'Hans Zimmer & Friends, Diamond in the Desert', Editor, Simon Bryant

0:09Jawad MirWelcome back everyone to another episode of Kingdom of Dreams podcast, The Making of Stories. I'm your host Jawad Mir. Today my guest is Simon Bryant. He's one of the editors on the most recent limited release Hans Zimmer documentary, concert documentary, called Hans Zimmer and Friends Diamond in the Desert. I haven't seen this film because I was supposed to see it when it came out in Toronto, but because of the limited release I, during that time I wasn't in town, I was in Europe for a project, and so I'm anxiously awaiting it. It was a completely different expectat… conversation than I expected. I'll leave you guys to figure that out, but without further ado, here's my conversation with editor Simon Bryant for Hans Zimmer's concert documentary. Just a little disclaimer, I haven't seen the doc yet because it's very limited release.

0:56Simon BryantOh, okay.

0:56Jawad MirAnd I wanted the… when it came out in Toronto, I was in, Europe for a project, for my next film, and I just didn't miss that time. So I obviously know the trailer. I know Hans Zimmer's work for the last 35, 40 years, however long it's been.

1:15Simon BryantYeah.

1:15Jawad MirSo it's, I, when I saw the trailer, I was just like, you know, it's like my entire childhood and growing up…

1:22Simon BryantYeah

1:23Jawad Mir... With Hans Zimmer and everything. And

1:25Simon BryantYeah

1:25Jawad Mir... Thank you so much for making this. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm so excited to see it whenever it becomes available on VOD. But, yeah, thank you man.

1:35Simon BryantWhere are you based then?

1:37Jawad MirToronto.

1:38Simon BryantOkay, cool. Cool.

1:39Jawad MirYeah. And you're in London?

1:41Simon BryantYeah. Well, I'm actually in a little town called Margate

1:50Jawad MirOkay. Okay. Well, let's start, man. How did this all start, the idea for you to be involved in a film like this, the genesis behind it?

2:03Simon BryantWell, the, I've, I've worked with the director, Paul Dugdale, for must be nearly 15 years now. So that's how I came to be on it. He got the job. In truth, I don't know how the job came to him. He specializes, or we specialize, although we do other things, we specialize in live concert capture. So we do, we've done things with the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift and, Coldplay and smaller bands as well. So I assum… so I, that's, you know, he's one of the go-to men for this sort of thing. And I think initially, it was conceived of as just a concert film. But also featuring some of the other locations in Dubai. And then I think once it was filmed and once Hans started watching it, he felt like it could be more, and he wanted to make it more, just tell a bit more of the story about sort of w… w… how he might, how he imagines what he does.

3:17Simon BryantAnd so then that's why he's, he interviews, well, there's not so much interviews, con… con… conversations between him and, like, close collaborators, whether it's Denis Villeneuve, there's Billie Eilish in there, Pharrell

3:36Jawad MirJoni Mitchell

3:38Simon Bryant... Joni Mitchell in there. Yeah, Joni Mitchell, and people who, people who's worked with, you know. And a… actually, I didn't actually edit many of those interviews. I

3:49Jawad MirSure

3:49Simon Bryant... Because I was up in... I mean, this started a long time ago. It was filmed, I think, I think I started on it in 2023, the beginning of 2023. So, and I'm not sure, I imagine it was filmed before Christmas.

4:03Simon BryantAnd then I went on to have twins, so I, so I missed the sort of back end of this edit. But de… well, then we saw it recently at the IMAX. They showed it on the biggest screen in London. And, yeah, the interviews are fascinating really, where each one of them is really insightful. And you can tell that he, Hans Zimmer's a really sort of, he's quite process-driven, you know? He's, he think, he gets so deep into each film and what he's doing, and those interviews really give insight into that.

