. territory. He is unable to leave the airport, but he is also unable to return to Krakozhia, Viktor instead lives in the terminal, carrying his luggage and a mysterious Planters peanut can.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Head Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) wants Navorski removed from the airport. Navorski collects money for food by retrieving vacant baggage trolleys for the 25-cent reward from the machine, until Dixon prevents this. He then befriends a catering car driver named Enrique Cruz (Diego Luna) who gives him food in exchange for information about Customs and Border Protection officer Dolores Torres (Zoë Saldana), with whom Enrique is infatuated. With Viktor's help, Enrique and Dolores eventually marry each other. He meets flight attendant Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who asks him out to dinner, but he tries to earn money in order to ask Amelia out instead. He finally gets an off-the-books job as a construction worker at the airport earning $19 an hour (more money than Dixon makes), and he also learns to speak fluent English.

Viktor is asked to interpret for a desperate Russian man with undocumented drugs for his sick father. Viktor claims it is "medicine for goat," barring the drug from confiscation and resolving the crisis. Under pressure and the watchful eye of the Airport Ratings committee, who is evaluating Dixon for an upcoming promotion, Dixon has a falling out with Viktor. Though Dixon is advised that sometimes rules must be ignored, he becomes obsessed with getting Viktor ejected from the airport. An airport janitor, Rajan Gupta (Kumar Pallana), exaggerates the "goat" incident to his fellow co-workers and as a result, Viktor earns the respect and admiration of all of the airport staff.

One day, Viktor explains to Amelia that the purpose of his visit to New York is to collect an autograph from the tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. It is revealed that the peanut can Viktor carries with him contains nothing more than an autographed copy of the "Great Day in Harlem" photograph. His late father was a jazz enthusiast who had discovered the famous portrait in a Hungarian newspaper in 1958, and vowed to get an autograph of all the 57 jazz musicians featured on the photograph. He succeeded in obtaining 56, but he died before he could finish his collection, so Viktor traveled to New York to obtain the autograph, so he can finish his collection.

After 9 months of living on the JFK terminal, he is awaken by Enrique and the other friends, who inform him that the war in Krakozhia is now ended, but Dixon will still not allow Viktor to enter the United States. Amelia reveals that she had asked her 'friend' — actually a married government official with whom she had been having an affair — to assist Viktor in obtaining permission to travel within the U.S., but Viktor is disappointed to learn she has renewed her relationship with the man during this process.

To make matters worse, Dixon needs to sign the form granting Viktor the right to remain in the United States, but refuses. He instead blackmails Viktor into returning to Krakozhia, or he will have Mulroy fired for having evening poker games with friends and bringing marijuana into the airport, have Enrique fired for allowing Viktor into the restricted food preparation area and deport Gupta back to his native India, where he is wanted for assaulting a corrupt police officer back in 1978. Upon hearing this, Gupta runs in front of Viktor's plane and asks Viktor to go anyway. The plane is delayed, giving Viktor enough time to go into the city and obtain the autograph. With the blessing of the entire airport staff, Viktor leaves the airport after receiving a uniform coat from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Port Director and hails a taxi.

Dixon, watching Viktor leave the airport, decides not to pursue him. As Viktor prepares to take the taxi to a Ramada Inn where Benny Golson is performing, he observes Amelia exiting from a cab, where she gives him a wistful smile, telling him to go. He has a short conversation with the cab driver, telling him how to avoid traffic on the way to the hotel and that he is from Krakozhia. The driver tells Viktor that he is from Albania and arrived earlier that week. At the hotel, Benny Golson is doing a sound check and asks Viktor to wait while he finishes his rehearsal. Viktor listens to him play and collects the autograph, finally completing the collection. Afterwards, Viktor leaves and hails a taxi, telling the driver, "I am going home."

