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-HANS ZIMMER: Hello, everyone. -Hi-ya.
ZIMMER: May I introduce you to the person
that actually got me into trouble?
-This is Johnny Marr. -MARR: Hi-ya!
And I wouldn't have... I would've stayed at home.
I would've been a good boy writing film scores,
I would not have left my room.
I hadn't left my room in 40 years,
and he and Pharrell Williams
basically bullied me, badgered me!
Yeah.
Look at all these synths!
ZIMMER: You're just jealous. You just want that one.
The reason I've gathered all these people together
is really quite simply this.
These are all people who are telling the story
of who we are as human beings,
directors, actors, musicians,
people who have a history beyond one movie,
or beyond one project together.
I'm fascinated at not having their opinion about my work,
but just having their opinion
about who are we as human beings,
why are we making culture,
why are we trying to make music, or act, or make a movie?
At the end of the day,
why are we all interested in being story tellers?
["A Time of Quiet Between the Storms" from "Dune 2"]
[soloist sings]
[percussions plays]
[cheering]
[percussion plays]
[orchestra enters]
[cheering]
["Inception" suite]
[drums solo]
[bass enters]
[orchestra enters]
[drums stop]
[drums re-enter]
[drum and percussion solo]
[man shouts]
[electric guitars play]
[full orchestra enters]
[cheering]
Good evening.
[cheering]
Good evening, Dubai!
What an honor it is for us to be here!
What a joy it is to play for you!
-It's so... -We love you, Hans!
[cheering]
Good, I'm glad.
The riot starts before I even started it.
[cheering]
No, seriously, we wanted to come here to this wonderful city,
and I realized what a true jewel you have here,
what an amazing city, what an amazing...
[cheering]
And I realized that...
I mean we've been travelling all over the world recently,
and I suddenly realized the future is here.
[cheering]
-It's so good to see you. -It's good to see you.
It's so good to see you.
I'm really happy to see you looking well.
So, I remember the fateful day.
I don't know if you guys had planned it,
but you and Pharrell sat me down on the couch,
sat a little too close on either side of me,
and started to give me a lecture about
how I needed to go and play live.
I mean, the whole reason I had a career in film
was because I didn't want to go and stand on a stage,
so I had to find a different way of...
-Yeah. -...making a living.
I remember afterwards saying how amusing it was for me
to see the guy who wrote "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now,"
with the guy who wrote "Happy."
-I know! -Literally, that was hilarious!
And you two getting on like a house on fire.
If it hadn't been for the two of you,
I would never have gone out on the road.
It was obvious to us that not only could you do it,
but you should do it,
but now, what we're talking now,
like almost ten years later,
look how many shows you've done.
I didn't know that you were going to be a complete road dog!
I know, I know, I didn't know either.
You're more of a road dog than I am!
I know, I mean I'm loving it.
I don't know whether you remember this,
I asked you to remember that you were an electronic musician.
You know, that's a really big... that's a huge point!
It was important that people hear you play a synthesizer.
Well, exactly.
Being a composer, a film composer,
brings a certain kind of association and an idea of,
you know, sophistication and orchestration,
but what I know of you is programming
and Jupiters and Moogs,
and I'm really glad that that's a big part of your show now,
that the electronic side of it is showing people
who you are and what you started off.
You know, the other thing I love is how international we are.
The whole thing, you know, like the orchestra.
The orchestra is from Odessa in Ukraine.
Yeah.
So they came over two weeks after the war started,
and we had to smuggle them out.
Not smuggle them out,
but it was very hard for them to cross the border.
I heard that, yeah.
So, there are some real world problems going on,
dramatic problems going on with the orchestra
and for three hours,
they don't let the audience know this,
and they play with a smile on their face with great passion,
and they can't get to their phone,
while their country is being destroyed.
Yeah.
So it's not just about the playing.
I think that's why the idea
that it's a family isn't so wrong.
I read a lot of stuff by young composers on the internet
and that they're "work for hire,"
and I never behaved like this even in films.
And I don't treat anybody else as a "work for hire"
-or a hired musician. -No.
No, I mean, sometimes it's not even how well you play,
it's more are you a good hang?
-You know? -That's right.
There you have it, because there's all this other stuff,
but essentially, at heart,
you've got the soul of a rock musician.
Yeah, exactly! Yeah.
[cheering]
["Wonder Woman" suite]
[orchestra builds]
[choir enters]
[choir solos]
[orchestra re-enters]
[heavy percussion drops]
[violin solo]
[guitar solo]
[percussion and chant]
[woodwind solo]
[percussion and chant]
[orchestra re-enters]
[cheering]
[choir sings]
[percussion]
[distorted cello solo]
[percussion stops]
[orchestra and electric guitar re-enters]
[vocalist enters]
[choir enters]
[cheering]
-Hans! -Dude...
-Hello! -It's been so long!
Hello, my friend!
-How are you? -I'm good!
We haven't seen you in like four years.
-It's been such a long time. -It's a treat to see you!
I think that's complete bullshit!
I don't think it's been four years.
I think it's been...
Four years ago, we hadn't even written the song.
-Four years ago we had. -Wait, we had.
Four years ago, we had recorded...
-Okay, so it's been four years. -It's been four years.
But luckily we're all still youthful.
You look the same!
This might be the same outfit
I've seen you in it before. You look great!
Look, the reason I wanted to have you
be part of this is because,
the more I started working on
this little documentary or concert film,
the more I realized I actually wanted to make it
about what it's like to be an artist, or what we do.
I loved "Barbie," by the way.
-Oh, thanks. -I truly loved it.
That was a real treat.
That was, you know, an experience that I felt like
we were better equipped for having worked with you.
I think that that was like, you know,
being guided through the Bond experience with you
and learning so much from you,
meant that that experience was like,
"We can implement all of this stuff that we learned."
-Yeah, 100%. -It was directly applicable.
We would never have been able to make that.
To me it was such an example
of how to collaborate in the most effective way.
That was one of the biggest things
I feel like I got from you,
because I was also 17 and new and was very...
just things were exploding around me.
And I was just trying to figure it out.
I think it was hard to know how I was supposed to act
most of the time,
and I think that your being so welcoming to us
and also just being such a good collaborator
was really something that I think all of us learned from,
but I was really at an age where I'm really glad
to have had that experience with you
because I feel like I then took that
and was very inspired by it in my career.
And you didn't make us feel like you felt
like you knew everything about everything
and you're the only one that's right.
-But I know nothing. -That's amazing!
There's a kind of an epidemic of people
that think that they know everything,
especially in, I think music.
You said something really interesting, because it's true.
There are so many people who think
they know everything about music,
and if you really think about that,
all they know is about yesterday's music.
-Yeah. -Right.
You know, they are actually putting up a wall
to not have the imagination of doing something new, you know?
Yeah. It's just really hard to know that something
that you made has such an impact on someone.
Even if someone tells you, it's really hard to process.
And also for you, you love it,
but you're doing your job, and so, you know...
"Pirates of the Caribbean," you're just like making...
-Pirate music! -Pirate music, man!
You just do it, but for us, it's like our whole childhood!
I wrote those tunes... I just dashed them out!
How do you decide what you want to play on each song live,
because you play most of everything
often when you're recording it, right?
So you cherry-pick, you go,
"This was the most fun part to play, I'm going to play guitar."
How did you choose what instrument
-you were going to play? -Pretty much that!
You know how it is,
being a keyboard player is, sort of, slightly boring,
but getting the guitar out, plugging it in, turning it up,
it's a weapon of mass destruction
in the best possible way.
-Do you know what I mean? -Oh, yeah.
It's like, ooh, if you're going to do this,
you might as well go all the way.
I on purpose have this, not a grand piano on stage.
On purpose have this little upright,
out of tune, humble,
because I hate the pretentiousness
of the conductor or the film composer,
all that stuff that goes into it.
True.
To be honest, one of the things I was
the most worried about ever writing
was "Man of Steel," because Superman.
I mean who isn't worried about writing "Superman."
And then I suddenly realized actually that the foundation,
the basis of the story was,
it was this man who could never become human,
and all he wanted to do was be Clark Kent,
be on his farm, et cetera.
So, the humbleness of that piano
seemed to be like the right thing to go
and write something about a Superman
who really just wants to fight his own humanity.
["What Are You Going to Do When You Are
Not Saving the World?" from "Man of Steel]
[orchestra enters]
[orchestra builds]
[orchestra softens]
[electric guitar solo]
[cheering]
[percussion plays]
["Man of Steel Suite"]
[orchestra enters]
[electric guitar enters]
[electric guitar solo]
[cheering]
[man shouting]
That one!
[cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen,
I can say this...
I think I can say this,
and I wonder if the band agrees with me.
He won't agree with me, but then he's wrong.
Ladies and gentlemen, Guthrie Govan,
the greatest guitarist in the world.
[cheering]
And on top of that,
one of the truly most gentle and beautiful
human beings that I know. I love him.
[cheering]
The next thing we're going to do is an antique piece.
What do you say, Nick, would you agree with me on that?
Yeah.
It's from Roman times.
[cheering]
It's not "Gladiator!"
[laughing]
I'm lying, it is "Gladiator!"
[cheering]
["Gladiator Suite"]
[woodwind plays]
[orchestra enters]
[acoustic guitars enter]
[tempo slows]
[tempo increases]
[tempo builds]
[chanting]
[orchestra builds intensity]
[distorted bass enters]
[soloist sings]
[orchestra builds]
[choir enters]
[percussion plays]
[vocalist sings]
[chorus sings]
[vocalist sings]
[cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen...
Lisa, don't run off!
Lisa!
[cheering]
Come up, get up there.
Step... Get into the light.
All right.
[cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen, the incredible Lisa Gerrard!
[cheering]
What are we doing next?
Oh, I tell you what, I tell you what, I have an idea here.
I might be completely wrong,
but we were all told we're not supposed
to take any photos, right?
So, let's just take a moment,
whip out our phones!
[cheering]
Come on! Go for it!
Don't be shy!
I'm having you, you're having me!
[cheering]
I don't know what my career would be like without you.
I think I wouldn't be in it.
I don't know what my career would be...
I wouldn't be in this game anymore,
I'd be selling real estate somewhere.
Well, here's the interesting thing,
and it goes both ways, of course.
So you gave me my first big break in America,
so it's been a while that
we're still speaking to each other,
you know, which just goes to show.
Been a lot of movies.
A lot of movies,
and one huge role you had in my life is...
when the going got tough and everybody was bailing
and everybody was going,
"I'm going home now, I can't handle it anymore,"
you'd stay, you'd stay by my side, you know,
at four o'clock in the morning
and help get through these sort of, you know,
the unanswerable questions.
I think that shows a degree of friendship
that goes so way beyond professionalism.
And a degree of caring about somebody.
-And you didn't fire me. -Never.
I have an enormous amount of patience for talented people,
and when you're making a movie, it's like watching paint dry.
You do two minutes a day and it goes on for months,
and then you come to the point
where you start to edit the movie
and you put these layers on it, the sound effects,
all these different things that make it come alive.
But the most important thing is the music,
and look, you're the greatest living composer in my mind.
But I didn't know I would get there, you know.
Together we make this music and this movie.
It's not just me.
It's like we're absolutely working together on things.
I think my experience with you is that
you have to be in a lot of pain to write something great.
Yes, it's that!
And unless there's a total deadline
and you've been up for 48 hours and you've been drinking,
I don't know how many pots of coffee, then it hits.
The more pressure, the better the score, always.
I just remember winning an Oscar
and coming in after not sleeping all night
and coming in for a meeting with you,
Don and Tony at ten o'clock,
looking a little bleary-eyed and playing you this thing,
and you don't mention the Oscar at all,
and I just go, "I'll play you the piece of music,"
and you guys go "It's shit!"
And back to reality, because it was always about the work,
it wasn't about anything else.
Always, it's always the work.
Don always used to say we're in the transportation business,
we transport you from one place to another.
Absolutely!
The score of the movie is really the heartbeat
of the film, it really is.
It's the emotion that we want the audience
to feel from every single scene,
and if you get it right,
you have something really successful.
And sometimes you'll hear a melody
like "Pirates," and you say, "We've got a hit movie."
We take this piece of score and
we've got to get everything else right, of course,
but when you take that, it makes the character come alive.
It shows the levity of this character.
And if you take that music, yeah, it could be goofy,
Johnny's playing this kind of goofy character,
but when you hear the music, it makes him heroic,
it makes him fun, it makes him mischievous,
which is everything that that character it supposed to be,
and how it carries through the movie.
"Pirates" was fun, "Pirates" I loved.
Well, you came in and saved our life on that one.
We had a previous composer, and it just didn't work at all.
And I was really frustrated.
Yes, some movies are really difficult to find the tone,
and "Pirates" was that movie.
Yeah.
But you came in and you wrote that melody...
-In one night. -In one night.
-All the themes in one night. -And it blew everybody away.
I just played you things, and you went, "Great, let's go!"
It was one of the most terrific experiences.
You know, they are all written with blood,
it's as simple as that!
There you go, that's the true story.
Yeah.
[accordion plays]
["Pirate of the Caribbean" suite]
[cello enters]
[orchestra enters]
[violin and cello duet]
[orchestra enters]
[choir enters]
[glockenspiel solo]
[woodwinds enter]
[orchestra enters]
[orchestra crescendos]
[electric guitar enters]
[tempo increases]
["Main Theme" from "Pirates of the Caribbean"]
[cheering]
[choir enters]
[cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen...
she is amazing!
And so are all of them!
[cheering]
Good crowd!
[cheering]
["The Dark Knight Suite"]
[electronic music plays]
[drums enter]
[intensity increases]
[violins solo]
[bass plays]
[orchestra re-enters]
[cheering]
[bass solo]
[violin solo]
[cheering]
[percussion solo]
[cheering]
[orchestra re-enters]
[percussion and piano solo]
[orchestra re-enters]
[cheering]
I just wanted to tell you a quick story.
I just wanted to tell you a quick story about Batman.
You know, we did three Batman movies
and to you it was like three movies,
to us it was 12 years of our lives,
and a lot of things happened in that time.
Joy and tragedy, all mixed together,
you know, the extremes of life,
and I think that's why I do music,
because sometimes I can say things in music
that I just can't say in words.
[cheering]
-You and I, we truly go back. -Yeah, oh, yeah.
When I landed "Interstellar,"
that was truly my favorite director.
"The Dark Knight" was a film
that made me want to act, period.
It's a score I refer to constantly in "Dune: Part Two,"
particularly the "Why So Serious?" theme,
and sort of the opening.
I don't know what that noise is of that shrill...
I know. It's a cello
and I always thought when I made him do it,
his parents paid a lot of money for him
to learn how to play beautifully.
Yeah.
-You know, and I'm making him... -It's that arduous noise, yeah!
I know. It actually took a while, because...
He was... I could always hear him act.
Do you know what I mean?
-The cellist? -The cellist.
I could always hear him, like, "I have to be the bad guy,"
and then I actually wrote something
which was so complicated,
to really like just completely exhaust him.
Then, sort of, very late at night, when he was a broken man,
I said, "Okay, just have one more go at this thing,"
and that was it!
Wow! Wow! That's what made it into the film?
Yeah, because that noise is so piercing,
but it's something, you know,
on "Dune: Part Two" helped me tremendously.
I also feel that your music carries across generations
and it doesn't have that pop music classification, you know?
Yes, it's a weird thing.
It's a weird thing.
That's why I love revisiting your scores,
or Maurice Jarre, John Williams,
because it interacts with your body in a way that you don't...
I love The Beatles, and I love Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones,
but it brings you to a time and place.
When I listen to "Lawrence of Arabia,"
or "Gladiator," it's timeless,
and I revisited it in the "Gladiator" film.
I love the "To Zucchabar,"
if I'm pronouncing it correctly, theme in that.
That's something I refer to a lot on "Dune: Two" as well,
because it helped me feeling like a foreigner
as Paul Atreides,
entering this land of the Fremen, I would play that theme.
I saw Paul Mescal who is playing the new "Gladiator,"
and I told him "To Zucchabar," track 6
on "Gladiator" on the album,
you've got to reference that.
For some reason, that song moves me.
"Dune" is very different.
"Part Two" is much different because we do that love theme.
Even the way the movie ends, I said to Denis, I was surprised,
I said, "You didn't end on the Atreides theme,
"and you ended on the love theme," you know.
Yes.
But, okay, hang on.
So the secret of the love theme...
is actually in the first movie, the bagpipes.
Remember the bagpipes?
The bagpipes, the man with the...
Yes, it's that theme, much slower.
Wow!
The first one, I struggled with...
Well, not struggled with,
but the rhythm of the movie was challenging for me to find.
It's really difficult. I understand.
-I so understand. -Yeah.
I sort of had the same problem. I had the same problem.
It's actually interesting to hear you say
-you struggled with it, too. -Oh, constantly.
And Joe Walker, our editor, Joe and I...
The first time Joe and I worked together was in 1988.
What project was that?
