In a new interview with Inverse, legendary composer Hans Zimmer talks about his decision to quit superhero movies following Batman v Superman. Zimmer has composed the scores for several superhero films, including the Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The latter, apparently, sparked his decision to walk away from the comic book movie genre.
In the interview, Zimmer points out that his attachment to Christopher Nolan’s films was too great. He didn’t feel right moving onto another Batman film with another actor in the cowl and another director at the helm. Especially so quickly. “If you take the three Chris Nolan Batmans, that’s three movies to you, but to you and Chris, it was twelve years of our lives,” said Zimmer.
Addressing the central performance specifically, Zimmer notes,
“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.”
He did have good things to say about the process of composing the score for Batman v Superman, though. Zimmer praises the collaboration he had with Junkie XL on coming up with a new Batman theme.
“And it was great having a partner in crime on this thing. And you can’t have a better partner than Junkie, the guy is on fire constantly. He’s one of the most creative people I know, and plus he’s as geeky as me.”
Zimmer also clarifies his initial comments by saying that he did not necessarily mean he would never, ever do another superhero film. But that he is instead waiting for the right superhero film to come along.
“Ron Howard actually 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?”
While Hans Zimmer composed the score for both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, he will not be returning to provide the music for Justice League. Instead, his Batman v Superman collaborator Junkie XL will take over sole composing duties this time around.
