Quick Facts
Biography
John Ottman (born July 6, 1964) is an American film composer and editor.
Ottman graduated from the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California 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 collaborations with film director Bryan Singer, acting as editor and composer for his films The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X2, Superman Returns (including adapting themes originally composed by John Williams), Valkyrie, Jack the Giant Slayer and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Other notable films he worked on as 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.
Filmography
Composer
| Discography | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feature films | ||||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| Public Access | Bryan Singer | |||
| The Usual Suspects | Bryan Singer | Spelling Films International Gramercy Pictures PolyGram Filmed Entertainment | ||
| Night Train | John Coven | Short film | ||
| The Antelope Chess Game | Lance Tracy | |||
| The Cable Guy | Ben Stiller | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Snow White: A Tale of Terror | Michael Cohn | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Interscope Communications | ||
| Incognito | John Badham | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Goodbye Lover | Roland Joffé | |||
| Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Steve Miner | Themes by:
| Miramax Films | |
| Apt Pupil | Bryan Singer | TriStar Pictures | ||
| Lake Placid | Steve Miner | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Urban Legends: Final Cut | Himself | Also director | Columbia Pictures | |
| Bubble Boy | Blair Hayes | Buena Vista Pictures | ||
| Pumpkin | Anthony Abrams Adam Larson Broder | |||
| Brother's Keeper | John Badham | |||
| Eight Legged Freaks | Ellory Elkayem | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Point of Origin | Newton Thomas Sigel | HBO | ||
| Trapped | Luis Mandoki | Columbia Pictures | ||
| X2 | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Gothika | Mathieu Kassovitz | Composed with:
| Warner Bros. Pictures Columbia Pictures | |
| Cellular | David R. Ellis | New Line Cinema | ||
| Lonely Place | Kevin Ackerman | Short film | ||
| Hide and Seek | John Polson | 20th Century Fox | ||
| House of Wax | Jaume Collet-Serra | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | Shane Black | |||
| Fantastic Four | Tim Story | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Superman Returns | Bryan Singer | Themes by:
| Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | Tim Story | 20th Century Fox | ||
| The Invasion | Oliver Hirschbiegel James McTeigue | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Valkyrie | Bryan Singer | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Orphan | Jaume Collet-Serra | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Astro Boy | David Bowers | Summit Entertainment | ||
| The RRF in New Recruit | Short film | |||
| Astro Boy vs. The Junkyard Pirates | Short film | |||
| The Losers | Sylvain White | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Halloween: The Night He Came Back | Eric Iyoob Darla Rae | Short film | ||
| The Resident | Antti Jokinen | |||
| Unknown | Jaume Collet-Serra | Composed with:
| Warner Bros. Pictures Optimum Releasing | |
| Jack the Giant Slayer | Bryan Singer | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Non-Stop | Jaume Collet-Serra | Universal Pictures | ||
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | ||
| The Nice Guys | Shane Black | Composed with:
| Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Documentaries | ||||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| Round Up: Deposing The Usual Suspects | ||||
| Evolution in the Details: The Design of X2 | Short | |||
| The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2 | ||||
| Celling Out | Jeffrey Schwarz | Short | ||
| Dialing Up Cellular | Jeffrey Schwarz | Short | ||
| Television | ||||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| Fantasy Island | Michael Dinner | TV series theme and pilot score | Columbia TriStar Television | |
| Point of Origin | Newton Thomas Sigel | HBO Films | ||
| Video games | ||||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributed by |
| I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream | David Mullich | |||
Other credits
| Editor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| Lion's Den | Bryan Singer | ||
| Public Access | |||
| The Usual Suspects | |||
| Apt Pupil | |||
| Urban Legends: Final Cut | Himself | Edited with:
| |
| X2 | Bryan Singer | Edited with:
| |
| Superman Returns | Edited with:
| ||
| Valkyrie | |||
| Jack the Giant Slayer | Edited with:
| ||
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | |||
| X-Men: Apocalypse | |||
| Director | |||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| Urban Legends: Final Cut | Himself | Also composer | |
| Co-Producer | |||
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | Bryan Singer | ||
Television
| Actor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| Dark Dreamers | Episode: “Richard Band” | ||