Cast[link]

• Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski the main protagonist and a native of the fictional Krakozhia, forced to remain in the airport after his country goes into civil war.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones as Amelia Warren, a flight attendant whom Viktor develops feelings for.
• Stanley Tucci as Frank Dixon, the main antagonist and the head of security who is trying to kick Navorski out of the airport.
• Barry Shabaka Henley as Thurman
• Kumar Pallana as Rajan Gupta, an Indian janitor in America due to a warrant for his arrest back in India.
• Diego Luna as Enrique Cruz, a luggage sorter who befriends Viktor.
• Chi McBride as Mulroy
• Zoë Saldana as Dolores Torres, an Immigration officer who marries Enrique. It was stated that Dolores was a Trekkie. Saldana would later portray Uhura in the Star Trek reboot.
• Eddie Jones as Salchak
• Jude Ciccolella as Karl Iverson
• Corey Reynolds as Waylin
• Guillermo Diaz as Bobby Alima
• Rini Bell as Nadia
• Benny Golson as himself
• Valery Nikolaev as Milodragovich
• Stephen Mendel as First Class Steward
• Scott Adsit as Cab driver

Production[link]

Some have noted that the film appears to be inspired by the story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal One of the Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris from 1988 when his refugee papers were stolen until 2006 when he was hospitalized for unspecified ailments.^[2][3] In September 2003, The New York Times noted that Spielberg bought the rights to Nasseri's life story as the basis for the film; and in September 2004 The Guardian noted Nasseri received thousands of dollars from the filmmakers.^[4][5] However, none of the studio's publicity materials mention Nasseri's story as an inspiration for the film.

Steven Spielberg traveled around the world to find an actual airport that would let him film for the length of the production, but could not find one. The Terminal set was built in a massive hangar at the LA/Palmdale Regional Airport. The hangar, part of the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 complex was used to build the Rockwell International B-1B bomber. The set was built to full earthquake construction codes and was based on the Düsseldorf International Airport. The shape of both the actual terminal and the set viewed sideways is a cross section of an aircraft wing. The design of the set for The Terminal, as noted by Roger Ebert in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature by Empire magazine, was greatly inspired by Jacques Tati's classic film Play Time.

Everything functioned in the set as in real life. There was real food, ice cream and coffee in the appropriate outlets. The escalators were purchased from a department store that had gone bankrupt. Each of the outlets featured in the concourse building was actually sponsored by the real company. Many stores are seen and Viktor seeks a job at the Brookstone, la Perla and Discovery Channel stores, eats at the Burger King, buys his New York City guide book at Borders and buys his suit at Hugo Boss. Enrique proposes to Dolores at Sbarro.

Most exterior shots and those featuring actual aircraft were shot at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport: additional interior shots were also done there including the mezzanine overlooking the immigration desks and the baggage carousels directly behind them, the jetways showing Aéroports de Montréal signs, and many Air Transat planes in the background: New York is not one of their regular destinations. Additional pre-production shooting was done at Los Angeles International Airport and at Spielberg's offices at Amblin. Montreal is also mentioned on the loudspeaker at the beginning of the film, around the point where the customs officer tells Viktor to wait in a special line.

The 747 was provided by United Airlines. The Star Alliance was a major sponsor and provided uniforms, equipment, and actors in addition to those cast. In spite of the heavy presence of the Star Alliance airlines, a Delta Air Lines pilot passes Viktor in a scene during the last five minutes of the film.

Reception[link]

The Terminal received mixed reactions from critics; Rotten Tomatoes reported that 60% of 198 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 6.2 out of 10.^[6] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 55 based on 41 reviews.^[7] Michael Wilmington from the Chicago Tribune said "[the film] takes Spielberg into realms he's rarely traveled before."^[8] A. O. Scott of The New York Times said Hanks' performance brought a lot to the film.^[9] However, Joe Morgenstern from The Wall Street Journal thought that "The Terminal is a terminally fraudulent and all-but-interminable comedy."^[10]

The film grossed $77,872,883 in North America and $141,544,372 in other territories, totaling $219,417,255 worldwide.^[1]

Krakozhia[link]

Krakozhia (Кракозия or Кракожия) is a fictional country created for the film, that closely resembles a former Soviet Republic. The Krakozhian language is very similar to Bulgarian. From January 16, 2004 to November 2004, the country experienced a civil war. When the war began, the President of the country was held hostage and a new regime installed, leading to Viktor finding his passport and visa useless. Consequently, Viktor must stay in the airport terminal for nine months, as the United States refuses to recognize the new Krakozhian government, after which peace is declared in Krakozhia and he is able to return home.

