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Hans Zimmer Says 'Inception' Score Created From 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien'

Ferdaus Shamim/WireImage.com

Composer Hans Zimmer has revealed his score for Christopher Nolan's blockbuster movie 'Inception' was born from Édith Piaf's 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.' The song appears in the reality-twisting movie as a warning to the characters to wake up from their dreamlike state but is also the basis for all the music which features in Zimmer's score.

The connection with 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' was recently made public online after a viral video comparing the 'Inception' theme with a slowed down version of the Charles Dumont-written song was posted on YouTube. An excited Zimmer spoke to the New York Times, "I've seen it. I've seen it. I was surprised how long it took them to figure it out. It was meant to be a secret."

According to Zimmer the idea came from director Christopher Nolan, "He had the Édith Piaf always written in the script, the 'da-da, da-da'. It was like huge foghorns over a city, and afterwards you would maybe figure out that they were related."

He continued "All the music in the score is subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo of the Édith Piaf track. So I could slip into half-time; I could slip into a third of a time. Anything could go anywhere. At any moment I could drop into a different level of time."

'Inception' Music Comparison


The challenge of constructing the score from a single manipulated beat was one which the Oscar-winning German clearly relished, "I had to go and extract these two notes out of a recording. I love technology, so it was a lot of fun for me to go and get the original master out of the French national archives. And then find some crazy scientist in France who would actually go and take that one cell out of the DNA."

As reported by Spinner earlier this month, Zimmer drafted in former Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr during recording after the composer heard a sound in his head while working on the score, "I couldn't figure out the sound that I was chasing and I realized it was Johnny Marr."

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TBoneBTone

Duh.
You've never heard of compositional development?
Is this suppose to be controversy?
I don't think so.

October 12 2010 at 3:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ce

Secret? it is pretty obvious as the quick music is the chorus of Edith Piaf's song... I thought they chose that because of Marion Cottillard playinig her in La vie en rose...

August 04 2010 at 1:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KAren

And, of course, what makes it even better is that Marion Cotillard played the role of Edith Piaf! Won the Oscar, I think, didn't she? Gotta love that.

July 29 2010 at 4:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jonahmcpain

I liked Piaf's 'wake-up call', but HATED the overall sound. Whoever did the sound for this film should be blackballed in Hollywood. The moviegoer should not have to strain to hear the actors while being bombarded with unnecessary noise. The couple in front of us left the theater because of it. Just like a ghetto blaster can ruin an afternoon at the park, the sound ruined this film for me.

July 29 2010 at 1:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
E.G

I thought this was supposed to be obvious? I mean, it sort of merges in the credits...

July 29 2010 at 1:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
K. Deem

This is a cool comparison. There is another piece, "528491" starting at the 1:00 mark that sounds like a close variation on the repetitive eight-note "PHANTASM" them by the remarkable (and late) Fred Myrow. "Inception" and "PHANTASM" share similar qualities, particularly the twist (reality vs. dream?)endings, so I had to wonder if it was just mere coincidence...

July 29 2010 at 11:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply