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Audio Hans Zimmer
The Simpsons Movie Soundtrack

For Hans Zimmer, what a difference a career shift makes.

Once a session player with fringe 80s bands like Ultravox and the Buggles, Zimmer is now one of the most accomplished film composers in Hollywood history, having scored the likes of Gladiator, Mission Impossible II, Batman Begins, and two-thirds of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

Of the more than 100 films and TV shows he's scored, Zimmer has been nominated for six Academy Awards and five Grammys, winning one apiece for The Lion King and Crimson Tide, respectively.

But none of those accomplishments prepared Zimmer for the likes of Homer Simpson, his family, and The Simpsons Movie, which sold $168 million worth of tickets during its first weekend of release.

Zimmer spoke with MP3.com about initially turning down the Simpsons opportunity, his big mouth and, most importantly, Spider Pig.

Hi, there, Hans, How are you? Good. How's MP3? How's the data compression? It's getting better by the day. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We appreciate it. You're very welcome. So I guess I was wondering whether you've ever had to compose a song about as menacing a character as a Spider Pig before? Not really. I mean, you know, I've had Hannibal. I've had terrible villains in my life. But Spider Pig, actually, was, like, an accident. I heard Homer go, 'Spider Pig, Spider Pig,' in the scene, and I had the choir sort of floating around and I just thought, 'Oh, this would make a great classical cantata.' And I just recorded it. Nobody heard it, and, one day things were a little tense, you know, on the Simpsons' lot, as it were, so I just played it very loud to them, and they were all falling over laughing. Oh, that's perfect. [Simpson producer] Jim Brooks said, 'Why is the funniest thing in our movie not in our movie?' Fantastic. Now, you've scored hundreds of films over the years, and I would imagine that you turned down just as many, if not more. But given the history of the Simpsons and your relationship with Jim Brooks over the years, was doing this soundtrack a no-brainer for you? I turned it down. Oh, really? I turned it down a few times. Really? Yeah, because I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know where to go with it, you know? Interesting. And then I suddenly, you know, and I was listening to Danny [Elfman's theme song] and I was going, 'Well, he set up a really nice world.' And then I sort of started drifting around in my head and thought, 'Hang on a second. None of the characters ever had themes.' So, I said, 'Well, maybe I'll, maybe I'll write a theme for Homer.'

And I just played it to them on the piano and [show co-creator] Matt Groening and [movie director David Silverman said, 'Oh, this is really good. This is really interesting.' And Jim's going, 'Well, it sounds a bit like bar room piano.' And I said, 'No, no, it's going to have orchestra and stuff, you know, just let me finish it. But what do you think of the general vibe?'

So you sort of sneak up on these things. They are far too scary, far too scary just to say yes to because it can not only ruin your own life; it can ruin everybody else's around you. Right, right, right. Interesting. Okay. Now, in his liner notes for the score, Jim Brooks describes a moment when you basically told the brain trust behind the movie that it's most critical scene, the moment where Homer has the epiphany, that it didn't make sense. Oh, I do that. Do you see what I mean about ruining people's lives? I got a big mouth. What can I say? But how often are you in a mix with a director and the producers, providing input on the film itself? Always. That's how we work, you know? A key piece of the equation. Right. You've talked about this already a little bit, but it sounds like the process of doing this score differed a good deal from the other animated films that you've done, like The Lion King and Madagascar and that kind of thing. Well, no, of course it did. You just have to approach this one with a lot more irreverence, basically. Irreverence towards everything, towards the characters. Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. Right. In particular, I wanted to ask you about "Releasing the Hounds," which takes the idea of [Brian Setzer's] "Stray Cat Strut" in a new direction. How did that song come together? There was a rotten guitar sound lying around. And, you know, at first I thought, 'Oh, what would happen if I tried to do like surf guitars on an orchestra?' And I wrote it as an orchestral piece originally, and then it just wasn't right. It became so overblown and it was basically a failure, and then I just stripped everything away and just went back to the basic. Plus, I kept saying, you know, 'We've got to have some rock and roll in this movie.' Sure. Of course. I was trying to write from Bart's perspective. So Bart has like a little sad tune, but then he has that thing as well, which is a bit more ballsy and definitely a bit more outspoken. "Releasing the Hounds," of course. I was curious, do you ever have a yearning for the days of your work with the Buggles and Ultravox and bands like that, thinking that, you know, you still have some of that rock star in you or anything like that? Not the rock star, because that was sort of dull. I guess maybe pre-rock star, that kind of thing. Yeah, but I still approach each score as if I was writing a song. Most of my tunes are very song shaped. I talked to [Buggles co-founder] Trevor Horn the other day, and he obviously he went on to better and bigger things after the Buggles himself. And every once in a while, we sort of get together and play around. But I actually like what I'm doing. I mean, I actually like this world. Not yearning for anything at this point? No, no. And the last thing, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you what's next on your plate? You always seem to have lots of projects going on. In what films can we hear your music over the next year or so? Oh, there's a Batman thing maybe coming up. Oh, the sequel to Batman Begins, right? Yeah. There's an interesting thing I'm doing with Ron Howard called Frost/Nixon, based on the play, and I have no idea how to do it. And that's the interesting part about it. It's a challenge. Absolutely. And especially I know the writing is great and the acting is great, so how can I fit in, you know? What is it that they don't have? Right. Kind of trying to fit in as opposed to changing anything. Right. And then there's Madagascar II, which I'm doing with Will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas. I think that should be really good fun. I mean, I got some crazy and outrageous ideas and even if only 10 percent make it, it's still going to be crazy and outrageous. Have you guys sat down and started working with it yet? Absolutely. We've got a couple of tunes on the go. Okay. What's that collaboration like with Will.i.am? Well, he's really smart. That's a good place to start. It started off with, this film takes place in Africa, and I've done a lot of things about Africa. And I said to him, 'Look, let's go on a road trip. Let's go to Africa. Just with a little tape recorder, and let's just see what happens. Let's just meet musicians. Let's just start jamming with musicians over there and see what happens.'

So that's one of the, sort of the loose ideas that's just about to happen. And I've been tinkering around with some stuff and MP3ing it over to him and he's just added stuff. On Wednesday, we're going to just go out and just talk about this stuff. It sounds like it will be a quite a blast, actually. Actually, I think it will be. I think he'll make it really fun. Cool. Well, Hans, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. You're very welcome. Have a good one. Thank you. You too. Bye.