Hans Zimmer ‘retires’ from composing for superhero movies

MANILA, Philippines – Hans Zimmer has been responsible for the iconic music of several superhero movies. Who can forget the powerful chanting in the The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack? Or his stirring theme for Man of Steel? Unfortunately, fans can’t expect another catchy superhero soundtrack from him – at least any time soon.

He recently said in an interview on BBC’s HARDtalk that he had “officially retired from the superhero business.”

“I did Batman Begins with Chris [Nolan] 12 years ago. So The Dark Knight trilogy may be 3 movies to you. To me, it was 11 years of my life,” said the composer as he went on to work on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Zimmer also said that doing the score for Batman v Superman “was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language.”

He added that his collaboration with Dutch musician, producer, and composer Junkie XL (real name: Tom Holkenborg) for the film soundtrack gave something fresh. “That was very important – to have another voice in here,” he said.

When asked if getting an offer to score another superhero movie would make his “heart sink slightly,” or if he would be motivated by a big paycheck, Zimmer commented, “I truly, really believe in my heart that nobody can write for money. You gotta be inspired, and money is not very inspiring. Fear is – fear of a deadline.”

“I remember [director] Zack [Snyder] saying to both Tom [Junkie XL] and me at the beginning of [Batman v Superman], ‘We’re just doing this one movie. Maybe in a hundred years, somebody else – there’s gonna be a different actor, different voices.’ It’s just part of the mythology.”

“Every movie comes down to the same idea: do we have a story, or don’t we have a story?”

Zimmer is a prolific composer who has worked on the soundtracks of popular films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, and Interstellar. He is expected to compose the score for the upcoming Christopher Nolan-directed World War II film, Dunkirk. – Rappler.com