It's inescapable, and you can see the similarities in works like John Murphy's "Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor)," which has been used in countless trailers, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Star Trek into Darkness.
The same with, you know there's a piece called 'Time' that I wrote for Inception that people keep sort of flattering me with I suppose."īy flattering, of course, he means borrowing, to the point where it's blurring the line between what is and isn't a Zimmer score. You move one note and it doesn't work anymore. "'Journey to the Line' is a particular piece and it's based on a very simple and therefore virtually un-rip-off-able idea. "I mean, you know the worst thing," says Zimmer.
What happens is, because it fits so well, composers are either asked to replicate it, or the studio simply buys the license for "Journey to the Line." As a result, it's become known as the "forbidden cue," and the scourge of composers everywhere, including Zimmer himself. It also found ubiquity behind the scenes as the most commonly used piece of temp music, meaning that it's often placed in scenes during early stages of editing, before the music has been written, as a placeholder.
The unintended effect is that, because "Journey to the Line" fits everywhere, it's been used everywhere, including TV, film, video games and, especially, trailers, where it has become the Gold Standard. But I think it would be horrible to go and, you know, manipulate people in the way of what they should feel, so I leave the pieces actually quite open to interpretation." "I just try to use the music in a funny way to open a door for you to come and have the possibility of having an emotional experience. "One of the things I really really try to do is, I try to never tell you what to feel," Zimmer says of the piece. It is a universally emotional piece of music that, in its simplicity, hits you in the very place you need it to hit. It works perfectly whether characters are going into war or at a funeral, it elevates montages to another level, and it can also make you feel like everything will be alright in the end. It expresses a sense of longing, but also hope. Zimmer has described the piece as "objective," which explains its effectiveness.
I think it would be horrible to go and, you know, manipulate people in the way of what they should feel - Hans Zimmer