Hans Zimmer explains why he Chose Dune over Christopher Nolan’s Tenet

Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer, a dominant director-composer duo in Hollywood got their start on Batman Begins (2005) and have collaborated on some of the most acclaimed blockbusters of the century, from The Dark Knight (2008) to Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017), with Zimmer picking up three Oscar nominations for Best Original Score along the way. Despite their winning success, Zimmer recently had to turn Nolan down for the first time in over a decade because a passion project came calling: Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.

Zimmer says his personal love for the Dune source material made it impossible not to join the 2020 Villeneuve tentpole. Both Villeneuve and Nolan are currently filming their new movies and have 2020 release dates already set, making it impossible for Zimmer to work on both.

“Dune is one of my favorite books from my teenage years,” Zimmer said. “I love Denis, obviously, and Joe Walker, his editor. We did 12 Years A Slave together and Widows. We started working together in 1988 for the BBC together. It’s nice working with family.”

Zimmer said that to create the Dune original score he is working solely from his love for and knowledge of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. The musician never even saw David Lynch’s infamous 1984 film adaptation and says he’s “coming at this from a sort of fresh way, just from the book.”

Christopher Nolan’s new film, the action epic Tenet is being scored by Ludwig Göransson. The composer is having a tremendous year after winning the Best Original Score Oscar for his work on Black Panther and a couple of Grammy Awards for producing Donald Glover’s anthem This Is America. Göransson has collaborated with Ryan Coogler on additional films such as Fruitvale Station and Creed.

“I have to do Dune,” Zimmer said. “Chris [Nolan] understands I have to do it. He’s going to be just fine. Ludwig and I are friends. Forget the friend part, he’s really good.”

Tenet is scheduled to release on 17 July 2020 while Dune releases later in the year on 18 November 2020.