Future Composers

Markyb64

IF..and that's a big if, Chris Nolan ever got a shot at a Bond movie, I think Hans Zimmer would create a great score....thoughts?

Matt S

No, Zimmer would be a terrible choice. He writes some of the blandest scores and puts very little effort into them. He has so many other people writing music for him (and I don't mean orchestrators). He runs a factory, and that's no way to score a film. Anyone who has come out of Zimmer's factory would be a terrible choice, since all of those composers' music sounds the same and has no soul. Zimmer has also reused themes in different movies (a theme from Gladiator showed up completely unchanged in Pirates of the Caribbean), so I have little respect for him. His scores don't off much variation in mood, which I think diminishes the emotions in a film. A score should be doing the opposite.

Michael Giacchino showed with The Incredibles that he could do a perfect Bond score, but besides copying Barry for that film he has a fantastic and creative style all of his own. He's ones of the best film score composers around today, along with Alexandre Desplat, but I'm not sure if Desplat would be right for Bond. I'm not familiar with any of John Altman's entire scores, but his tank chase music for GoldenEye was fantastic.

The problem with hiring a composer for Bond is that the composer has to be willing to use the James Bond theme. Thomas Newman seems to that that's beneath him, going by his sparse use of the Bond theme in his scores. Hans Zimmer would likely have the same attitude. Giacchino's score for The Incredibles shows that he understands the Bond sound, and I think he would show respect to the Bond theme as well as add something of his own to a Bond score.

I also would like to nominate myself. I've never written a film score, but I write music and I have an excellent understanding of Bond film scores and hundreds of other film scores. I know could score a Bond film much better than Thomas Newman has. It wouldn't be as great as a Barry or Arnold score, but I can easily do better than Newman did.

Golrush007

Interestingly, back in 2004 when I first joined ajb007, in one of my early threads I suggested Zimmer as a future composer. But over the last 11 years or so, my opinion has been completely changed. I think Zimmer wouldn't be a good choice for Bond composer at all. And I say this as someone who does quite enjoy listening to a number of Zimmer's scores. But they are mostly all the same, he has a few basic ideas which he continually recycles. They also tend to lack strong theme development which I believe is vital to Bond scores (the Newman scores have emphasised this point.) Zimmer's 'sound' has become a cliche, and I don't think the Bond films should make the mistake of going in that direction.

Barbel

Completely agree with the last two posts.
Matt, should you land the gig I'd be more than willing to help out! )

Markyb64

Golrush007 wrote:

Interestingly, back in 2004 when I first joined ajb007, in one of my early threads I suggested Zimmer as a future composer. But over the last 11 years or so, my opinion has been completely changed. I think Zimmer wouldn't be a good choice for Bond composer at all. And I say this as someone who does quite enjoy listening to a number of Zimmer's scores. But they are mostly all the same, he has a few basic ideas which he continually recycles. They also tend to lack strong theme development which I believe is vital to Bond scores (the Newman scores have emphasised this point.) Zimmer's 'sound' has become a cliche, and I don't think the Bond films should make the mistake of going in that direction.

Actually I agree with comment on him recycling his music and I was reminded of a similar occurrence with Eric Serra's soundtrack to Leon and then Goldeneye!

Golrush007

I often feel like I have to be careful though when I speak to Zimmer-lovers because I am always tempted to cite the repetitive nature of his scores as his biggest fault. I say careful because that is exactly the same criticism which was directed at my favourite composer John Barry in the later stages of his career. I just think that what Barry was doing is better than what Zimmer is doing.

Matt S

Golrush007 wrote:

I often feel like I have to be careful though when I speak to Zimmer-lovers because I am always tempted to cite the repetitive nature of his scores as his biggest fault. I say careful because that is exactly the same criticism which was directed at my favourite composer John Barry in the later stages of his career. I just think that what Barry was doing is better than what Zimmer is doing.

Barry did not recycle on the level that Zimmer does. Barry always wrote new melodies for his films.