Hans Zimmer has revealed how he really feels about the controversial Oscars rule that disqualified his Dune: Part Two soundtrack from the running, calling it “such a stupid point”.
Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to his 2021 film, which concluded the first book of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi series, was lauded upon its release in 2024 by critics and audiences alike. Zimmer’s electrifying score was one of the main draws of the film.
The composer won the Oscar for best score in 2022 for the first Dune film but was left out of the running for the second.
Academy rules for music eligibility from sequels state that “the score must not use more than 20 per cent of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise”.
In an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the German composer talked about the “stupid” rule.
“You know something? It’s not really a sore point. It’s just such a stupid point — how can it be a sore point?” he told host Josh Horowitz.
“I got disqualified because I was using material from the first movie in the second movie, but it’s not a sequel. It is the completion, both movies are one arc. So, was I supposed to go and take all the character themes away and write new character themes and develop them? It’s just a stupid rule. What I didn’t want to do is go and b**** about it.”
Zimmer and Villeneuve had both argued last year that Dune: Part Two shouldn’t be considered a sequel but rather more a continuation of the first film.
“It’s called Dune: Part Two, not Dune 2,” Zimmer said on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast.
“The story starts the second we finish the first movie. We are still within that story, those characters, and it would be foolish and completely uncinematic to go and write new themes for the characters instead of enlarging the theme.”
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“I don’t think this is over yet,” Villeneuve had said. “I was there when Hans wrote the music, and he did a tremendous amount of music. Part Two is a new score. I don’t accept this because it’s one of the most beautiful scores Hans has ever written, and I would love it, at least, to be considered.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Zimmer elaborated on his position on composing scores for superhero films, saying he was “looking for other things right now”.
Zimmer has previously written music for 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Wonder Woman 1984, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
“They have, and it was always – timing wasn’t great,” Zimmer said in response to Horowitz’s question on whether the MCU approached him for the other films, or he turned them down. “And really, quite honestly, I’m looking for other things right now.
“Look, I’ve done the trifecta. I’ve done Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Wonder Woman! I mean, what do you want me to do? Some of the minor characters? Probably, yes.”
“This is Hans Zimmer, folks. Come on!” Horowitz responded.
In September, it was announced that Zimmer had signed on to compose the score for a new BBC adaptation of the classic novel Lord of the Flies.
The 1954 novel by William Golding is being used as the basis for a TV series for the first time.
Zimmer won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Lion King in 1994 and another for Dune. He has been nominated a further 10 times.
