Zimmer scoring U.N.C.L.E. movie looks doubtful

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer

Composer Hans Zimmer has cast doubt whether he’ll be able to score The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie now in production.

Zimmer scored both of director Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies. In an interview with COLLIDER.COM, Zimmer was asked if he’d work again with Ritchie on U.N.C.L.E.:

“I have no idea, because once I’m really in full Interstellar mode I’m just gonna go be in full Interstellar mode. I think it might not work out timewise. I love Guy and I’d love to do something else with him. If it’s not this then I’m sure we’ll meet up again sometime.”

Interstellar is director Christopher Nolan’s new science fiction movie, which is scheduled for a fall 2014 release. Zimmer worked on Nolan’s Batman triology of films. The composer also is slated to do Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is also coming out next year. (Note: the Henry Cavill News fan site provided a heads up about the Collider.com interview.)

The composer slot is the last major crew position that hasn’t been announced for U.N.C.L.E., which doesn’t have a formal release date yet.

David Arnold, the five-time James Bond film composer, said SEPT. 3 ON TWITTER in a response to a question from this blog that he hasn’t been asked to do the job. With his Bond work, plus films such as a Samuel L. Jackson version of Shaft, Arnold has been willing to use theme music by other composers. Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) wrote U.N.C.L.E.’s distinctive theme, something long-time fans would want in the movie version with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.

Another fan favorite would be Michael Giacchino, who did 2011’s Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, 2004’s The Incredibles and is slated to do at least three movies with 2014 release dates according to HIS IMDB.COM BIOGRAPHY.

Finally, a possibility that would excite some fans of the original 1964-68 series would be 81-year-old Lalo Schifrin. The Argentine-born composer is best known for his theme to Mission: Impossible. (The theme has been used in the four Tom Cruise movies but Schifrin has been passed over for actually scoring the films.)

Schifrin also scored two U.N.C.L.E. episodes as well as arranging Goldsmith’s theme for the second season.

Happy 86th birthday, Roger Moore

Oct. 14 is the 86th birthday of Roger Moore. It has been 28 years since his last James Bond movie, A View To a Kill. The mere mention of his name still can spur a spirited argument among 007 fans.

Moore starred in seven James Bond films from 1973 to 1985. To his admirers, he kept the series going at a time some people wondered if it survive the departure of Sean Connery. To his detractors, he’s the embodiment of an era that where the Ian Fleming source material was often dispensed with and the tone became much too light.

To this day, you will hear some people say things like, “I’m not sure you can count Roger Moore as James Bond.”

Moore’s 007 film debut, Live And Let Die had worldwide box office of $161.8 million. It was the first Bond movie to exceed 1965’s Thunderball and represented a 39 percent jump from 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, the final Connery entry in the series produced by Eon Productions.

Live And Let Die wasn’t as big a hit in the U.S., where Diamonds still had bigger box office. What’s more, the 007 box office took a big dip with the second Moore entry, The Man With the Golden Gun. But things rebounded with 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, and the series got back onto a regular schedule.

Almost three decades after hanging up his shoulder holster, Moore remains one of the best ambassadors for the Bond franchise. At various times, he has sung the praises of Connery, Pierce Brosnan and, most recently, Daniel Craig. None of this, of course, means anything to the intense fan debates, which continue.

Meanwhile, in his public appearances, Moore comes across as a guy who’s still having a good time, particularly when the discussion turns to James Bond. It was once said that twice is the only way to live. Moore seems content to live well.

Happy birthday, Sir Roger.

June 2013 post: LIVE AND LET DIE’S 40TH: THE POST-CONNERY ERA TRULY BEGINS

May 2012 post: A VIEW TO A KILL, A REAPPRAISAL

2010 HMSS article: ROGER MOORE: A BOND FAN’S APPRECIATION