Legendary composer Hans Zimmer annoys the Dune team with all his ideas

Hans Zimmer has to be the most prolific composer in Hollywood. This is the guy behind scores for movies like Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, The Lion King and more, and even in the time of coronavirus he’s working on lots of new projects: the scores for upcoming movies like No Time to Die, Wonder Woman 1984, and Top Gun: Maverick were all written by him. He’s an industry unto himself.

He’s also composing the score for Dune, Arrival director Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic. The story is sprawling and dense, revolving around a desert planet that’s the only known place in the galaxy to make a vital resource known as Spice. It’s beloved by millions, not to mention very successful — Star Wars wouldn’t exist without Dune — so expectations are high.

As he tells Variety, Zimmer is working on that score right now. “Right now I’m in the middle of making these sounds,” he said. “I just have these ideas, and it’s like this every day. I’m doing all these experiments, and I have no idea if any of them will ever really end up in the movie. But we are so dedicated, trying to do something different, to do solid and honorable work, and do justice to the book.”

To hear him tell it, Zimmer is going in all kinds of different directions with this one. “And some of them will probably be complete and utter disasters. But I’m having a go. Absolutely full on. I’m being obnoxious and telling people I need more time. The usual.”

I’m glad to hear he’s excited about this, and even a little impressed. I mean, doesn’t composing music for, like, 30 films a year since the early ’80s get old?

"Yeah, it does. And then something like “Dune” comes along with somebody like [director] Denis Villeneuve. And you have to remember that Joe Walker, the editor on the film, he and I did our first television series for the BBC in 1988 [“First Born”].I’m driving everybody crazy on “Dune” because I’m so full of ideas. And it’s Denis, you know? He lets me be part of this world. It’s totally and utterly inspiring, and it’s great people I get to work with – scrap the word “work,” it’s great people I get to play with."

Another complication: Dune is scheduled to come out on December 18, less than half a year away. They’re doing some standard reshoots this summer, which makes me nervous, because during the coronavirus panic that could take longer than it would otherwise, which could push the date back. And any score for this things is going to have to be epic; the story demands it. You’d think an orchestra was in the offer. But how can Zimmer pull this off while he quarantines?

"Don’t know yet. So far I’m doing okay. There are possibilities opening up. Recording is going on in London and Vienna. And look, I’ve always used odd lineups, and I’ve sort of, for better or for worse, invented a way of working where you can have different small sections come in at different times. So to me, that’s not so different. Working remotely is horrible, but I’ve done it. And if we have to do it like this, we’ll do it like this."

He who controls the wind section controls the universe.

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