Many fans were surprised when composerHans Zimmerannounced last year that he has retired from the superhero movie genre, after composing the score forBatman v Superman: Dawn of JusticewithJunkie XL. The composer brought inJunkie XLto compose the Batman theme, since he didn’t want to betray the work he did with directorChristopher Nolanin his blockbusterDark Knighttrilogy, which starredChristian Baleas Batman. In a new interview,Hans Zimmerrevealed just how much he missesChristian Baleas Batman, and how he’s definitely not a fan ofBen Affleck’s rendition of Batman.
Inversecaught up with the composer, who was promoting his new online MasterClass, where he teaches aspiring musicians how to compose film scores. When the talk eventually shifted towardsHans Zimmer’s superhero retirement, the musician revealed that he just couldn’t work in the genre anymore, after the 12 years he spent working withChristopher NolanonThe Dark Knighttrilogy. Here’s what he had to say below, where he clarifies that he is not really retiring from superhero movies, after taking some advice fromRon Howard.
“I keep thinking about new styles of music and new ways of using technology, new ways of figuring out how to make everything that we do an experience for other people. And I just couldn’t do it anymore with thesuperhero movies, it’s as simple as that. If you take the threeChris NolanBatmans, that’s three movies to you, but to you and Chris, it was 12 years of our lives. So sometimes you just have to say, ‘I don’t know where I’m heading, but I’m going to jump off this cliff.’ As soon as I said it, there were a lot of phone calls coming my way going, ‘Are you crazy?’ But I’ve never written music for money, money isn’t inspiring. And I didn’t want to get into it where it became a job.Ron Howardactually said something very smart to me. He said, ‘Don’t say you will never do a superhero movie again. Wait for somebody to turn up with an amazing script for a superhero movie.’ And I suppose that’s what I’m saying: Can I please have the amazing script? It just did my brain in to have writtenChristian Baleas Batman, and suddenly it’sBen Affleck(inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). And it felt like I was betraying everythingChristianhad done. So there’s a certain amount of loyalty attached to those movies, as well.”
When the interviewer mentions that the actor changes the way a composer performs the music, even if it’s the same character,Hans Zimmerexpanded on why he is not a fan ofBen Affleck’s performance. He also added that, before bringingJunkie XLon board, he spent several months trying to come up with a new Batman theme forBen Affleck. Here’s what he had to say about why he prefersChristian BaletoBen Affleck.
“I spent months trying to come up with something for Ben. TheBatmanthat I know and the one I learned is the one that Christian did, and Ben plays it differently. And I can’t quite shake that off. For me, the Christian Bale character was always completely unresolved. It was always about that moment at the beginning of the first movie, where he sees his parents getting killed. It was basically arrested development. The Ben character is more middle-aged; he seems to be grumpy as hell, but I didn’t feel the pain that I felt in Christian’s performance. And it was that pain that made me interested.”
Ben Affleckreturns asBatmanin the highly-anticipatedJustice League, which hits theaters November 17, and features a score byJunkie XL. The actor is also getting ready for his stand alone rebootThe Batman, although we reported earlier this week that production likely won’t begin until next year on that movie. It’s possible thatJunkie XLwill be tapped once again to provide the score forThe Batman, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.