It was a BBC thing, I got fired off.
Okay, right.
Joe and I worked on "12 Years a Slave"...
Wow!
Which is again, it is a film that has
a really individualistic rhythm,
where shots are held really long, you know,
and to have the courage...
"Dune," did you find that as well,
that partly these people have the courage to hold a shot?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so you have to have the courage
to play the scene to the very end.
Exactly, and it's something I'm very proud of
in "Dune: Part Two," the shots that do hold.
where I'm not filled in the editing,
okay, there's a wide here,
and they edit it out of it quickly,
and there's another wide, and they edit it quickly.
One of the things I loved about Denis,
and I think you probably felt the same thing,
and the same with Chris,
you can start a sentence off by going,
"This is probably the most stupid idea you ever heard,
but I'd love to try," duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.
And they go for it and they support you,
even if it's a bit clumsy at first.
I feel the exact same way as an actor.
I feel they are huge filmmakers
with an Indie-minded sensibility.
Absolutely! That's the thing, you know.
Yeah.
I never thought about it that way,
but that is exactly it.
And I think, you and I, we're really lucky
because we got to be part of two tremendous movies, you know,
and we got to work with the two best directors
around at the moment.
And the two people who get to work
with both of them, you and I!
-Hey, it could be worse. -It could be worse.
It could be a lot worse. Yeah.
[cheering]
["X-MDP" from "Dark Phoenix"]
[soloist sings]
[orchestra enters]
[singer vocalizing]
[singer chanting]
[choir chanting]
[choir singing]
[cheering]
["Supermarine" from "Dunkirk"]
[plane engines roaring]
[orchestra playing]
[cheering]
Let's talk about failure.
It's my favorite thing!
What is your relationship with failure?
Failure is my favorite teacher, it's the best teacher.
You have no idea how many pieces of music you didn't hear.
[laughing]
Let me give you my favorite example.
The opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, "da da da-da".
Every kid walks pass the piano and goes "da da da-da,"
but nobody other than Beethoven knew
that this really simple, idiotically simple phrase,
could create such magic,
but then, you know, when you go to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony,
he spent 25 years failing trying to write it, you know.
So, there was a lot of failure going on to get there.
For me, the power of music is that
I can hear two bars of the theme from "Dune Two"
and I will feel that same emotion
that I feel after having watched the two and a half hour movie.
I feel the same way about "Inception"
and the music on the spinner.
I don't need to watch the whole movie,
that I'm brought in with just a few notes
and it goes right into your heart and it's visceral.
You see, I didn't want to say that,
I didn't want to mention this
because it's sort of unfair to my friend Denis,
but you see, you have to go out into the desert,
you have to spend forever shooting things,
and you have to forever edit it, and...
And what I can do with,
let's use Beethoven's Fifth again, you know,
all you have to do is "da da da-da!"
-That bastard! -You know, right?
So, that's the power of music!
I was against music for a long period of time
because it's so powerful.
The first thing that is most important
is relationship with the composer,
how you will find someone that will be there as a partner
that will listen seriously deeply to your inner intentions,
because it needs to be like a dance, too,
because it's a very dangerous animal!
By us both being honest,
we can create something
which creates an experience for people.
Experience, but also specifically with you,
can bring a perspective or a counterpoint
that brings another meaning on what's happening,
like for instance, in "Blade Runner,"
when the composer that composed
the action music over a sequence,
and we were like, "It's good,
"but it's just the music is obvious,
"the music is just telling us something
"that is already in the image and it brings nothing more."
You came with the idea to bring back the suite,
that was something you said...
"It's very simple if you put that very passionate music
"on top of what's happening right now,
"what it will create is that we will understand that
"all these characters know that they are going towards death.
"It's inevitable, but still they are going forward
and it becomes a tragedy, they will all die!"
[laughing]
That's a very German idea!
But when you put the music on the scene, we all start to cry
because it was suddenly true emotion.
It was not some sentimentalism, it was about courage.
Inevitability.
I was absolutely floored by your instinct.
What I learned with you is that
it's not only about the notes
but it's also about the instruments.
-Oh, totally. -And I think that
with "Dune," when you're saying I'm inventing new instruments
and I'm using nothing from our world,
because the story-telling occurs in the instruments
that are also playing the music.
Absolutely.