The exact location of Krakozhia is kept intentionally vague in the film, keeping with the idea of Viktor being simply Eastern European or from a former Soviet Republic. However in one of the scenes, a map of Krakozhia is briefly displayed on one of the airport's television screens during a news report on the ongoing conflict. The country's borders and location are those of the Republic of Macedonia. Throughout the film, it is learned that the Krakozhian language is mutually intelligible with Russian, and that the Krakozhian national anthem is musically close to that of Albania (or the tune of Vajacki marš). Little else is known about Krakozhia, except that there was a lot of fighting which made the international news. The film mentions that rebels have taken the "northern area" of Krakozhia. The cover of the passport that Viktor shows to the customs officer in one of the initial scenes of the film closely resembles a Soviet passport. His driver's license is Belarusian. One can see the words Вадзіцельскае пасведчанне (Vadzicielskaje pasviedczannie), which means driver's license in Belarusian and the name of the Belarusian city of Homel.

The language which Hanks' character speaks in the film, "Krakozhian", is actually slightly-accented literary Bulgarian (which is indeed mutually intelligible with Russian to an extent). Tom Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson, whose father is a Bulgarian, is reported to have coached Hanks in Bulgarian in the course of the shooting of the film.^{[citation needed]} In the same line the name of Viktor's father is Dimitar Asenov Navorski, shaped after the Bulgarian three-section pattern and contains one name popular among contemporary Bulgarians—Dimitar (Димитър). The patronymic Asenov derives from one Bulgarian medieval dynasty and was borne by several Bulgarian Tsars, Ivan Asen II for example.

Krakozhia's name was inspired by one of Spielberg's favorite cities – Kraków in Poland.^{[citation needed]}

The film presents a reasonably accurate picture of the process of naturalistic second language acquisition, according to professional linguist Martha Young-Scholten.^[11]

John Williams, the film's composer, also wrote a national anthem for Krakozhia.^[12]

See also[link]

Film portal

• Mehran Karimi Nasseri
• Stateless person
• Hiroshi Nohara
• Zahra Kamalfar
• Sanjay Shah

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Terminal at the Internet Movie Database
• The Terminal at AllRovi
• The Terminal at Box Office Mojo
• The Terminal at Rotten Tomatoes

Zoe Saldana
Saldana at the 82nd Academy Awards, 2010
Born	Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario (1978-06-19) June 19, 1978 (age 34) Passaic, New Jersey, US[1][2]
Nationality	American
Other names	Zoe Yadira Zaldana Nazario
Ethnicity	Dominican, Puerto Rican
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Partner	Keith Britton (2000–2011)
Parents	Aridio Saldaña (d. c:a 1987)[3] Asalia Nazario
Website
www.zoesaldana.com

Zoe Saldana ( /sælˈdænə/ sal-DAN-ə; born June 19, 1978), sometimes stylized Zoë Saldaña, is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 2000 film Center Stage and later gained prominence for her roles as Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek, and a starring role as Neytiri in James Cameron's Avatar. She also had a lead role in the action film Colombiana and the 2002 film Crossroads.

Early life[link]

Saldana was born Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario^[4][5] or Zoe Yadira Saldana Nazario^[1] in Passaic, New Jersey.^[2][6] Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was Dominican, and her mother, Asalia Nazario, is a Dominican of half Dominican and half Puerto Rican descent. Her first languages are Spanish and English. She spent the majority of her early childhood growing up in Queens, New York. After her father died in a car accident when she was only nine years old, Saldaña moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother. There, Saldana discovered her love of dance and soon enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy; she studied ballet, jazz, and modern Latin dance.^[2][3][7] The family returned to Queens after her sophomore year in high school.

