Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films are visual spectacles, but there’s one thing that elevates the look of the films completely. Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-winning musical score in Dune and his subsequent work in Dune: Part Two were both integral parts of Villeneuve’s storytelling. However, unlike Christopher Nolan, the Sicario director did one thing to avoid limiting the musician’s perspective.
During a recent interview, Zimmer shared that Villeneuve never showed him the script for the films. The director wanted the score to come out of the conversations he had with Zimmer about Frank Herbert’s classic novel. Interestingly, their collaboration began on Blade Runner 2049 after Villeneuve parted ways with his frequent collaborator Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Denis Villeneuve Never Showed The Script Of Dune Films To Hans Zimmer
During an interview with Wallpaper before the release of Dune: Part Two, Hans Zimmer opened up about the process of working with Denis Villeneuve and how it was a different experience. Zimmer shared that he and the Prisoners director communicated with each other through what they did best — Zimmer with his music and Villeneuve with his visuals.
While working on the Dune films, both of them bonded over their shared teenage obsession with Frank Herbert’s novels. Zimmer shared that he was not just composing music for the Dune films but also worked on the film’s sound design. Their work on the films began even before the cameras started rolling.
Villeneuve never showed Zimmer the script of the film. Instead, the music composer had long conversations with the director about the book. Zimmer shared with Wallpaper:
Denis on purpose never showed me the script. Because it was much more about the conversations we were having, as two teenagers, about the book.
Zimmer revealed that he went to cinematographer Greig Fraser to talk about how he was going to shoot the film. He also studied the production and costume design to capture the visual direction of the film. According to Zimmer, words matter less in this storytelling industry. He shared:
We’re all in service of telling the story. We’re all trying to tell the story in our language. In a peculiar way in cinema, the least important part is the words!
Interestingly, Zimmer couldn’t stop writing the music after the first Dune film, and he had composed the song A Time of Quiet Between the Storms even before Dune: Part Two was greenlit. He played the new soundtrack on his European tour without letting anyone know that it was part of the unreleased film.
Hans Zimmer Has An Entirely Different Process With Christopher Nolan
During another interview with Cinemablend, Hans Zimmer shared his two ways of working in films. With Denis Villeneuve, he was more interested in him telling his story rather than reading from a script. He shared that he wanted to know what was in Villeneuve’s head. However, he chose to read Christopher Nolan‘s scripts always because he loved reading his writing.
Zimmer shared that when they started working on a film, there was no distinction between Nolan’s script and Zimmer’s music. Nolan established a correlation between the movie and the music, making them impersonal to both of them. He revealed that they never shared compliments since they held them up on getting on with things. Zimmer shared with Cinemablend | Instagram:
With Chris, I love reading the script because I actually love reading his writing. But then when we start working, at the beginning I’m talking about Chris’ movie, Chris’ words, Chris’ script and then as we go along, we’re not talking about his movie or my music.
We’re talking about the movie and the music, and it becomes completely impersonal. So we can say anything we want to each other. And compliments are not part of the conversation because they hold up us getting on with things.
Hans Zimmer worked with Nolan on The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, and Dunkirk. Dune 1 was his second Oscar-winning work after winning the prestigious award for The Lion King (1994).
The Dune films are now available for streaming on Max.
