A heroic end

Music composer Hans Zimmer announces retirement from superhero films

Hans Zimmer admitted Batman v Superman was very hard to work on. PHOTO: FILE

Audiences know Hans Zimmer for his impressive roster of musical scores from high-profile films like Inception, Interstellar and Pirates of the Caribbean. But if fans are anxiously looking for his next superhero score, they are unfortunately, likely to get disappointed. The Oscar-winning composer recently announced his retirement from superhero films, after his work on this year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

While the recently released film  might have been the first superhero outing for Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck’s first appearance as Batman, it was also the final superhero score for Zimmer, who has admitted the picture was “very hard” to work on. “I have officially retired from the superhero business,” Zimmer told BBC’s HARDtalk.

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He went on to explain that scoring Batman v Superman was hard in terms of finding a fresh way to tell stories from a musical perspective. “Batman v Superman was very hard for me to do, to try to find new a language,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted the composer as saying. However, he added that what made it workable was the chance to collaborate with Tom Holkenborg (better known as Junkie XL) on the score of the film. “I did Batman Begins with Christopher [Nolan] 12 years ago, so The Dark Knight trilogy might be three movies to you. But to me, it was 11 years of my life,” he said. Sadly, after more than a decade of crafting music for one genre, he said he feels burnt out.

Zimmer is also the mastermind behind the music score for 2013’s Man of Steel.  Though he may be leaving the caped crusaders behind, Zimmer mentioned he is not giving up composing entirely. He is already gripped with plans to re-team with Nolan for the film-maker’s next film, Dunkirk.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd,  2016.

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