At age 17, she began performing with the Faces theater troupe, which put on plays geared towards providing positive messages for teens, via themes dealing with issues such as substance abuse and sex. Concurrently, she performed with the New York Youth Theater; her appearance in their production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat led a talent agency to recruit her. Her previous dance training, and her acting experience, helped her land her first big screen role as Eva, the talented and headstrong ballet dancer in the 2000 film Center Stage.^[2][3]

Career[link]

Zoe Saldana in 2009

Zoe Saldana was still a member of Faces when she gained exposure in an episode of Law & Order (titled "Merger") which first aired in 1999.^[8] She left school after Center Stage, subsequently appearing in the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads (2002) and the comedy-drama Drumline (2002). She played the pirate Anamaria in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and has appeared in a number of television shows and movies, including The Terminal (2004) and Guess Who (2005) with Ashton Kutcher.

Zoe Saldana and Anand Bhatt at the 2011 Latin Grammys

Saldana was also the lead in the video for Juan Luis Guerra's song "La llave de mi corazón", and played Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek.^[9] In 2009, she played Neytiri, the Na'vi princess, in James Cameron's Avatar, a role that gave her much publicity and recognition, and therefore presenting her more opportunities to work in big commercial films^{[citation needed]}.

She is the only actress to have three movies in the box office top 20 for three consecutive weeks. These movies are Avatar, The Losers, and Death at a Funeral.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2010, Saldana's television ad for Calvin Klein's "Envy" line debuted.^[10] In 2011, she starred in the crime drama movie Colombiana.

Personal life[link]

In June 2010, Saldana became engaged to Keith Britton, an actor and CEO of My Fashion Database.^[11] In November 2011, it was confirmed that Saldana and Britton had amicably ended their relationship after eleven years together.^[12]

Saldana is a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.^[13]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Zoe Saldana Shines on ESSENCE's April Cover". Essence. March 9, 2010. http://www.essence.com/2010/03/10/zoe-saldana-shines-on-essences-april-cov/. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
• Sandell, Laurie (March 1, 2010). "Zoë Saldana: The Most Elegant Member of the Glam New Guard". Glamour (Condé Nast). http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2010/03/zoe-saldana-the-most-elegant-member-of-the-glam-new-guard. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 

External links[link]

Find more about Zoe Saldana on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons

• Official website
• Zoe Saldana on Twitter
• Zoe Saldana on Facebook
• Zoe Saldana at the Internet Movie Database
• Zoe Saldana at AllRovi
• Zoe Saldana at Rotten Tomatoes
• Zoë Saldana at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

John Williams
Williams at the Avery Fisher Hall in 2007
Background information
Birth name	John Towner Williams
Born	(1932-02-08) February 8, 1932 (age 80)
Origin	Flushing, Queens, New York, United States of America
Genres	Film score, Contemporary classical music, Jazz
Occupations	Composer, pianist, conductor
Years active	1952–present

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, War Horse, Home Alone and the first three Harry Potter films. He has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg, composing the music for all but two (Duel and The Color Purple) of Spielberg's major feature films.

Other notable works by Williams include theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, and the television series Lost in Space. Williams has also composed numerous classical concerti, and he served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993; he is now the orchestra's conductor laureate.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 47 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney.^[1] John Williams was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.^[2] Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.

Early life and family[link]

John Williams was born on February 8, 1932 on Long Island, New York, the son of Esther (née Towner) and Johnny Williams.^[3] His father was a jazz percussionist who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet.

In 1948, the Williams family moved to Los Angeles where John attended North Hollywood High School graduating in 1950. He later attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and studied privately with the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.^[4] In 1952, Williams was drafted into the U.S. Air Force, where he conducted and arranged music for the Air Force Band as part of his assignments.

