Composer Hans Zimmer’s fandom for author Frank Herbert’s Dune is so strong that he actually chose the film over Christopher Nolan’s Tenet when it came to his big return to film scoring. Luckily for him, co-writer/director Denis Villeneuve was just as big a devotee to the source material as he was in the making of the movie, which led to Zimmer and Villeneuve totally geeking out over one of largest players among this year’s Academy Award nominees. All it took were some very important questions to realize that this was indeed a match made on Caladan.
In an interview with Gold Derby, Hans Zimmer discussed his credentials as a fan of Dune, which go as far back as his teenage years. That’s well and good, but when approaching the project, that meant Zimmer had a very specific picture in his mind as to what this movie was going to be. Here’s how the composer described the magic ingredient that assured him he was signing onto the right project:
It was so important to me that this vision I had in my head wouldn’t be blunted. I knew just by the way [Denis Villeneuve] was asking, knowing him, that he was making the same movie that I was making in my head.
The collaborators were familiar with each other, as Denis Villeneuve has previously enlisted the services of Hans Zimmer as a co-composer alongside Benjamin Wallfisch on Blade Runner 2049. A very crucial chemistry test between the two, the efforts for that legacy-quel were probably a great foundation for reteaming on Dune. Villeneuve’s vision only sealed the deal, which saw Zimmer getting to work rather enthusiastically.
In addition to the official score for Dune, Hans Zimmer also crafted collections of music that weren’t featured in the Timotheé Chalamet-led ensemble epic. Zimmer’s body of work for this project also includes an entire soundtrack to The Art of Dune companion book, as well as The Dune Sketchbook, which was a rough collection that helped form the final music. Again, there’s no questioning that Hans Zimmer is a Dune fan, and he even made that fact apparent when he spoke with our ReelBlend podcast last November.
When a fan is behind the wheel, the results are almost always proof of that fact. Just as he reintroduced the guitar swagger of the James Bond theme in No Time To Die, those visions of Caladan, Arrakis, and all points in-between led to an award-nominated dream come true for Hans Zimmer and Denis Villeneuve. No wonder Zimmer is excited to return to work on Dune: Part 2 – which is one of the handful of quick things to know about the developing sequel.
Just in case you thought Dune: Part 2 was going to spice things up at the movies any time soon, we’re going to have to wait until October 2023 until that’s sent to theaters. However, you can take a look at our guide to what upcoming movies are arriving in 2022 in the meantime. Or, if you want to relive Dune through streaming, HBO Max will be reintroducing the film to its library starting March 10.
