"Star Wars: Episode VII" opens the Friday before Christmas. And that gave Bill Whitaker of "60 Minutes" a chance to talk to a man who has one of the coolest jobs in the galaxy.

Six weeks before the premiere, CBS News dropped in on a Hollywood scoring session for "The Force Awakens."

Composer John Williams, who won an Academy Award for the first "Star Wars" film, was back -- along with the iconic refrain he wrote 38 years ago.

Standing behind Williams wasn't some awestruck groupie. It was the movie's director, J.J. Abrams.

"Well, this is -- this is like momentous, you know, John Williams conducting his Star Wars music," Abrams told CBS News. "I mean, as a fan, I can't even believe I get to be here."

Abrams saw "Star Wars" when he was 11 and never outgrew his passion for the film. On this day, when he wasn't in the middle of the orchestra, filming on his phone, he was racing around the sound stage -- part fan, part director.

"We may need to make the 'bum ba da ba da' -- repeat those bars just because it might, it might be a little bit longer before we get into the interior of the transport," Abrams told Williams.

"There are moments of abject terror when we all think about what we've taken on," Abrams told Whitaker.

You can see more of Whitaker's interview with Abrams this Sunday on "60 Minutes" at 7/6c.