Christopher Nolan Made Interstellar Because Of Hans Zimmer's Music - Screen Rant
Director Christopher Nolan only made Interstellar because of a piece of music by Hans Zimmer. The prolific German composer is a longtime collaborator of the British-American filmmaker, with Zimmer having either written or produced the scores for seven of his movies. The science-fiction epic Interstellar, which picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, released in 2014.
While now firmly thought of as a Nolan film, Interstellar began as a potential project for the legendary Steven Spielberg, with Christopher's brother and frequent co-writer Jonathan Nolan hired to pen the screenplay in 2007. When Spielberg ended up leaving the project, the screenwriter suggested his brother as a potential replacement, with Nolan formally signing on in 2013. The subject matter turned out to be a perfect match for the practical effects-driven director, resulting in an enthralling visual depiction of space travel that, in spite of tepid critical reception to the film as a whole upon release, some have since positioned among his very best work.
According to an interview on the Reelblend podcast, however, Nolan's vision for Interstellar might never have made it to the big screen if not for Zimmer. Illustrating why he doesn't look at his directors when first playing his compositions for them, Zimmer recalls a time that Nolan asked him to write a specific piece of music for a project he hadn't yet started on. After hearing it, he says, the director announced to him that he'd make the movie - without ever actually telling him what the movie was about:
It goes back to Chris Nolan and Interstellar. Chris asked me to write this piece of music before he'd even written the script. So I play it to him without looking at him. You can see the couch behind me, he was sitting on the couch. So I was not facing him, and I got to the end of it and I said, 'So what do you think?' And he's just leaning back and goes, 'Hmm, suppose I better make the movie.' And I'm going, 'What is the movie?' Because he never told me what it was going to be about.
While Zimmer lost out at the Academy Awards to a worthy contender in The Grand Budapest Hotel, his soundtrack to Interstellar was highly acclaimed and remains one of his most popular works. He has since continued to demonstrate a particular talent for science-fiction music, having gone on to compose for Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, the latter of which is a potential frontrunner for this year's Oscar. After teaming up again for 2017's Dunkirk, Zimmer and Nolan have seemingly parted ways for the time being, with the director tapping his Tenet composer Ludwig Göransson for his upcoming Oppenheimer film.
While the importance of Zimmer's music to Interstellar might not surprise its fans, this represents an unusual upending of the film scoring process. Generally, composers are creating their music off of already filmed material, with editors sometimes even cutting to temp music in a way that limits their creative freedom. That the concept for Zimmer's organ-heavy score was there from before Nolan's Interstellar even took shape is a possible explanation for its primary importance to the final product.
Source: Reelblend
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