Hans Zimmer Confirmed As Composer On 'Man Of Steel'

Confirmed: Hans Zimmer Is Scoring Zack Snyder's SUPERMAN! Promises A "Reinvention"!

Beaks here...

You knew this was coming, but now it's official: Zack Snyder's SUPERMAN will not be carrying over John Williams's iconic main theme, first heard in Richard Donner's 1978 film and resurrected for Bryan Singer's 2005 continuation. Snyder has instead enlisted Hans Zimmer to score his top-down reinvention of the DC Comics superhero.

Zimmer let the cat out of the bag at a DVD release party for INCEPTION this week, and discussed the challenge of following up Williams's unforgettable score with NBC San Diego's Scott Huver...

“It's a hard one,” mused Zimmer, “but I followed one of the most iconic things on 'Batman' with Chris as well, and it's the same thing. You are allowed to reinvent, but you have to try to be as good or at least as iconic and it has to resonate and it has to become a part of the zeitgeist. That's the job. On 'Gladiator' I remember people always talking about 'Spartacus' and I kept telling them, 'When you saw "Spartacus" and how it affected it you, that's how I want a modern audience to be affected by what we do now.' So I think ultimately you're supposed to reinvent.”

This was obviously inevitable and necessary. Any nod to the Christopher Reeve-era SUPERMAN films would be confusing and provoke unwanted nostalgia when the idea is to establish a clean break from the previous big-screen iteration (ala Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS). However, I am a bit concerned that Zimmer and his team will be scoring so many studio tentpoles over the next two years. Though the Zimmer gang surprised with their SHERLOCK HOLMES music, the composer's motifs, no matter how dressed up with unique instrumentation, are still instantly identifiable. I don't want any CRIMSON TIDE, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or THE DARK KNIGHT in my SUPERMAN. Then again, who else would you go to for something as huge as this? Michael Giacchino? Aleaxandre Desplat? There aren't too many options out there.

I'd like a good, rousing, major-key theme for the new SUPERMAN. Hans Zimmer's best work is typically minor key. Perhaps he'll work a variation on his uplifting main theme for BACKDRAFT - which felt overblown for Ron Howard's film, but would fit perfectly in a SUPERMAN movie.

Internet rumors travel faster than a speeding bullet.

Last week, several Internet reports indicated composer Hans Zimmer will be doing the music for the Zack Snyder-directed “Superman” movie.

Zimmer indicated the only link with “Superman” is that he previously did music for Christopher Nolan who is the producer for the new “Superman” movie.

“You know, it’s like some dirty quote taken out of context,” said Zimmer to The Hollywood Reporter. “Let’s just be absolutely straight here: I have never in my life met Zack Snyder. I think I need to give him a ring.”

Zimmer has utmost respect for John Williams’ job with “Superman.”

“John Williams, the greatest living composer – full stop. And that happens to be one of his greatest themes. So no. And I’m not thinking of rewriting Beethoven’s ninth either,” he concluded.

Gig Patta's Take: Hans Zimmer is certainly an "It" composer right now. So there you have it. Zimmer is not composing a new Superman theme…..for now.

Father Finian wrote:Williams' theme was the ONLY thing Singerman had going for it.

Having said that, the reboot should move on.

thecolorsblend wrote:*sigh* I have no idea how much cred I'm about to lose here but the one thing I'll never bash Singerman for is the music. I thought the score turned out great. The music is obviously better than the film that inspired it, no doubts there, but I play some tracks from the Singerman score (as well as the scores from the actual Superman films) when I read Superman comics and it works nicely.

Agreed one million times over.

Apologist Puncher wrote:

thecolorsblend wrote:*sigh* I have no idea how much cred I'm about to lose here but the one thing I'll never bash Singerman for is the music. I thought the score turned out great. The music is obviously better than the film that inspired it, no doubts there, but I play some tracks from the Singerman score (as well as the scores from the actual Superman films) when I read Superman comics and it works nicely.

Allow ME to "bash the hell" out of it.

The Singerman version of the Superman March is as phony, fake, and pussified as the lead actor himself. Out is the heavy cymbal crash, out is the "build-up" to the music saying "Superman", out is the goose bump feeling you get when you hear it.

It was watered-down, and yet another insult to the far SUPERIOR original.

thecolorsblend wrote:Clearly you've got more of an ear for music than I do. I'm about as tone deaf as you can possibly get and still have any sense of hearing. Allz I'm saying is I dug some cues from the score.

Actually, there is a criticism I've not seen too many people make. Apart from the opening march, you don't really get the complete fanfare. Pop in STM real quick and zip over to the bit where Superman catches helicopter. The music that ensues is pretty much the whole son of a buck. Williams threw in the kitchen sink on that one.

Now, if you can stomach it, do likewise for basically any moment Singerman is onscreen in that movie. You get a sorta "preview" or "snippet" of the fanfare but never the whole thing. You get the "SUP-erman" musical quotation and that's just about it. Abbreviating the fanfare... just... UGH!

So yeah, I take it back, there is a swipe at the Singerman score I'm willing to make.

*sigh* Would now be a bad time to mention that I prefer certain of Ken Thorne's S2 and S3 orchestration to their Williams analogs?

*runs and hides*

Apologist Puncher wrote:I would never say "prefer", but I like the Superman II theme. It was just.... faster.

Hans Zimmer scoring 'Man of Steel'
Nolan's go-to music man back for WB's Superman reboot
By JEFF SNEIDER

Hans Zimmer, who worked on all three films in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, is set to reteam with the filmmaker once again, as Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder have tapped him to score their Superman pic "Man of Steel."

Legendary Pictures and Atlas Entertainment produced the superhero tentpole with Syncopy, Cruel & Unusual Films and DC Entertainment. Nolan and producing partner Emma Thomas produced the film with Atlas topper Charles Roven and Cruel & Unusual principal Deborah Snyder. Legendary's Thomas Tull exec produced with Lloyd Phillips.

In addition to "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight" and this summer's "The Dark Knight Rises," Zimmer worked with Nolan on "Inception," for which he received an Oscar nomination. He has been nominated for nine Oscars and previously won for Disney's "The Lion King."

John Williams was nominated for an Oscar for creating the iconic theme to Richard Donner's original "Superman" in 1978.

"Man of Steel" will mark the first Snyder-directed pic on which the helmer hasn't worked with composer Tyler Bates, who scored "Dawn of the Dead," "300," "Watchmen" and "Sucker Punch."

"Man of Steel," which hits theaters on June 14, 2013, stars Henry Cavill as the titular superhero, while the rest of the cast includes Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue and Christopher Meloni.

Zimmer is repped by WME.

Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Comicbookfan-V2 wrote:Then what was all that talk about Zimmer denying to compose for MOS then confiming that he actually is?

Comicbookfan-V2 wrote:Then what was all that talk about Zimmer denying to compose for MOS then confiming that he actually is?

Apologist Puncher wrote:Because that's how HollyWeird works?

James Stocks wrote:He changed his mind.