By Hugo Stelfox.

Many big Hollywood directors have a distinct style, and the same goes for composers. This leads to perfect pairings of directors and composers whose styles complement each other so much you would think it is a match made in heaven.

Arguably the most famous gothic director today is Tim Burton, who manages to create an eerie tone in all of his films even though the majority of them are intended to be watched by all audiences. His composer counterpart would most likely be Danny Elfman, who also shares a similar gothic style through his use of instruments like the organ and often wordless choirs. Their similar styles mean they work together very well and have collaborated on many projects over the years, including Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and my personal favorite of theirs, The Nightmare Before Christmas. They have worked on so many projects together that it is harder to come up with films of Tim Burton’s that haven’t featured a score composed by Danny Elfman, which cements them as one of the most iconic composer and director duos.

Another iconic duo is Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer, though they haven’t worked on as many projects together as Burton and Elfman. Hans Zimmer has worked on over half of Christopher Nolan’s films. Their first film together was Batman Begins, where they both shared the same vision of bringing a more serious and grounded tone to the character after Burton and Elfman set a more gothic and comic-like tone. However, without a doubt, their most iconic project was 2014’s Interstellar, where many songs like “Cornfield Chase” are arguably more well known than the movie itself. Hans Zimmer’s work is often grand and very maximalist, which fits the tone of this film as it is set in the vast depths of space. One of Hans Zimmer’s most famous moments in the film, though, is on Miller’s Planet, where one hour spent on the planet is seven years on Earth. The score for this section of the film features a clock-like ticking about once every one and a half seconds, which is equivalent to one day passing by on Earth.

Finally, one of the lesser-known duos that work equally well together, in my opinion, is director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz, who met in their first week of university. Hurwitz was looking to put together a band and heard that Chazelle was a jazz drummer. They became roommates, and they began organically collaborating as Chazelle was writing screenplays while Hurwitz was composing music. Their first big feature film together was Whiplash in 2014, which centered around a jazz band, similar to the origins of their friendship. Due to its storyline, it featured a mostly jazz-oriented score, which can also be seen in 2017’s La La Land and 2022’s Babylon, which were set in 1920s Hollywood; during that time, jazz was the most popular genre of music, so it fit both their styles very well.

In my opinion these are some of the best director and composer partnerships of all time due to their ability to work well together as they have similar visions.