Hans Zimmer Reveals He Secretly Played the ‘Dune 2’ Theme on Tour and Audiences Had No Idea | Video

February 26, 2024 @ 6:39 PM

We’ve always known Hans Zimmer is full of surprises, but it appears that “Dune” has put him on a bit of a naughty streak.

Speaking with TheWrap on the red carpet at the New York premiere for “Dune: Part Two,” the legendary film composer revealed that he secretly played the sequel’s theme while touring in Europe — and he chose to keep his audiences in the dark on where the bit of music actually came from.

“The main theme, really, for this one, I did something very naughty,” Zimmer told TheWrap. “I toured it with my band through Europe, and I would play it as the opening to our set, and no one knew what the piece of music was.”

Zimmer continued, saying that he wouldn’t reveal the origin of the music when concertgoers began asking him.

“I thought, a year later, wouldn’t it be cool to go to the cinema and they hear this piece of music and they go, ‘Oh, it’s weirdly familiar!’” he said.

Zimmer further detailed his working relationship with “Dune” filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, as well, explaining that he never really stopped making music for the sci-fi epic’s expected follow-up after completing production on the 2021 feature.

“I knew the book so well so in the first one, I was already sort of getting ready, you know, that things were going to get wider, larger, you know, whatever,” he said of expectations set for the “Part Two.” “So I was laying pipe for that sort of stuff. I mean, I was laying pipe so much so that I kept, carried on writing after the movie came out.”

Zimmer then recalled a phone call he got from Villeneuve six months after production wrapped.

“I got this phone call from Denis after six months going, ‘You know, the movie is out,’ I’m going, ‘Yes, I know, but we have another part to do!’”

“Dune: Part Two” opens in theaters everywhere on Friday. Watch Zimmer’s interview with TheWrap in the video embed above.