After his Air Force service ended in 1955, Williams moved to New York City and entered the Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne.^[4] During this time, Williams worked as a jazz pianist in New York's many clubs and eventually studios, most notably for composer Henry Mancini. His fellow session musicians included Rolly Bundock on bass, Jack Sperling on drums, and Bob Bain on guitar—the same lineup featured on the Mr. Lucky television series. Williams was known as "Little Johnny Love" Williams during the early 1960s, and he served as music arranger and bandleader for a series of popular music albums with the singer Frankie Laine.

Williams was married to actress Barbara Ruick from 1956 until her death on March 3, 1974. The Williamses had three children: Jennifer (born 1956), Mark (born 1958), and Joseph (born 1960). Williams' younger son (Joseph) is one of the various lead singers the band Toto. John Williams married his second wife, Samantha Winslow, on July 21, 1980.

John Williams is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national fraternity for college band members.

Film and television scoring[link]

Williams at the Boston Symphony Hall after conducting the Boston Pops, May 2006

While skilled in a variety of 20th century compositional idioms, Williams' most familiar style may be described as a form of neoromanticism,^[5] inspired by the same large-scale orchestral music of the late 19th century—especially the compositions of Richard Wagner and its concept of leitmotif—that inspired his film music predecessors.^[6]

After his studies at Juilliard, Williams returned to Los Angeles, where he began working as an orchestrator at film studios. Among other composers, Williams worked with Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and Alfred Newman, and also with his fellow orchestrators Conrad Salinger and Bob Franklyn.^[7] Williams was also a studio pianist, performing on film scores by composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and Henry Mancini. Williams recorded with Henry Mancini on the film scores of Peter Gunn (1959), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and Charade (1963). (Williams actually played the well-recognized opening riff to Mancini's Peter Gunn theme.^[8][9]) Williams (often credited as "Johnny Williams") also composed the music for various TV programs in the 1960s: The pilot episode of Gilligan's Island,^[10] Bachelor Father (1959-1960), the Kraft Suspense Theatre, Lost in Space (1965–68), The Time Tunnel (1966–67), and Land of the Giants (the last three created by the prolific TV producer, Irwin Allen).

Working at Universal Studios, Williams shared music credit on a number of films, the most notable being The Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954. Williams's first major film composition was for the B movie Daddy-O in 1958, and his first screen credit came two years later in Because They're Young. He soon gained notice in Hollywood for his versatility in composing jazz, piano, and symphonic music. Williams received his first nomination for an Academy Award for his film score for Valley of the Dolls (1967), and then was nominated again for his score for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969). Williams broke through to win his first Academy Award for his adapted score for the film Fiddler on the Roof (1971). In 1972 he composed the score for the Robert Altman psychological thriller Images (recorded in collaboration with noted percussionist Stomu Yamashta) which earned him another nomination in the category 'Best Music, Original Dramatic Score' at the 1973 Academy Awards. During the early 1970s, Williams' prominence grew thanks to his work for now–film producer Irwin Allen's disaster films, composing the scores for The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). In addition, he scored Universal's Earthquake (1974) for director Mark Robson, completing a "trinity" of scores for the highest grossing "disaster films" of the decade. He also wrote a very memorable score to The Cowboys (1972), a western starring John Wayne and directed by Mark Rydell.

In 1974, Williams was approached by director Steven Spielberg to compose the music for his feature directorial debut, The Sugarland Express. The young director had been impressed with Williams's score for the movie The Reivers (1969), and Spielberg was convinced that Williams could compose the musical sound that he desired for any of his films. They teamed up again a year later for Spielberg's second film, Jaws. Widely considered to be a classic suspense film, its film score's ominous two-note motif has become synonymous with sharks and approaching danger. The score for Jaws earned Williams his second Academy Award, his first one for an original composition.

Shortly thereafter, Williams and Spielberg began a long collaboration for their next feature film together, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K, 1977). In an unusual step for a Hollywood film, Spielberg and Williams developed their script and musical concepts simultaneously, as in the film these entwine very closely together. During their two-year-long collaboration, they crafted its distinctive five-note figure that functions both in the background music and as the communications signal of the film's extraterrestrials. Williams also used a system of musical hand signals in CE3K that were based on hand signs created by John Curwen and refined by Zoltan Kodaly.

During the same period, Spielberg recommended Williams to his friend and fellow director George Lucas, who needed a composer to score his ambitious space epic, Star Wars (1977). Williams delivered a grand symphonic score in the fashion of Richard Strauss and Golden Age Hollywood composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Its main theme, "Luke's Theme" is among the most widely recognized in motion picture history, and the "Force Theme" and "Princess Leia's Theme" are well-known examples of leitmotif. Both the film and its soundtrack were immensely successful—it remains the highest grossing non-popular music recording of all-time—and Williams won another Academy Award for Best Original Score. In 1980, Williams returned to score The Empire Strikes Back, where he introduced "The Imperial March" as the theme for Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire. The original Star Wars trilogy concluded with the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, for which Williams's score provided most notably the "Emperor's Theme," "Parade of the Ewoks," and "Luke and Leia." Both scores earned Williams Academy Award nominations.

John Williams conducting the music score to Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Avery Fisher Hall.

Williams worked with director Richard Donner to score the 1978 film Superman. The score's heroic and romantic themes, particularly the main march, the Superman fanfare and the love theme, known as "Can You Read My Mind," would appear in the four sequel films. For the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, created and directed by Lucas and Spielberg, Williams wrote a rousing main theme known as "The Raiders March" to accompany the film's hero, Indiana Jones. He also composed separate themes to represent the Ark of the Covenant, the character Marion, and the Nazi villains of the story. Additional themes were featured in his scores to the sequel films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Williams composed an emotional and sensitive score to Spielberg's 1982 fantasy film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The music conveys the film's benign, childlike sense of innocence, particularly with a spirited theme for the freedom of flight, and a soft string-based, harp-featured theme for the friendship between characters E.T. and Elliott. The film's final chase and farewell sequence marks a rare instance in film history in which the on-screen action was re-edited to conform to the composer's musical interpretation. Williams was awarded a fourth Academy Award for this score.

The 1985 film The Color Purple is the only theatrical feature directed by Steven Spielberg for which John Williams did not serve as composer. The film's producer, Quincy Jones, wanted to personally arrange and compose the music for the project. Williams also did not score Twilight Zone: The Movie, but Spielberg had directed only one of the four segments in that film; the lead director and producer of the film, John Landis, selected Jerry Goldsmith as composer. The Williams-Spielberg collaboration resumed with the director's 1987 film Empire of the Sun, and has continued to the present, spanning genres from science fiction thrillers (1993's Jurassic Park), to somber tragedies (1993's Schindler's List, 2005's Munich), to Eastern-tinged melodramas (2005's Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall). Spielberg has said, "I call it an honorable privilege to regard John Williams as a friend."^[11]

In 1999 George Lucas launched the first of a series of prequels to the original Star Wars trilogy. Williams was asked to score all three films, starting with The Phantom Menace. Along with themes from the previous movies, Williams created new themes to be used as leitmotifs in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005). Most notable of these was "Duel of the Fates," an aggressive choral movement utilizing harsh Sanskrit lyrics that broadened the style of music used in the Star Wars films. Also of note was "Anakin's Theme," which begins as an innocent childlike melody and morphs insidiously into a quote of the sinister "Imperial March" of the prior trilogy. For Episode II, Williams composed "Across the Stars," a love theme for Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker (mirroring the love theme composed for the second film of the previous trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back). The final installment combined many of the themes created for the series' previous movies, including "The Emperor's Theme," "The Imperial March," "Across the Stars," "Duel of the Fates," "The Force Theme," "Rebel Fanfare," "Luke's Theme," and "Princess Leia's Theme," as well as new themes for General Grievous and the film's climax, entitled "Battle of the Heroes." Few composers have scored an entire series of this magnitude: The combined scores of all six Star Wars films add up to more than 14 hours of orchestral music.

