People

John Ottman

Sound · follow into films and chains

Biography

John Ottman (born July 6, 1964) is an American film composer, director, and editor. He is best known for collaborating with director Bryan Singer, composing and/or editing many of his films, including Public Access (1993), The Usual Suspects (1995), Superman Returns (2006), Valkyrie (2008), and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), as well as the X-Men film series. For his work on Singer's 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Ottman won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Ottman was born in San Diego, California. Growing up in San Jose, Ottman made many amateur films garnering local attention in the community. He attended De Anza College and then transferred to the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1988. One of his first assignments was to provide original music for the computer game I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. In 2007, Ottman appeared in the documentary Finding Kraftland for his agent Richard Kraft. He is best known for his multitasking as editor and composer for Bryan Singer's films and, on a few occasions, producer roles to boot. The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X2, Superman Returns (including adapting themes originally composed by John Williams), Valkyrie, Jack the Giant Slayer, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse. Other notable films he worked on as a composer are Snow White: A Tale of Terror, the 2005 remake of House of Wax, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Fantastic Four and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Invasion, and Astro Boy. He also directed (in addition to editing and scoring) the 2000 horror film Urban Legends: Final Cut. He won a BAFTA Award for Best Editing for The Usual Suspects, as well as two Saturn Awards for Best Music for The Usual Suspects and Superman Returns. In 2019, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing and won the ACE Eddie Award and the Academy Award for his work on Bohemian Rhapsody, a film Ottman saw through on his own after both directors' departure (Bryan Singer being fired and Dexter Fletcher beginning pre-production on "Rocketman" shortly after finishing the shoot). Ottman navigated the film's development in post and the tricky waters between the filmmaker and studio, working with producer Graham King and Dennis O'Sullivan. Upon Bohemian Rhapsody getting nominated for and winning its Best Editing awards, a scene of the band outside a pub went viral online after a post by Youtuber Thomas Flight, who was critical of the editing style. Ottman, aware of the clip, explained that for a test screening, a heightened pace for the first act was asked for by the studio. After the test, Ottman returned the scene to its original pace and design. Ottman regretted that he missed returning the scene outside the pub closer to his original version. The scene (directed by Fletcher) contained no master shot of the band at the table. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Ottman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Usual Suspects

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Bohemian Rhapsody

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Cable Guy

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Michael

Editor

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Appears in a KinoChain journey

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Editor

X-Men: Apocalypse

Co-Producer

Fantastic Four

Original Music Composer

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

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The Bogeyman Never Dies

From Elm Street to Halloween, Scream to Candyman, horror icons keep returning in new forms. Freddy's Dead marked a strange end that became a beginning.

8 films

The Show Must Go On

From Freddie Mercury's operatic excess to the raw defiance of punk, this chain traces how cinema captures the transformative power of self-expression.

8 films

When the Cartoon Fights Back: Slapstick Meets Liability

What happens when simulated harm, comic violence, or staged ordeals crash into real-world consequences? This collection explores the unsettling borderland where...

8 films

Criminal Alliances

A chain tracing the anti-hero ensemble film from its war-movie origins through heist, western, and genre mutations to the modern comic-book iteration, examining...

8 films

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