Harry Gregson-Williams, Award-Winning Composer
Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2019
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s conversation is with Harry Gregson-Williams, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and prolific composers whose long list of film and television credits underscore the diverse range of his talents.
His recent projects include Warner Bros summer hit “The Meg” directed by Jon Turteltaub, and the action thriller “The Equalizer 2,” starring Denzel Washington.
He wrote the score for Disney Nature’s “Penguins,” which just opened a few weeks ago and will next score Disney’s live-action feature film “Mulan” scheduled for release in 2020.
Harry was the composer on all four installments of the animated blockbuster “Shrek” franchise, garnering a BAFTA Award nomination for the score for the Oscar-winning “Shrek.”
He also received Golden Globe and Grammy Award nominations for his score for Andrew Adamson’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”
Harry has collaborated with a number of directors, including Ben Affleck on the films “Live by Night,” “The Town” and “Gone Baby Gone”; Joel Schumacher on “Twelve,” “The Number 23,” “Veronica Guerin” and “Phone Booth”; Tony Scott on “Unstoppable, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” “Déjà Vu,” “Domino,” “Man on Fire,” “Spy Game” and “Enemy of the State”; Ridley Scott on “The Martian,” “Prometheus”, “Exodus: Gods and Kings and “Kingdom of Heaven” and the list goes on and on.
This was one my favorite conversations I’ve had since we started this podcast.
We covered so much: creativity, pressure, authenticity, relationships, failure, and emotion.
I hope this conversation makes you think a pay a little more attention to the score next time you watch a movie.
_________________
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery
Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/
Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter
Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm a composer on the edge of disaster the whole time. I have complete disaster, but I think that's probably |
| 0:07.2 | what the appeal is to some directors that I'm not by clockwork and I'm not that predictable and you know I've got a bit of juice in me and I got a bit of fire in me and I definitely can express emotions both as a person and through my music and that's you might say well aren't |
| 0:25.8 | the lots of composers like that but I think a lot of people hide that or |
| 0:31.0 | don't have that to offer. |
| 0:33.0 | And it's quite risky to have that as part of your thing. |
| 0:37.0 | So, yeah, I'd say, yeah, a donkey on the edge. All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm Michael Jervay and by Trade and Training, |
| 0:57.4 | a Sport and Performance Psychologist. And I just want to say, like, I love the Finding Mastery |
| 1:02.3 | Community. I love what we are creating |
| 1:04.1 | here and I hope that this is becoming a vehicle for you a place and a vehicle for you |
| 1:09.2 | to explore in your own life how to become the man or woman that you're working on |
| 1:14.1 | becoming and how to do the same for other people and that's really what the |
| 1:18.0 | design of this is to learn and then apply. So the whole idea is for us to deconstruct, to demystify how the |
| 1:27.0 | extraordinarys think and how they do. And we want to understand what they're searching for, how they organize their life, and the mental skills that they use to build and refine their craft. |
| 1:38.0 | I am really excited to announce that this year, Finding Mastery is releasing our first ever holiday gift guide. |
| 1:46.0 | Yes. Having spent decades working with and around some of the most driven people on the planet, I know the high-performer types in your life can be a little tricky to buy for. |
| 1:57.1 | Their standards tend to be really high, they rarely settle. We all know the drill here. And that's why we put together a list of some of our |
| 2:04.8 | favorite products that have been utilized by many of the leaders and athletes and |
| 2:08.6 | creatives that we've worked with on the path for them to be able to reach their potential. The products |
| 2:14.2 | that are on this list are all products that I use. You can check it out at |
| 2:19.5 | Finding Mastery.com slash gift guide. That's Finding Mastery.com |
| 2:24.4 | slash gift guide. You can browse the gift guide by |
| 2:28.0 | category to check out some of our favorite products for fitness and |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Michael Gervais, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. Michael Gervais and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.