And I felt it was it was my duty that,
if you go and build sets
and you build costumes and you world-build,
that we needed to world-build as well,
and we needed to go and invent instruments
and find a language that hadn't been used before.
You know, I mean, you know,
it is this band that you see on this stage
that is the soundtrack to Dune,
and I think there is something great that
you have virtuoso actors,
then the last actors that play in this film are these musicians
and they are virtuoso actors too, you know.
What fascinated me in "Dune One" is how you used voice.
Nobody ever found a person as courageous as Loire
and we needed to find somebody who was reckless enough,
because she's right at the edge
of where she could lose her voice forever.
Oh, yeah.
But, technically, when you say that's a figure...
It's not a figure of speech, it's the truth.
But isn't that what it's about,
that we have the honor to be the storytellers,
but at the same time it comes with the responsibility
that we just have to put everything on the line?
["Paul's Dream" from "Dune"]
[electronic sounds, distorted voices]
[vocalist sings]
[percussions plays]
[orchestra enters]
[orchestra exits]
[orchestra re-enters]
[cheering]
The reason that the shades are down is because
the cutting room is right there.
Oh, really?
And I was working on things with a director
who was in those cutting rooms
and would give me shit for either...
-Are you at the keyboard. -Am I really at the keyboard?
That's my fantasy, to be able to look into where you are...
Yeah, well!
Every movie we've done was
a life and death experience for me.
I don't mean that...
First of all, I don't mean it in an ironic or cynical way,
but it was just like, "Okay, if we're going to do this,
I am prepared to die for it."
This is, this is...
I'm going to throw myself that much into it.
I do tell people that,
and I don't think they believe me actually,
I tell people that the recording sessions
for "The Dark Knight" ended
because I just said,
"We're done, it's enough, you have to stop."
-I remember that! -You know?
I remember, you went over to the console and I was going,
"What the fuck's he doing? He's going over to the console."
And you hit the talk back button
and you spoke to the whole orchestra and you just said,
"Thank you very much, we're done."
And we were!
And I was appalled because I still had 1,000 ideas!
Yeah, it was...
I needed a grown up.
You needed a grown up to say, "We're done, enough is enough."
"Interstellar" is my favorite work that we did together.
Yeah.
How many years ago was it? I don't even know.
-It's ten years this year. -Ten years this year, okay.
I mean, with that film emotion was everything,
and I think it's wonderful to see
it's been more embraced over the years,
and it's a deceptively simple film, that one,
but I think that "Interstellar" could have never worked
with anything other than a new score,
and that was the whole process with "Interstellar."
That was what I wanted to get out of you,
I wanted it to be the most personal score.
I didn't want you to use a lot of other people in the score.
-I didn't. -No, you didn't.
I always fully embraced the way you would put a band together,
the way you would bring people in.
I never fault that,
I always enjoyed that process and meeting people.
-But you do the same thing. -Exactly.
But I wanted to do at least one film
where you didn't have any of that.
It's partly to do with that machine of the film
and getting rid of that
and saying, okay, what's the heart of it,
sort of you at your keyboard.
It's a remarkable thing to look at the finished film
and realize how exactly that is the music for the film.
Yeah.
That first thing you did in one day.
I mean, obviously, then it's so expanded on
and changed and other things added, whatever,
years of work on top of it.
You know, we did 48 sessions.
I'm very aware!
You're very aware, I know!
Proper Zimmer madness!
Would you want it any other way other than
I embraced, I just went mad.
If you remember, my whole approach was to get
you to write before you even knew the genre,
just get you to write based on the fable that I gave you.
-The letter. -Yeah.
Can I ask you something and they can cut it out.
Was that written on your dad's typewriter?
It was, yeah, yeah, it was.
I thought so, and that meant so much.
But the point of doing that,
the point of writing what I call the fable,
just try to get to the absolute essence of the thing, one page.
And the way I would describe it is on the previous films,
we had started with what I call the "machine,"
the machine of the score,
all the actions, all the sounds, like, what's the mechanism,
but with "Interstellar,"
I knew it had to be the other way round.
And I wanted to look down the other end telescope
and just go, "Okay, let's start tiny and boom out."
How did you know I could do that?
I know. I can tell you exactly because you always talk about...
You're very articulate about creative process.
You spend a lot of time thinking about it
and talking to people about it.