4:45Jawad MirRight. And that's one of the things I really picked up on or connected to conversations that he had with Christopher Nolan…

4:55Simon BryantYeah

4:55Jawad Mir... With Denis…

4:55Simon BryantYeah

4:55Jawad Mir... With, Billie Eilish, with Timothée I think, is in there too.

5:00Simon BryantYeah.

5:00Jawad MirAnd that, and that obviously it being in black and white, and they're just very candid conversations and where they're just truly themselves. But…

5:13Simon BryantYeah

5:13Jawad Mir... You know, to be able to work with such, I'm sure the, you know, as an editor you're working with tons and tons of footage, not just from the concert, but obviously from the conversations. What was the process of working on that? Even if you wor… didn't work on the backend side of it, just what, the amount of time that you did spend, what was that like? Was it working with the footage? Was it being shot as it was coming in? Was it all more or less done? And just working along on that process, I would love to know.

5:43Simon BryantWell, so as I say, the concert, it was ima… initially imagined as a concert film. So I think all the music was edited before the interviews even were shot. And on a job of this sort of size, we nor… I normally, we normally work with a team of editors. So I think, and on this was quite a lot of editors, maybe four or five, each dividing up a song each. It was shot over two nights, I think, and then there's sort of pickups in different venues, and I would, and I can't remember, it was so long ago, but I would guess you're sort of talking about 18 cameras a night, so 36 to choose from, and then we just start. I mean, do, are you, do you mean what's the process of starting to edit a, edit a track? Is that what you're, is that the…

6:33Jawad MirNo. I mo… yeah, just in terms of how you sort of, the process of editing became, like in working with so much stuff and…

6:44Simon BryantYeah

6:44Jawad Mir... It could be a normal, it could be a normal process. It could, it doesn't have to be, you know, on this film in particular. Was it…

6:53Simon BryantWell…

6:54Jawad MirYeah, go on.

6:55Simon BryantWell, what were you gonna say? What was your question gonna be?

6:58Jawad MirNo, my question is the process of editing, right…

7:00Simon BryantYeah

7:00Jawad Mir... On this, on this project. Like, what was the process? How... You kind of talked about like there were, you know, five or six editors, and what was the process of the stuff coming in and putting it together and then taking it back to the director and so on and so forth?

7:15Simon BryantRight. Right. So let's, so yeah, so let's say you've, you... So we had about 36 to 40 streams…

7:23Jawad MirYeah

7:23Simon Bryant... Of the con… of the concert. So we got a really amazing edit assistant who will sync all of that up and then build it into what's called a m… a multi-group so you can see, you can play back all those streams simultaneously. And, actually different editors approach in a different way, but the way I work is I just wa… I first of all watch the track and block it out, so try and work out, a sort of narrative arc of how that track will, should develop and just see, you know. So if I know there's a, that there's a really big bit towards the end, then I know that I want a calmer element beforehand, so I sort of block it out. And then for me, I kind of, I try and find a way in to each track or each performance, and that's a kind of quite instinctual thing where it might just be one shot or one moment or one, s… sort of reaction from a, from a musician or something that really grabs me.

8:36Simon BryantAnd then from there, it sort of blossoms out, and then I can sort of, I, so I have to sort of find the thing that I feel. It's an instinctual thing, you know? Yeah, so I start with, so I look for a, for a moment that really grabs me, and then I feel that I'm in, and then I will start to sort of block out the edit based on it. There are certain points where I know I wanna see a singer or I wanna see, an instrumentation, and then I have a basic edit, and then you watch it back and you get a sort of feeling. It's just a question of watching it over and over again and tweaking and tweaking until it's sort of, it's like a sort of, it's a kind of like, you know, it's like sort of, like a sculpture really. You know, you start with a block of stone and you chip away until you kind of get something that starts to sort of feel like it really responds well to the music and flows well with the music.

9:37Jawad MirAmazing. What was the track that you enjoyed working on the most, just from a personal standpoint?

