Over the past few weeks, we’ve been running portions of Steve’s lengthy interview with composer Hans Zimmer.  While their conversation covered a wide range of topics including Batman vs. Superman, Interstellar, and 12 Years a Slave, the two also discussed Zimmer’s most recent collaboration with director Ron Howard on the Formula 1 racing drama Rush.  Zimmer talked about the positive audience reaction to his work on the film, the process of collaborating with Ron Howard, how he went about crafting the sound of Rush, and more.  Hit the jump to watch this portion of the interview.

Peruse our previous articles from Steve's extended interview below:

  • If you missed what Zimmer had to say about his work on The Amazing Spider-Man 2click here.
  • If you missed what he had to say about returning for the Man of Steel sequel and Ben Affleck as Batman, click here.
  • If you missed what he had to say about Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar score and the influence of The Dark Knight Trilogy on blockbuster filmmaking, click here.
  • If you missed what he had to say about working with Tony Scottclick here.
  • If you missed what he had to say about 12 Years a Slave, Winter's Tale, and reflections on Ridley Scott's Hannibal, click here.

Here's a handy time index for the interview:

  • :27 – Does he compose mainly at the Warner Bros. studio or in his home studio? Says he works seven days a week in his home studio.
  • 1:19 – His composing process.  Says he works best at night.
  • 2:19 – The positive response to his Rush score.  Talks about his favorite parts of composing each score.
  • 3:22 – Talks about audience reaction to his work and creating something that makes people respond one way or another.
  • 5:09 – How did he first get involved with Rush?  Talks about it being an independent film and reuniting with Working Title.
  • 7:08 – His relationship with Ron Howard on Rush and how hard Howard works.  Says they didn’t know if they would have the money to actually show any races in the film.
  • 8:45 – The writing process for Rush.  The main sound in the movie was the roar of the engines, and Zimmer wrote around that.
  • 10:50 – How much of the score was written prior to seeing the first cut of the film?  Says a lot of it was improvised.
  • 12:30 – Does he ever write pieces of music in his downtime that eventually become part of scores?
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