In the new millennium, Williams was asked to score the film adaptations of the widely successful book series, Harry Potter. He went on to score the first three installments of the film franchise. As with his Superman theme, the most important theme from Williams's scores for the adaptations of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, dubbed Hedwig's Theme, has been used in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth films (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2), scored by Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat respectively. Like the main themes from Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, and Indiana Jones, fans have come to identify the Harry Potter films with Williams's original compositions. Williams was asked to return to the film franchise to score the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, but director David Yates stated that "their schedules simply did not align" as he would have had to provide Williams with a rough cut of the film sooner than was possible.

In 2006 Superman Returns was completed under the direction of Bryan Singer, best known for directing the first two movies in the X-Men series. Although Singer did not request Williams to compose a score for the intentionally Donner-esque film, he employed the skills of X2 composer John Ottman to incorporate Williams's original Superman theme, as well as those for Lois Lane, Krypton and Smallville. Don Davis performed a similar role for Jurassic Park III, recommended to the producers by Williams himself. (Film scores by Ottman and to a lesser extent Davis are often compared to those of Williams, as both use similar styles of composition.)

In 2008 Williams returned to the Indiana Jones series to score the fourth film—The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He received a Grammy nomination for his work on the film. During 2008, he also composed music for two documentaries, Warner at War,^[12] and A Timeless Call,^[13] the latter of which was directed by Steven Spielberg.

After a three year absence from film scoring, Williams composed the scores for Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and War Horse in 2011. Both scores received overwhelmingly positive reviews,^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} with both scores earning Oscar nominations,^[20] and the latter being nominated for a Golden Globe.^[21] The Oscar nominations are Williams' 46th and 47th, making him the most nominated musician in Academy Awards history (having previously been tied with Alfred Newman's 45 nominations), and the second most nominated overall, following Walt Disney. Williams won an Annie Award for his score for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2012.

Williams is next scheduled to score Spielberg's 2012 film Lincoln.

Conducting and performing[link]

Williams signing an autograph after a concert

From 1980 to 1993, Williams succeeded Arthur Fiedler as Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Williams never met Fiedler in person but spoke with him by telephone. His arrival as the new leader of the Pops in the spring of 1980 allowed him to devote part of the Pops' first PBS broadcast of the season to presenting his new compositions for The Empire Strikes Back, in addition to conducting many Fiedler audience favorites.

Williams almost ended his tenure with the Pops in 1984.^[22] Considered a customary practice of opinion, some players hissed while sight-reading a new Williams composition in rehearsal; Williams abruptly left the session and turned in his resignation. He initially cited mounting conflicts with his film composing schedule, but later admitted a perceived lack of discipline in and respect from the Pops' ranks, culminating in this latest instance. After entreaties by the management and personal apologies from the musicians, Williams withdrew his resignation and continued as principal conductor for nine more years.^[23] In 1995 he was succeeded by Keith Lockhart, the former associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

Williams is now the Laureate Conductor of the Pops, thus maintaining his affiliation with its parent, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Williams leads the Pops on several occasions each year, particularly during their Holiday Pops season and typically for a week of concerts in May. He conducts an annual Film Night at both Boston Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, where he frequently enlists the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, official chorus of the BSO....

Williams has written many concert pieces, including a symphony; a Concerto for Horn written for Dale Clevenger, principal hornist of the Chicago Symphony; a Concerto for Clarinet written for Michele Zukovsky (Principal Clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) in 1991;^[24] a sinfonietta for wind ensemble; a cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1994; concertos for the flute and violin recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra; and a trumpet concerto, which was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra and their principal trumpet Michael Sachs in September 1996. His bassoon concerto, "The Five Sacred Trees", which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and principal bassoon player Judith LeClair in 1995, was recorded for Sony Classical by Williams with LeClair and the London Symphony Orchestra. He is also an accomplished pianist, as can be heard in various scores in which he provides solos, as well as a handful of European classical music recordings.

