Justice League Composer Reveals The Poignant Advice Zack Snyder Gave Him

Directing a film like Justice League is a massive undertaking, and scoring such a movie is no […]

September 5, 2017, 5:40pm

Directing a film like Justice League is a massive undertaking, and scoring such a movie is no picnic either. The highly anticipated film will see its release later this year, and no one is more invested in its theatrical score than Junkie XL. The composer, who also goes by the name Tom Holkenborg, has been hard at work on composing music for Justice League. Now, the musician is opening up about the secretive project, and Junkie XL even revealed the very important advice which director Zack Snyder gave him.

Videos by ComicBook.com

In a chat with Collider, Junkie XL was asked about how difficult it is to produce music for a massive venture like Justice League.

“It’s a massive undertaking. And I can’t say anything about Justice League specifically, but I’ll tell you this, and this was exactly the same experience that Hans and I had when we did work together on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: It’s like when you see a movie like that, these iconic superhero movies, some of them have a 60 to 80 year legacy, multiple composers had a go at their themes, multiple filmmakers did their version of these characters—it’s very scary. You watch a movie and it’s like, “Holy shit, now I have to come up with something.” You’ve got sweaty hands and you’re nervous, and you talk about it over and over again,” he said.

However, whenever Junkie XL began to get overwhelmed by the endeavor, Snyder gave him some poignant advice which any creator can relate to.

“Zack said, “There’s only one thing you can do, and that is embrace this character as if it’s your own, keep it close to your musical soul, and just do whatever you feel is the right thing to do for this character.” That’s the only thing we can do. That’s what all these great directors did back in the day, and that’s what all these great composers did back in the day.”

When the musician was asked if he could speak about the film’s score, Junkie XL hit the brakes to dodge such a question.

“I’m not at liberty to say anything,” he admitted. “Not even that. If you call me back first week of November then I can talk all you want about it.”

Justice League currently has a 4.13 out 5 ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating, making it the fifth most-anticipated upcoming comic book movie among ComicBook.com readers. Let us know how much you’re looking forward to Justice League by giving it your own ComicBook.com user anticipation rating below.

In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder, from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a story by Snyder and Terrio, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, and Ciarán Hinds.