John Williams Decided Not Retire After Working With On The Fabelmans: "Steven Spielberg Is Not A Man You Can Say No To"

Steven Spielberg's longtime composer John Williams is not retiring.

Williams had previously insisted that the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would be his last but admitted that after working with Spielberg on The Fabelmans, he is not ready to give up work.

Speaking to Variety, during a joint appearance with Spielberg, Williams, 90, said: "Well, Steven is a lot of things. 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.”

A shocked Spielberg replied at the American Cinematheque event: "You never told me that before today."

And Williams went on: "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 see 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… 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, 76, quipped: "I gotta get working, to find out what the hell I’m doing next."

Spielberg and Williams have worked together for over 50 years and the director said: "It’s very hard to sum it up because we’re still in it together, and so I feel when I start to think about summing it up, it’s almost like we’re both retiring at the same time. I just found out that he’s not. So, obviously, this is a whole new wrinkle to the story, other pages, other chapters."

The Fabelmans, which opens in cinemas on Feb 9, recently won Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director-Motion Picture at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.

Spielberg's next project is said to be the reimagining of the 1968 Steve McQueen actioner, Bullitt, with Bradley Cooper in the lead. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrives in cinemas on June 29. 

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos

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