Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer just branched out into unchartered territory.

  • Sibbo
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    2 days ago

    I thought the guy was honourable.

    • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      From what I can tell, it seems like he takes credit for most of the work of his protégés. See: the DaVinci Code Soundtrack, for which he only wrote the main theme, or the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, for which… You guessed it, he only wrote the main theme.

      • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        And that Pirates theme is just a rehash of his theme for The Rock a few decades earlier

        • 0ops@lemm.ee
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          14 hours ago

          I watched gladiator for the first time a few weeks ago and there was a few times where the soundtrack sounded very pirates-y. I have no idea if it was actually Hanz Zimmer who did that one though

        • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          Yeah, if you’ve ever read Cloud Atlas, it makes me wonder if David Mitchell was friends with a former collaborator of Zimmer’s (or if the industry is so rife with such problems), because the way Zimmer appears to operate and aggrandize himself sure does have a whiff of Vyvyan Ayrs…

      • Sibbo
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        1 day ago

        Well, did he give feedback or other input for the other songs of the soundtracks? Like, was he the leader and the others worked for him, or did he have no say in what the others did?

        • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          So, compare this contemporary review, which makes it clear (including a quote from Zimmer himself!) that while Zimmer, Djawadi, and others contributed leitmotifs and notes, the majority of composition was Badelt’s. Now consider Zimmer’s website’s description, which invariably paints himself as the main composer of nearly every track, even claiming the title of primary composer, and seems to erase the contributions of Badelt at every opportunity.

          So, I take any claims of Zimmer’s greatness with a giant salt lick. I originally read another source (which I now am unable to locate) that claimed the only thing Zimmer wrote for the DaVinci Code was the main theme motif, much like “He’s a Pirate” for the first pirates movie. I now generally assume that anything excellent “composed” by Zimmer was some other collaborator’s work, Zimmer offered a chord or two, then used his ill-gotten fame to bully the less-famous collaborators to accept the title of second fiddle while Zimmer mimes the Solo in the spotlight.