9:48Simon BryantWell, there was two. The Dark Knight was amazing. And that's, I mean, it sort of starts off, on location in a disused tow… disused sort of skyscraper, with incredibly beautiful drone shots coming into that. And then it goes into the concert hall, and it's obviously something that Hans really enjoys playing. Like, he plays bass in that. I think, I think the thing is that Hans generally plays most of the instruments on the recordings.

10:26Simon BryantSo then when he plays live, he, in fact, he talks about this in the film, I think. When he plays live, he just basically chooses the most fun instrument for him to play, and then he's got his incredible orchestra to play the rest of it. And so he plays bass in that, and there's a section where he really gets to hammer the bass, and you could just see the pleasure on his face, how much he's enjoying, just really whacking the bass and making a racket. And, you know, that's infectious. That's, that's the thing that, you know, that I sort of thrive off is y… y… y… if I can see someone's having a good time, then it's the same as looking for a good performance if you're cutting drama. You know, when you, when you see the magic in someone's eyes or you see it's, it's a genuine feeling, that's what you're trying to capture.

11:18Jawad MirIt's a tough question to ask, but if there were three soundtracks by Hans Zimmer that you loved the most, and which, and why would, why would those three be the ones? If there's any connection to it, you know, growing up or just the music itself taking you to a very special place.

11:38Simon BryantYeah. I mean, so I'm not fair saying a huge number of films that have Hans', soundtracks. But as we went through it, I was thinking, "Ah, see, it's not the sort of films that I watch," sort of big blockbusters. So it's a difficult question to answer. Y… yeah.

12:02Jawad MirWhat comes to, what comes to mind? Like right now in this very moment, a track that comes to mind or a soundtrack that comes to mind?

12:07Simon BryantWell, I mean, the, my, I don't even know if I've seen, I must have seen The Dark Knight, the film, 'cause I think I've seen all the Batmans. I mean, I think… Yeah, I mean, the, it's a difficult question to answer, 'cause like I say, 'cause I haven't seen many of those. Oh. Oh, it cut out again.

12:27Jawad MirI'm not sure what's going on. I've never had this issue, so I apologize for this. Just…

12:30Simon BryantNo problem. No problem.

12:32Jawad MirSorry, go on. You said Dark Knight.

12:35Simon BryantY… The Dark Knight, it's an incredibly powerful piece of music, and, it evokes so well the idea of Gotham City and a dark, dystopic world. But yeah, as I say, it's, it's, it's... I don't have a particularly personal con… I mean, I... He's undeniably a man of genius. I, and I wouldn't use that word lightly. But it's not, his world is not a world I spent much of my childhood in.

13:09Jawad MirSo that's fine, so let me just reiterate that question.

13:12Simon BryantYeah.

13:12Jawad MirThat's great that you came into this world of the film, of Hans Zimmer, without much, not necessarily knowledge or preconceived notions.

13:22Simon BryantYeah.

13:22Jawad MirWhat blew you away while working on this film that you did not know before, from a standpoint of his work? Not necessarily his performance, but in terms of the actual tracks or the music that you heard.

13:35Simon BryantWell, I think, I think the thing that blew me away the most was hearing him both when we were working with him and in the interviews, just hearing him talk about the way he works and the way he conceives of the films, the way he deeply understands what films are about, and how that brings about the music, how sort of... He s… he f… I mean, you know, I haven't spent lots of time with him, but he feels like a, quite a conceptual... He works through concepts, so he gets a sense of what a film is about, and that's what spawns the music. And he finds quite elemental meanings in films, which I think he understand how, what the really deep sort of, the deep narratives or the deep, deeper meanings or almost the mythological meanings of films are, the sort of most primal meanings, and then he writes music to that purpose.

