There are some tasks that, when presented to you, are simply too fantastic a chance to pass up. That isn’t to say that composer Hans Zimmer wouldn’t have delighted to work on writer/director Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, since the two have forged a fantastic working relationship over the course of multiple successful films. When it came to the timing of that possibility, however, Zimmer was deterred by two factors, one of which was the chance to score Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Christopher Nolan’s reaction to this line of events, according to reports, was “not fantastic.”
When Hans Zimmer sat down with the hosts of our in-house podcast ReelBlend, he used those precise words to build up the story of why Dune trumped Tenet. Zimmer initially turned down the Christopher Nolan film that would finally be scored by composer Ludwig Göransson, though it wasn’t Warner Bros’ latest sci-fi hit. This is how Hans Zimmer put out the scenario when he got down with the ReelBlend hosts to talk about it:
“Not great. … There’s another part to it as well, which people keep missing out on. I went out on tour, and I suddenly got really interested in this thing that I never thought I’d do. And here I was, sixty-odd years old going, ‘Whoa. This is fun. I like this!’ So Chris realized that, and he realized that that’s where my focus was at that moment.”
While viewers will remember Hans Zimmer’s classic compositions from films such as Disney’s The Lion King and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, he has become something of a rock star in recent years. Zimmer debuted at the prestigious Coachella music festival in 2017, and since then, he’s embarked on two distinct tours: The World of Hans Zimmer and Hans Zimmer Live. Hans Zimmer’s passion for live performance is clear, especially when it comes to the music he’s employed to give great cinematic moments their punch.