One of the things you'd said to me for years is,
because you had advised me in my own writing,
we talked about the way in which you have to approach writing,
the way you have to approach writing music,
and you always talk about you have to sneak up on it,
sometimes you have to sneak up on it,
you can't address it head on.
So, I think over the years I've realized
that that's very much the case with you.
Process and methodology is freeing for you, it's important,
so the idea was to have your most spontaneous,
your most loose emotional response to begin with,
and then build out from there,
Sort of the opposite of what we've done with the other scores
because I felt that "Interstellar"
would always require that heart,
your soul at the center of it.
["Interstellar Suite"]
[vocalist sings]
[orchestra builds]
[electric guitar enters]
[organ music enters]
[piano music enters]
[electric guitar enters]
[bass enters]
[vocalist enters]
[choir enters]
Being here is so cool for me.
In many ways, your work is the soundtrack to my life.
You know? It's like all these moments.
I remember being a kindergartener
on my Dad's lap watching "Lion King."
I remember being 17 and going to movies to see "Interstellar"
and being obsessed and then going back
to see it like five times.
-So "Interstellar" moved you. -Oh, my gosh, yeah!
Oh my God, I... It's hard.
To this day though, anyone who comes into my house,
there are certain movies that I make them watch,
and that is one of them.
I have a list of different things, and like,
-if you come in my house... -I've got that, too.
Like, you have to watch "Interstellar."
And if you haven't watched it,
you're not quite my friend until you've watched it.
Because you don't understand me fully!
Exactly, you're not part of our tribe!
Yeah, you don't know me yet,
but something that really resonated with me
when I was 17 was the music.
And it's so funny because
now I think it's like had a resurgence,
"Cornfield Chase" has had the whole resurgence
online with young people,
people my age or people younger,
using them in TikToks and...
I know. I keep seeing it on, like,
cut to the craziest footage!
Yeah! It's everywhere.
That was something that resonated to me
when it first came out,
there was something about it.
I remember I would play it...
I'm from Oakland and sometimes
I would drive back home with my parents...
Over the bridge.
And I would play that driving back.
"Don't let me leave, Murph!"
Right, right.
Dun, dun!
It was playing, you feel like you're in the movie, you know!
So, it's just deeply emotional to me.
It was intensely personal.
Do you ever feel like you put yourself,
obviously you put yourself inside of the films,
but do you feel like you resonate sometimes
specifically with different characters
and put yourself inside of them?
Totally. Going back to "The Lion King,"
which I didn't want to do... dah, dah, dah.
All the stupid things.
My story is, my dad died when I was six, and here I am.
I tell you why I did "Lion King"
because my oldest daughter was six at the time.
Ah...
And I've never been able to take her to a premier
because you can't really take a six-year-old
to a Ridley Scott movie,
-if you know what I mean. -Yeah, understood.
So I thought, "I'll do this happy cartoon," right?
-For my kid. -For my kid.
Then I'm sitting in the front of it, and it's like,
"It's about a father dying,"
and I had like hidden all that away from me.
Hadn't dealt with it.
-I hadn't dealt with it at all! -Just put that in the...
Now, I'm sitting in front of a cartoon
and I have to deal with it.
So I wrote this...
I mean the whole score of "Lion King"
is a requiem for my father, you know.
Wow! That's so cool.
By the end of it, it's always personal.
["The Lion King Suite"]
[Lebo M. sings]
["He Lives in You" plays]
♪ Night ♪
♪ And the spirit of life ♪
♪ Callin' ♪
♪ Mamela ♪
♪ And a voice ♪
♪ With the fear of a child ♪
♪ Answers ♪
♪ Whoa, mamela ♪
♪ Wait ♪
♪ There's no mountain too great ♪
♪ Hear these words and have faith ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Have faith ♪
[chorus enters]
♪ He lives in you ♪
♪ He lives in me ♪
♪ He watches over ♪
♪ Everything we see ♪
♪ Into the water ♪
♪ Into the truth ♪
♪ In your reflection ♪
♪ He lives in you ♪
♪ He lives in me ♪
[electric guitar enters]
♪ He lives in you ♪
♪ He lives in me ♪
♪ He watches over ♪
♪ Everything we see ♪
♪ Into the water ♪
♪ Into the truth ♪
♪ In our reflection ♪
♪ He lives in you ♪
[singing in foreign language]
♪ He lives in you ♪
♪ He lives in me ♪
[percussion plays]
[vocalizing]
[orchestra and chorus enters]
[electric guitar enters]
[vocalist enters]
[violinist solo]
[orchestra enters]
[chorus and Lebo M. enters]
[chanting and singing in foreign language enters]
♪ 'Til we find our place ♪
♪ On the great unwinding ♪
♪ In the circle ♪
♪ The circle of life ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ Circle of Life ♪
[cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen, the legend,
the true Lion King,
my brother, Lebo Morake!
