The “Blade Runner 2049” original score has been at the center of a mystery ever since Denis Villeneuve’s regular collaborator, Jóhann Jóhannsson, left the project over the summer and Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch came on board to replace him. Anyone who feared Zimmer’s involvement with the sequel would mean his usual bombast (see “Dunkirk” for the latest example) can rest easy, however, as the entire original score is now streaming online.
In an ironic twist, Zimmer’s work finds the composer channeling his inner Jóhannsson, as the score is full of ambient tones and airy soundscapes (albeit with a Zimmer-inflected electronic spin). The complete soundtrack clocks in at over an hour and includes songs from Frank Sinatra (“Summer Wind,” “One For My Baby”) and Elvis Presley (“Suspicious Minds,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love”), which should only add another level of intrigue on to the spoiler-protected film.
All the parties once involved or currently involved with the score have remained quiet on the shakeup, though Villeneuve did have this to say in a interview with Al Arabiya English:
“The thing I will say is that making movies is a laboratory. It’s an artistic process. You cannot plan things. Jóhann Jóhannsson is one of my favorite composers alive today. He’s a very strong artist. But the movie needed something different, and I needed to go back to something closer to Vangelis. Jóhan and I decided that I will need to go in another direction — that’s what I will say.”
“Blade Runner 2049” opens in theaters nationwide October 6. Turn up the volume and stream the original score below.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
