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When surveying the landscape of modern movie scores, its difficult to find a more important figure thanHans Zimmer.
Zimmer and McQueen first collaborated on the haunting and tense score for12 Years a Slavein 2013.
Ive seen it a lot of times just sitting next to Steve, which is a slightly different experience.
Really?Yeah, watching things with an audience What if they dont like it?
You dont know how anybodys going to respond to anything.
Do you include your own work in that?Completely.
But at that moment I dont care about my work anymore.
I care about everybody.
Everybody that is part of the family, everybody who worked on it.
I want everybody protected from whatever possibly could go wrong.
Look, Im German.
I come from Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk and stuff like that.
But its not just that.
Its a fun language to explore.
And doing it on Steves movie was very different than doing it onDunkirk, for instance.
Its not about lets get rich and go to Vegas.
You said it was different doing it for Steve.
Whats that collaboration like?
This is your second film together.You mean this was our comedy, compared to12 Years a Slave.
Although, was the process different between them?Not really.
And I think of myself as an orchestrator as opposed to the lead composer, in a funny way.
It just feels different.
I think the real task becomes where you have a scene of a grieving, strong woman by herself.
How do you write that?
So how do use that to emphasize somebodys solitude, somebodys grief, without ever getting sentimental?
Is that an ongoing conversation with Steve while youre making it?No … Then of course theres the contrast between those quieter scenes with some of the bigger heist or action sequences.
Its never an action piece, does that make sense?
Its still about figuring it out, the girls thinking.
Forget all technique, forget all that stuff.
I just attempt to build on that.
Is that also how you think about your collaborations with other directors?Yeah, I suppose so.
I have a weird history withWidowsbecause I worked for Stanley Myers, who was the composer onWidowsthe television series.
I was the T-boy on it.
It was as relevant then as it is now, and that was a bit infuriating in a way.
Its a bit sad that humanity is so bad at becoming kinder.
Did you go back to that original score at all?No, not at all.
First of all, it wasnt my score.
But no, I am forever trying to move forward.
What were the things you were trying to push forward onWidows?Theyre just subtle little things.
I love recording in this big old church in London.
The opposite of the church.
Its just things like that.
Thats your autonomous decision.
Is that something strings give you in particular?
You mentioned the space that you recorded in and not wanting that epic feel.
Is that something that comes through even in the playing of the music?Absolutely.
I was driving the players crazy for a little while.
Dont put any fake emotion into things.
Just play the notes and youll be fine.
The notes will say it.
That was after me going, No!
It needs to be more this and it needs to be more that.
But part of that conversation and experimentation is good.
You arrive at a point.
Is Steve involved in the minutiae of that as well?Ill tell you exactly how it works.
We give a shot to be as close as possible geographically.
The budget was so low that it was only four musicians and Steve.
Youre part of the band.
Whats great about Steve is, he doesnt know how to censor himself when something touches him.
You instantly know when you hit the right note.
Its so beautiful, just keep going!
So we never played that game.
We were forever going, Lets try something else.
How do you know when you find the right theme?I dont.
Very often I dont find the right thing.
How does anybody know?
Im asking you as a writer because I definitely dont know when Ive got something right.Exactly.
But lets go to an artist that both Steve and I really admire: Gerhard Richter, the painter.
And two things happen.
Im not playing around here with color and a big paintbrush.
When do you know its good?
And so much of my relationship with directors is that they tell me when youre finished.
But I really was sick as a dog by this point, I was exhausted.
And Im going, No, no, no!
We still have to record this really unimportant, trivial whatever.
And he goes, No, Hans.
Its important that the people you work with, that we all watch out for each other.
I mean that in the kindest possible way.
it’s possible for you to ask me about anything, and I will answer it.
But if I play you a piece of music, I cant look at you when I play it.