[cheering]
Cup of tea, cup of coffee? Water?
-What do you want? -I'm good.
I'm good, too.
Just want to say this, thank you for changing my life.
-Oh, brother! -No, it's the truth.
It's the truth.
You gave me the courage to go and do the thing
that I didn't know I so wanted to do, you know.
You said, "You can't hide behind a screen
for the rest of your life."
Which is true.
You've ruined a perfectly good film composer.
[chuckles]
No, I think I just held up a mirror.
That was it.
None of this would have happened had it not been for friendship.
There's a sentence somebody said to me once,
"We're all alone in this together."
People are always going how well we play
or any of that stuff, you know,
that's what makes a great musician.
I don't think so. I think it's how well we listen.
It's the constant listening with which we support each other,
and if we don't support each other,
-the whole thing falls apart. -Yes.
Music just falls apart.
That's where it becomes magical.
-Exactly! -When it's between people.
It's magical because each person
is tuning into the muses
which is why they call them musicians,
and the substance that they are transmitting
is music,
that's the substance, music.
It's the substance of the transmissions
of the musicians from the muses.
The fact that three or four people could be in the room,
and then that syncs up together.
-That is magical. -Right, no, absolutely.
And you can't do it without being in tuned,
and how can you be in tuned if you're not listening?
When I left school, I was touring with a terrible band
and we had no money, et cetera, and we were going everywhere
and things were really grim, people were so poor.
And so, I have this fictitious person,
she's called Doris,
she wears a grey raincoat and she works,
she works really hard,
you know, her hands are like red from working hard.
And come the weekend, she's got a choice.
She can go to the movies with her hard-earned money,
or she can go to the pub.
When she goes to the movies,
I'd better go and have created some magic,
I'd better go and give her two hours of an amazing time.
So whenever I write,
and every piece that comes from nowhere, I go,
"What would Doris think of this?"
-Wow! -"Is it good enough for her?"
I don't write for directors, I don't write for producers,
and I certainly don't write for movie studios.
Whoa.
You know what's crazy is that you write these big epic moments
for so many people's films,
their ideas, their concepts.
People see those films and they feel
what the director wanted
because you bring such audio color,
and you can do it from the brightest of the bright,
you know, a "Gladiator" moment,
all the way to the darkest of The Darkest Knight.
Thank you.
And I'm honored, I'm just honored.
No, come on!
But it's true.
No, because it's like...
you've seen my vulnerabilities and you've seen me fuck up.
You've seen me struggle, you know.
-We've seen each other struggle. -Yeah.
You know, "How can we make this tune work?
How can we make this lyric work?"
-You know? -Yeah.
I get to just mostly aim straight
for either the heart or the feet, you know.
It's like...
You've got to dance or you've got to feel it.
Crazy!
I never knew that.
That's what you were thinking of...
You didn't know about Doris?
No. No, that's a first for me.
I just thought you went sitting there and going,
"This what they need. Okay, cool."
No, no, no.
It's like I feel it even more...
No, it's beyond there, it's beyond there.
-Weirdly, she is my hero. -Yes.
Because she works hard
and she's been left in this desolate place.
Yeah, and to be able to deliver for her means the world.
And you know that thing,
when you go to the cinema and the lights go down,
and then that magic happens.
Yeah.
And for two hours, two and a half hours...
Everyone's the same.
Absolutely.
Everyone's equal.
Yeah, and we're all dreaming together.
It's fabulous.
["Time" from "Inception"]
[cello enters]
[orchestra enters]
[electric guitar enters]
[brass enters]
[piano and violin solo]
[piano solo]
["Diamond in the Desert" by Hans Zimmer]
[electric bass plays]
[orchestra enters]
[percussion enters]
[vocalist enters]
[chorus enters]
[vocalist solos]
[woodwind solo]
[vocalist re-enters]
[orchestra crescendos and exits]
[woodwind solo]
[chorus re-enters]
[synthesizer enters]
[percussions and orchestra enter]