Dune 2021
The nominee everyone expects to win; Zimmer built new instruments to score it, discussed later in the episode.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five · Interview
Top Five Film Scores. Plus: Hans Zimmer on 'Dune'!
March 16, 2022/ 94 min/ Sean Fennessey · Jason Green
A bonus episode built around a category the Oscars cut from the broadcast. Sean and Pitchfork critic Jason Green work through the Best Original Score nominees and argue over which composers are changing film music, then trade top-five lists before Hans Zimmer explains the instruments he had to invent for Dune.
24 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
This Year's Best Original Score Racewith Jason Green
The Power of the Dog 2021
Jonny Greenwood's score plays in counterpoint to the movie instead of alongside it.
Don't Look Up 2021
Nicholas Britell's score gets more credit than the movie for landing its satire.
Parallel Mothers 2021
Alberto Iglesias's nomination for the Almodovar film was the category's biggest surprise.
Encanto 2021
Germaine Franco's score, overshadowed by Lin-Manuel Miranda's songs.
The Composers Changing Film MusicMica Levi, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Michael Giacchino
Under the Skin 2014
Mica Levi's breakout score, built on strings written around a chord rather than in one.
Zola 2021
Levi again, this time closer to a Twitter thread's rhythm than an orchestra.
The Social Network 2010
Reznor and Ross's archetypal score, still Green's go-to writing music.
Soul 2020
Reznor and Ross again, for the film's in-between space.
Mank 2020
A love letter to the 1930s European emigre composers, built the same year as Soul.
Annihilation 2018
Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow's score, indebted to Barrow's Portishead work.
The Batman 2022
Michael Giacchino's score turns Batman's wet boots into a rhythm section.
The Incredibles 2004
Giacchino's 1960s spy-show pastiche theme.
Inside Out 2015
Giacchino's string theme for the film both hosts call devastating.
Jason Green's Top Five Film Scores
Jason Green
The Empire Strikes Back 1980
No. 1 - the Imperial March and the Han-and-Leia theme both debut here, not in the original Star Wars.
Jason Green
Blade Runner 1982
No. 2 - Vangelis on the Yamaha CS-80, a synth so expensive it was basically a car payment.
Jason Green
Rocky 1976
No. 3 - Bill Conti's theme convinces you, for one round, that the loser can win.
Jason Green
Klute 1971
No. 4 - Michael Small's paranoid xylophone cue was later sampled directly into Homecoming.
Jason Green
Taxi Driver 1976
No. 5 - Bernard Herrmann's last score, written in two days; he died before the Oscars.
Sean Fennessey's Top Five Film Scorescrossover pick: Klute, taken by Green above, was also on Sean's list
No. 1
The Third Man 1949
No. 1 - a street zither player scoring a film about societal rot, against every instinct of the genre.
No. 2
There Will Be Blood 2007
No. 2 - Jonny Greenwood's Penderecki-indebted score, all impending doom.
No. 3
Halloween 1978
No. 3 - John Carpenter wrote it on one synthesizer over a weekend because he didn't want to pay a composer.
No. 4
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968
No. 5 - Morricone's harmonica motif that only pays off at the final showdown.
In conversation
Hans Zimmer on
Dune 2021
Zimmer turned down the David Lynch adaptation and the TV series to protect his own mental image of the book, then built the score around invented instruments and Loa Kotler's voice rather than character themes.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Herrmann's other Hitchcock work, cited in passing PsychoVertigoThe Day the Earth Stood StillCitizen KaneNorth by Northwest
More Morricone Once Upon a Time in AmericaThe Mission
More Jonny Greenwood The MasterPhantom ThreadSpencer
John Williams' 1975-81 run JawsStar WarsClose Encounters of the Third KindSupermanRaiders of the Lost ArkHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith, cited in passing To Kill a MockingbirdAlienThe Omen
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pixar, cited in passing VivoMoanaUp
More Mica Levi Jackie
More Michael Giacchino Spider-Man: No Way Home
Emil Mosseri MinariThe Last Black Man in San Francisco
In passing Altered States
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Obi-Wan KenobiLostBeatles: Get BackHomecoming
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