How Dune put together that epic Pink Floyd cover for the trailer

The cover of “Eclipse” in the new Dune trailer created a lot of new Pink Floyd fans. The whole thing may have been a reference to Dune’s long history:

Last week, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s sprawling adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic. Between the gorgeous landscapes, the impressive cast, and the mile-long sandworms, it looks every bit as good as you could hope:

But one thing that caught fans unaware was the soundtrack. The Dune trailer is scored with a remixed version of Pink Floyd’s trippy 1973 hit “Eclipse,” from the band’s wildly landmark Dark Side of the Moon album. With 45 million copies sold, Dark Side is one of the most successful albums of all time, and “Eclipse” is the climax. But it did come out quite a while ago, and there were plenty of folk watching the Dune trailer hearing the song for the first time. After it dropped, digital sales of the song shot up by 1,750%!

Unlike a lot of trailer music, the “Eclipse” cover was actually put together by Dune composer Hans Zimmer, according to Variety. It was recorded over the summer at a remote studio in Santa Monica, with 32 vocalists coming in four at a time over eight sessions. “We followed all the [COVID-19] protocols,” said Edie Lehmann Boddicker, who directed the production while Zimmer supervised via Facetime from his home. “Everybody wore masks except when they were in their separate cubicles, divided by glass, all with their own mic’s, and everything was wiped down between sessions.”

All 32 singers sang in the chorus, with 12 also singing the lyrics. And they did perform the whole song, although we only heard snippets in the trailer. Somehow I doubt the full thing will show up in the actual movie — hearing Pink Floyd would kind of pull you out of the far future fantasy — but it’s guaranteed to be a banger on the soundtrack.

“[Hans Zimmer] wanted to pay homage to the original, very back-phrased sound, a little spaced-out, so the vocals would not sound urgent,” Lehmann Boddicker said. “There’s a kind of joy happening in the track, a lot of hopefulness. It’s not despondent, just very peaceful and sounding not of this planet.”

It also may be a reference to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s infamous, never-completed version of Dune. The Chilean-French director tried to adapt Herbert’s novel in the mid-70s, but wasn’t able to realize his vision. He actually approached Pink Floyd, then at the height of their fame, to do the soundtrack.

Villeneuve and Zimmer seem to be saying that they’re aware of all the other attempts to adapt this story, and there have been a few, none of which have quite gotten it right. That means they’re aware of how much pressure there is for them to pull it off.

Dune comes out on December 18, coronavirus permitting. There’s no word on when the Dune soundtrack is coming out, but I’m thinking it’ll be pretty popular.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels