Composer John Williams is responsible for some of the world’s most famous scores.
Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Star Wars. The list goes on and on.
But despite the countless musical accolades he has collected throughout his illustrious career, there was apparently one thing missing.
On Friday, Williams teamed up with retired 18-time NBA all-star Kobe Bryant to score a five-minute animated short. The former Los Angeles Lakers superstar produced the film to accompany his retirement letter, Dear Basketball, which he wrote almost two years ago for The Players’ Tribune.
Bryant debuted the short film at Williams’ annual program of movie music on Friday at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, narrating his letter over a live, Williams-conducted orchestra while the film was played.
YouTuber Calvin Johnson (no relation to the former all-pro wide receiver by the looks of things) was apparently at the event and recorded a video of Bryant’s performance.
According to The Los Angeles Time’s Tim Greiving, this collaboration between Bryant and Williams isn’t as random as it first appears.
The duo supposedly first crossed paths just before the 2008-09 NBA season when Bryant sought out Williams for advice just after coming off a season where he won MVP.
“I asked myself a question,” Bryant told The Los Angeles Times on Sunday. “What makes a John Williams piece timeless? How is he using each instrument? How is he building momentum? As a basketball player, what I found myself doing a lot was essentially conducting a game, right? I wanted to talk to him about how he composed music, and try to find something similar that I can then use to help my game as a leader and winning championships.”
Williams, winner of five Academy Awards, was taken aback upon their first meeting.
“The first thing I told Kobe was, I’d never seen a basketball game. High school, college, professional, or television,” Williams said. “And of course he laughed.”
According to Greiving, the two continued to meet backstage at Williams’ annual shows over the years and forged a relationship. Therefore, when Bryant decided to take on his Dear Basketball animated short, he only wanted one man to score it and Williams was happy to oblige.
Also of interest: Williams isn’t the only big name from Hollywood Bryant recruited for the project. Legendary animator Glen Keane, one of the leading creative forces behind classic Disney animated feature films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, was the lead animator on the short.
It just goes to show that for Bryant, game really does respect game.
The short film will make its more wide-ranging debut to the public at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.
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