Inception: Music from the Motion Picture

Production

According to Zimmer, the soundtrack for Inception is "a very electronic score". Nolan asked Zimmer to compose and finish the score as he was shooting the film. The composer said, "He wanted to unleash my imagination in the best possible way". At one point, while composing the score, Zimmer incorporated a guitar sound reminiscent of Ennio Morricone and was interested in having Johnny Marr, former guitarist in the influential 80s rock band The Smiths, play these parts. Zimmer's reported inspiration was finding a synthesizer track which he had written similar to Marr's guitar style. Nolan agreed with Zimmer's suggestion, and then Zimmer approached Marr, who accepted his offer. Marr spent four 12-hour days working on the score, playing notes written by Zimmer with a 12-string guitar.

For inspiration, Zimmer read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter because it combined "the idea of playfulness in mathematics and playfulness in music". Zimmer did not assemble a temp score but "every now and then they would call and say 'we need a little something here.' But that was OK because much of the music pieces aren't that scene specific. They fall into little categories". While writing the screenplay, Nolan wrote in Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" but almost took it out when he cast Marion Cotillard, who had just completed an Oscar-winning turn as Piaf in the 2007 film La Vie en rose. Zimmer convinced Nolan to keep it in the film and also integrated elements of the song into his score; in particular, the film's iconic brass instrument fanfare resembles a slowed-down version of the song's instrumentation.

The trailers for the film feature specially composed music by Zack Hemsey, which does not appear on the official soundtrack. The soundtrack was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy and a BAFTA.

Critical reception

The score received mostly positive reception. Regarding Zimmer's previous collaborations with Nolan, Archie Watt of MovieCues said "it's very obvious to anybody who has heard his previous scores for the director that this score is built firmly on their foundations. The compositions are very simple ones, but here the familiar elements of those previous scores are pulled off in a more energetic and complex way. That’s what puts this score a good distance ahead of them". Whilst praising several elements of the score, his review was largely negative, saying "Despite the fact that certain music on this album is inarguably good, the majority of it is rather dull and mundane".

More enthusiastic were James Southall of Movie Wave, who awarded the score five stars, calling it "Zimmer’s finest work in a number of years", and Jim Lochner of Film Score Click Track, who said "Inception is one thrilling and trippy musical ride", awarding the score four and a half stars out of five.

Track listing

All music composed by Hans Zimmer.

Official Junkie XL remix

The renowned Dutch DJ and electronic music producer Tom Holkenborg, better known as Junkie XL, collaborated with Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions music studio, to compose a single that worked as tie-in of the Inception soundtrack, for Warner Bros.

The remix of the theme song is simply titled: Inception by Hans Zimmer (Junkie XL Remix).

Since then Holkenborg has made several other collaborations with Hans Zimmer, like the production of scores for Madagascar 3, The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.