Williams was the subject of an hour-long documentary for the BBC in 1980, and was featured in a story for ABC's newsmagazine 20/20 in 1983.^[25]

Stanley Donen (left) and John Williams at Avery Fisher Hall

In 1985, Williams was commissioned by NBC to compose a television news music package for various network news spots. The package, which Williams named "The Mission", consists of four movements, two of which are still used heavily by NBC today for The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and Meet the Press. Williams also composed the "Liberty Fanfare" for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, "We're Lookin' Good!" for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and themes for the 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2002 Olympic games. His most recent concert work, "Seven for Luck", for soprano and orchestra, is a seven-piece song cycle based on the texts of former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. "Seven for Luck" was given its world premiere by the Boston Symphony under Williams with soprano Cynthia Haymon.

Williams conducting at Hollywood Bowl.

Williams makes annual appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and took part as conductor and composer in the orchestra's opening gala concerts for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.

In 2004, Williams both served as the Grand Marshall for the Rose Parade, and directed the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of the Rose Bowl.

In April 2005, Williams and the Boston Pops performed "The Force Theme" from Star Wars at opening day in Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox, having won their first World Series championship since 1918, received their championship rings. For Game 1 of the 2007 World Series, Williams conducted a brass-and-drum ensemble through a new dissonant arrangement of the "Star Spangled Banner."^[25]

In April 2004, February 2006, and September 2007, he conducted the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. The initial program was intended to be a one-time special event, and featured Williams's medley of Oscar-winning film scores first performed at the previous year's Academy Awards.^[26] Its unprecedented popularity led to two concerts in 2006: fundraising gala events featuring personal recollections by film directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.^[27] Continuing demand fueled three more concerts in 2007, which all sold out. These featured a tribute to the musicals of film director Stanley Donen, and had the distinction of serving as the opening event of the New York Philharmonic season.^[28] After a four-season absence, Williams conducted the Philharmonic once again in October 2011.^[29]

Awards[link]

John Williams has won five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. He has also been nominated for 22 Golden Globes, winning four, and 59 Grammys, winning 20. With 47 Oscar nominations, Williams currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person,^[30][31] and is the second most nominated person in the history of the Academy Awards behind only Walt Disney's 59. Forty-two of Williams' Oscar nominations are for Best Original Score and five are for Best Original Song. He won four Oscars for Best Original Score and one for Best Adapted Score (Fiddler on the Roof).

Williams has received three Emmy Awards and five nominations, seven BAFTAs, twenty Grammy Awards, and has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. In 2004 he received a Kennedy Center Honor. He won a Classical Brit award in 2005 for his soundtrack work of the previous year.

Notably, Williams has won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for his scores for Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Angela's Ashes (1999), Munich (2005), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The competition includes not only composers of film scores, but also composers of instrumental music of any genre, including composers of classical fare such as symphonies and chamber music.

In 2003, the International Olympic Committee accorded Mr. Williams its highest individual honor, the Olympic Order.^[32]

In 2009, Williams received the National Medal of Arts in the White House in Washington for his achievements in symphonic music for motion pictures, and "as a pre-eminent composer and conductor [whose] scores have defined and inspired modern movie-going for decades."^[33]

John Williams was made an honorary brother of Kappa Kappa Psi at Boston University in the late 80's. ^[34]

AFI[link]

Williams's richly thematic and highly popular 1977 score to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was selected in 2005 by the American Film Institute as the greatest American movie score of all time. His scores for Jaws and E.T. also appeared on the list, at No. 6 and No. 14, respectively.^[35] He is the only composer to have three scores on the list. Williams' scores for the following films were nominated for the list:

• A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• The Cowboys (1972)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• Superman (1978)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

List of awards[link]