Hans Zimmer Slams Oscars Rules, Defends ‘Dune: Part Two’ Score as Key to the Story

Hans Zimmer is a legendary composer known for creating iconic scores for films like The Lion King, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Dune. His unique blend of traditional and modern music has earned him numerous awards, including Oscars and Grammys.

However, Zimmer’s score for Dune 2 has been disqualified from this year’s awards season. The disqualification happened because the score reused too much music from the first film, violating Academy rules that limit the amount of previous music in a sequel’s soundtrack.

The Academy’s Best Original Score rules state that most of the music must be new, with only a small amount allowed to be reused. Despite fans praising Dune 2‘s score for its creativity, it reused over 20% of the original film’s music, leading to its disqualification.

The decision has sparked debate about whether these rules are fair for sequels. Many consider Zimmer’s Dune 2 score a masterpiece with powerful new music. Similar issues occurred with Alan Silvestri’s score for Avengers: Endgame, which has led to calls for the Academy to update its rules for franchise films.

Zimmer himself has spoken out about the issue in an interview with Variety. He expressed frustration with the Academy’s rules on sequel scores, arguing that they limit creative freedom.

Zimmer explained that Dune 2 is part of a larger story, not just a traditional sequel, and changing the music would disrupt the narrative, much like how The Lord of the Rings used consistent themes throughout its trilogy.

Zimmer stresses that awards should not influence creative choices and warns that the rules may discourage studios and artists from exploring certain storytelling methods. He believes the disqualification of his score is not only unfair to him but also undermines the integrity of the film, which depends on maintaining thematic continuity throughout its extended narrative.

We are not a normal sequel … it would make no sense for me to go and change the theme for the characters … What you’re saying is you shouldn’t be allowed to use this form of storytelling … ‘Lord of the Rings’ used this form of storytelling as well. They had one book [and] they needed to divide it into three parts

Here’s the thing, I’m not going to win an Oscar for the second one if I won an Oscar for the first one, which I did … That’s not the point. My point is be careful about these rules because what you’re doing is in the back of the studio’s mind, the Oscars are important, and you’re influencing the way you are saying whether we can create art or not.

You’re saying you can’t do that because we won’t allow art to be nominated. We should have the freedom to find ways to create whatever comes to us

Denis made the right choice by splitting a heavy-duty book into two parts … You have to think of your themes and how you develop them over five hours. So, don’t tell me that makes me ineligible. It really isn’t about me, it’s about the movie.

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Although Zimmer’s score was disqualified by the Oscars and BAFTAs, it was still recently nominated for a Golden Globe, as announced yesterday.

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