Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer has composed some of the most sweeping, memorable scores of the turn of the century, including The Lion King (for which he won an Oscar), The Thin Red Line, Gladiator, The Dark Knight and Inception.
Those last two films were directed by Christopher Nolan, so it’s no coincidence to find them working together again on this weekend’s big blockbuster release Interstellar. The film stars Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut who must leave his family behind to search the stars for a new home for the human race, after a blight has depleted Earth’s resources, dooming the Earth.
Christopher Nolan challenged Hans Zimmer to compose the theme for Interstellar before Zimmer even knew what the movie was about, which Zimmer describes as the start of their “adventure” together. That journey took them from the piano in Hans Zimmer’s house, to the Zimmer’s childhood lawn, to a church in London just to use a special pipe organ for the finished score.
Join us, won’t you?
Related: The Best Movie Ever: Outer Space
Hans Zimmer: William, how are you?
CraveOnline: I’m good, man. It’s nice to talk to you again. How you doing?
I’m good. I’m good. I’m just starting to recover from the premiere last night, and at the same I’m trying to sound like a fraction of intelligent, you know? But there’s only a fraction left.
I understand completely. How was the premiere?
Look, I so love this IMAX theater here in New York. I mean, I think I was saying to the IMAX people, the image is gorgeous and then the sound… The only way I can describe it is “really elegant.” You hear every word, you hear every note of the music, and at the same time you get this amazing visual power. It’s just a masterpiece theater so I was just thriving on the whole thing, that yes, this is how I want audiences to see the movie.
Do you got to the movies a lot when it’s not a film you’ve worked on?
I go to the movies as much as I can, because I’m usually working on something. [Laughs.] And it’s very distracting seeing something else, or hearing something else, while you’re sitting in front of a blank page. I mean, you can’t feel anything other than envy.
Do you look to other movies for inspiration, or is it all in your head at this point? You just know what you like?
No, you know, it’s weird. I’ll answer the question differently. I was announced at the EDM festival. So the film composer goes and loves electronic dance music. I love listening to it so I was talking to Junkie XL about it while we were both in Amsterdam, and he was talking about EDM artists only listening to EDM, and that’s what makes them all sound the same. You know, as opposed to listening to completely different things.
My thing is, I don’t actually listen to that many film scores. I listen to other things and I get my ideas from other places. I read a lot. I look at a lot of images. I look at a lot of pictures. I love photography and somehow, sort of weirdly translate that to my language of music.
That sounds almost like concentrated dysphasia.
Well, yes. You know, with Chris [Nolan], I know he listens to music all the time while he’s writing. I’ve never asked about that. I should ask him, how much do you read while you write? I could ask you that. You’re a writer. How much do you read when you’re actually writing?
Actually, very little. I try not to be too influenced but then every once in a while I go on a huge binge and try to absorb as much as possible to get new ideas.
I do the same thing. I go binging. Binging movies. Like, I’m not working now… Here’s the thing. Here’s the thing: this isn’t about a career. I don’t have a career. This is a life I’m living. I live, I love movies, I love music, and I’m a fan. At the end of the day I go because I love it and I love watching other people’s work. So yes, I go binge out completely.
Do you remember your last binge? What did you consume?
Actually, recently the binge has been slightly less of the theater. The binging has been Scandinavian noir television series, since I’ve been spending a lot of time in London and my iTunes account can get all Scandinavian movies you can’t get over here. You can get things like “The Bridge” and “The Killing,” in its original [form]. They’re just amazing. Just phenomenal.
