John Ottman

John Ottman (born July 6, 1964) is an American film composer, editor, and director. He is best known for collaborating with director Bryan Singer, scoring and/or editing many of his films, including Public Access, 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.

Life and career 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 multi-tasking 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 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 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 film-maker 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.

Filmography

Composer Discography Feature films Year Title Director Notes Distributed by 1993 Public Access Bryan Singer Occidental StudiosCinemabeam 1995 The Usual Suspects Spelling Films InternationalGramercy PicturesPolyGram Filmed Entertainment Night Train John Coven Short film The Antelope Chess Game Lance Tracy 1996 The Cable Guy Ben Stiller Columbia Pictures 1997 Snow White: A Tale of Terror Michael Cohn PolyGram Filmed EntertainmentInterscope Communications Incognito John Badham Warner Bros. Pictures 1998 Goodbye Lover Roland Joffé Halloween H20: 20 Years Later Steve Miner Themes by: John Carpenter Miramax Films Apt Pupil Bryan Singer TriStar Pictures 1999 Lake Placid Steve Miner 20th Century Fox 2000 Urban Legends: Final Cut Himself Also director Columbia Pictures 2001 Bubble Boy Blair Hayes Buena Vista Pictures 2002 Pumpkin Anthony AbramsAdam Larson Broder United Artists Eight Legged Freaks Ellory Elkayem Warner Bros. Pictures Trapped Luis Mandoki Columbia Pictures 2003 X2 Bryan Singer 20th Century FoxMarvel Entertainment Gothika Mathieu Kassovitz Composed with: Lior Rosner Warner Bros. PicturesColumbia Pictures 2004 Cellular David R. Ellis New Line Cinema Imaginary Heroes Dan Harris Main theme only Sony Pictures Classics Lonely Place Kevin Ackerman Short film 2005 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 2006 Superman Returns Bryan Singer Themes by: John Williams Warner Bros. Pictures 2007 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Tim Story 20th Century Fox The Invasion Oliver HirschbiegelJames McTeigue Warner Bros. Pictures 2008 Valkyrie Bryan Singer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 2009 Orphan Jaume Collet-Serra Warner Bros. Pictures Astro Boy David Bowers Summit Entertainment 2010 The RRF in New Recruit Short film Astro Boy vs. The Junkyard Pirates The Losers Sylvain White Warner Bros. Pictures Halloween: The Night He Came Back Eric IyoobDarla Rae Short film Film It Productions 2011 The Resident Antti Jokinen Image Entertainment Unknown Jaume Collet-Serra Composed with: Alexander Rudd Warner Bros. PicturesOptimum Releasing 2013 Jack the Giant Slayer Bryan Singer Warner Bros. Pictures 2014 Non-Stop Jaume Collet-Serra Universal Pictures X-Men: Days of Future Past Bryan Singer 20th Century Fox 2016 The Nice Guys Shane Black Composed with: David Buckley Warner Bros. Pictures X-Men: Apocalypse Bryan Singer 20th Century Fox Television Year Title Director Notes Distributed by 1998 Fantasy Island Michael Dinner TV series theme and pilot score Columbia TriStar Television2002 Brother's Keeper John BadhamTelevision film USA Network Point of Origin Newton Thomas Sigel HBO Films 2015 Battle Creek Bryan Singer Episode: "The Battle Creek Way" CBS Television StudiosSony Pictures Television 2017 The Gifted Bryan Singer 20th Television Video documentaries Year Title Director Notes Distributed by 2002 Round Up: Deposing The Usual Suspects MGM Home Entertainment 2003 Evolution in the Details: The Design of X2 Short 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2 2004 Celling Out Jeffrey SchwarzShort New Line Home Entertainment Dialing Up Cellular Video games Year Title Director Notes Distributed by 1995 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream David Mullich Cyberdreams

MGM Interactive

Other credits Editor Year Title Director Notes 1988 Lion's Den Bryan Singer 1993 Public Access 1995 The Usual Suspects 1998 Apt Pupil 2000 Urban Legends: Final Cut Himself With Rob Kobrin 2003 X2 Bryan Singer With Elliot Graham 2006 Superman Returns 2008 Valkyrie 2013 Jack the Giant Slayer With Bob Ducsay 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse With Michael Louis Hill 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody Academy Award Winner - Best Film Editing / BAFTA Award Nomination - Best Editing 2026 Michael Antoine Fuqua With Conrad Buff IV , Tom Cross and Harry Yoon Director Year Title Director Notes 1988 Lion's Den Himself Directed with: Bryan Singer 2000 Urban Legends: Final Cut Also composer Producer Year Title Director Notes 1998Apt PupilBryan Singer Associate producer 2008 Valkyrie Executive producer 2013 Jack the Giant Slayer Associate producer 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse Co-producer

Miscellaneous 2023: His X-Men scores from X2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past were used for the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Marvels.