It’s no secret that we here at TheMovies.co.za have a massive crush on Hans Zimmer, and specifically his music, with several of his framed compositions in the office having to be regularly cleaned of drool stains.
The man has given his symphonic talents to a wide variety of films over the year, from animated to real, bridging all manner of genres. His latest compositions will be showing up in The Dark Knight Rises, but as for his other hero-in-tights project, Man of Steel?
Even he has some thoughts on tackling a score made famous by the equally legendary John Williams.
Speaking to Empire, Zimmer revealed how he landed the gig back in June;
“When the rumours came out that I was going to do Superman, nobody had asked me!” Zimmer jokingly replied.
The horrible thing was that I had never met Zack Snyder and, suddenly, poor Zack must have been reading that the crazy German is going to be doing my movie and I’ve never even met him! So, I had to squash those rumours.
Plus – and let’s be honest – I am only human and John Williams is super-human and that Superman theme of his is beloved. It’s a pretty hard act to follow and it’s like me saying to you can you turn this interview in to a decent piece of Shakespeare. You’ll say ‘Maybe not today!’
I phoned Zack and said I am really, really sorry about these rumours – it’s just a misunderstanding. You’ve got your composer and I never tried to get in between relationships or anything like that.
We started talking and he told me about his ideas for the character and his take was really interesting. I started getting a couple of ideas as a result. I said to him – and Warners and Chris Nolan and everyone involved – don’t talk to me about it until we finish The Dark Knight Rises and, within 15 minutes of finishing TDKR, we were talking.
I don’t feel confident at all. I never feel confident. But, a little bit of fear has gone a long way to being inspiring in the past. John Williams is the master and I am not even going to try and go in that direction. I’ll try my best not to embarrass myself and my colleagues on the film. I’m going to have a go!
In a funny way, it’s exactly because Superman is such an opposite character to Batman that I am welcoming the opportunity to do the music. Sometimes you just have to go to edge of the abyss and look down and have it stare back at you. See if you can handle it. I’ve started it and am in the ideas phase. I am driving people crazy with my experiments and trying to write a tune.
Man of Steel is going to be unveiling some sneak peek footage this weekend over at Geek Mecca, the San Diego Comic Con, before it releases in little under a year from now. Still, it’s an interesting read, and it’s fascinating to know that even with quite a few awards under his belt, Zimmer is still anxious about scoring the legendary big blue boy scout.
Last Updated: July 13, 2012