14:54Simon BryantAnd there's a brilliant interview bit where in, when he's talking to Denis Villeneuve about Blade Runner or, and they're saying, and I can't remember what scene they're talking about, but basically Hans completely changed the meaning of the scene. I think they tried some… I think maybe they'd had another composer in, and the scene wasn't working, and Hans came along and completely changed the meaning of the scene, and it was almost like he had a deeper understanding of what that scene could be about, which was basically that we're all gonna die.

15:34Simon Bryant... And he very much, like he talks about how in Man of Steel is ultimately quite a tragic story because it's about a man who just wants to be human. So that perception to be able to see the elemental appeal of a film, which probably isn't necessarily apparent to every viewer, but they feel it, that he can see that and then write music to enhance that is something that, you know, yeah, blew me away. And he nails it every time. I mean, his, I mean, the range of what he can do and the enormity of his output is staggering, you know?

16:29Jawad MirYeah. No, it's, it's, it's, it's true, and I will be very honest, so, and which a lot of Hans Zimmer fans probably will not like to hear, but I'm still trying to work on that. So I'm not too... I've seen, I've seen Dune one and two. I'm not sure…

16:45Simon Bryanthuh

16:45Jawad Mir... If you've seen it.

16:49Simon BryantNo

16:49Jawad Mir... I've listened to the tracks over and over again, and I know there's something about those tracks in the s… in the soundtrack for both of those films that is very different from the Hans Zimmer that a lot of people know, because it's a very standalone music. And I haven't been able to get a grasp on it. I'm not a musician by any means. I'm just a storyteller, a director. But just to understand his choices of music selection and i… his instrument and the notes that he picks, I'm still trying to grasp that. It doesn't mean that it's not good because I'm no musician anyway. I haven't been able to grasp it, and I'm really trying to figure out how he, why he's done what he's done, because obviously there's a meaning behind it that I can't understand. But have you listened to Dune soundtrack at all?

17:39Simon BryantNot really beyond the, not really beyond the f… beyond in the film. But I think, yeah, I mean, I think with all music, 'cause I'm not a musician either, I mean, I work m… a, alm… almost all of the filmmaking I do is related to music, whether it's concerts or documentaries, and I, and I've been a DJ and I've got a huge record collection and a, music's the fundament, you know, one of the most important things in my life. And

18:07Jawad MirRight

18:07Simon Bryant... But it remains a complete mystery to me how it's made and how they do it. And, I think that's part of it, m… m… that's, that's…

18:19Jawad MirMagic

18:19Simon Bryant... Well, that's why, yeah, part of it's magic and why I'm even more in awe of it. And y… You know, he's just... There are, there are, you know, various stories of him rescuing films, you know, single-handedly.

18:34Jawad MirOh, I'm sure.

18:36Simon BryantYou know?

18:36Jawad MirI'm sure.

18:37Simon BryantSo, and I totally believe it, 'cause I sort of, I think I feel that music is the sort of, you know, it's the, it's the quickest route to emotion and to moving people. You know? I mean, you can do it with pictures and everything, but if you've got... Music and sound more generally is the most hardwired thing that's gonna press people's buttons, and he, you know, he's unrivaled in his ability to push those buttons, you know? And to do it in a... Because his music really is re… can… reaches people of all backgrounds and ages and, you know, he can move, people from all walks of life, which is astonishing, really.

19:28Jawad MirIt is, and he's, I mean, and the crazy thing is that there's very few people in, you know, even whether you're Steve Jobs or whether you are John Williams or Steven Spielberg, but these big names, there are very few people in any industry that can prolong their career for so long, more or less consistently, and he's definitely by far one of them.

19:55Simon BryantYeah.

19:55Jawad MirI mean, to be able to look ba… I've been listening to him since, Driving Miss Daisy, Rain Man came out, 1988 to '89, and I was a youn… very young at that point. But to be able to sort of see how he has, it's been, what now, 36, 37 years? Obviously, there's a story behind all that, Rain Man, when he was, who he was in the early years. To see that and to constantly do it at the top of his game is just, blows me away.

20:24Simon BryantYeah.

20:25Jawad MirAnd his, and his music resonates to a level that I can't even explain. Like, I, yeah, it's just... I think for me, the biggest, soundtrack of his, which wasn't really, I don't know if it was really his, because there was, he had a team called m… there's a company he had back in the day called Media Ventures, I think, if I'm not mistaken.

20:44Jawad MirAnd, people like Harry Gregson-Williams, Nicky Smith, they sort of worked under him, and they did The Rock, with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.

20:55Simon BryantOkay.

20:56Jawad MirI'm not... And that soundtrack wa… i… I still remember watching that movie in the theater, and that music ma… I would feel the chair's armrest, like, everything was, I still remember that feeling, and that's how powerful…

21:11Simon BryantYeah

21:12Jawad Mir... His, him and his team music is.

21:14Simon BryantYeah. Yeah, no, I'm, I'm sure. I don't know that film, but, I mean, I'm not surprised. Yeah. I mean, I haven't looked at, a list of his credits, but it must be, you know, it must be a long list.

21:25Jawad MirOh, it's huge. It's massive. Let's talk about, you know, your career. I was going through your IMDb earlier, and, from what I could gather, and please correct me if I'm wrong, 'cause sometimes IMDb is wrong…

21:39Jawad Mir... Is that most of your work has been in the band, in the concerts and editing…

21:44Simon BryantYeah

21:44Jawad Mir... Docs, b… in that realm.

21:46Simon BryantYeah.

21:46Jawad MirHow did you get... I guess my question is two-parter. What did, how did you get into editing? Like, what was the reason, the catalyst that inspired you to be who you are today? And then how are you on this journey of just sort of in the world of editing concerts, more or less, from what I gather?

22:05Simon BryantI sort of, I sort of fell into it. It wasn't, it wasn't a grand plan. I did a degree in sort of in media and animation and filmmaking, and then I wasn't sure what to do, so I just got pretty much the first job I could find, and it happened to be as a runner at a post-production house. And they did quite a lot of concerts, and at that time I was, yeah, s… DJing a bit and, collecting records, and I'm quite technically minded, quite mathematically minded, so the computer side of things came quite naturally to me. So I quite quickly became a, an edit assistant. And then you, then you tend to work quite closely with certain edit...

23:05Simon BryantYou know what I mean? If you're, if you're a good edit assistant, they're quite hard to find, a, like, a really good edit assistant, so editors take, tend to sort of take you under their wing and want you to work closely with them, as in particularly in, large, in sort of multi-camera editing, precision in setting up a job is key. So I sort of started there and gradually, was really drawn to what they were doing, and, eventually an opportunity presented itself to cut one song in a concert film for Muse, and that went pretty well. And then I gradually, yeah, and then more opportunities came up, and I, and it wasn't something I'd planned, but it was something that I was, that I really enjoyed doing. And it's, it's quite close to dir… like, it's, you've gotta get inside the music, and that's something that I thoroughly enjoy doing.

24:12Simon BryantAnd so it was something that came quite naturally to me. And ... And then arou… and then not long after I really started, I met Paul Dugdale, who was, who had started off as a cameraman and was just moving into directing, and… I think he, I think he spotted... He was a ca… he spotted me at something, and I had a green... The story, I mean, whether this is true or not, but he's, he says he's, he was a cameraman on a, on a concert film, which I was, assistant directing, and, he spotted me from afar, and I had this... I mean, he had this green leather jacket on, this really good green leather jacket, and he was... And he asked somebody, "Oh, who's that guy with the green leather jacket? He looks pretty cool." And it turned out that,.. And he s… and he found out I was an editor, so he tried to get me on a job, and we just clicked, and so we've kind of evolved together, you know? So we started off on smaller things and to the point where, you know, we end up, we now do jobs like Hans Zimmer and The Rolling Stones and things like that.

25:21Simon BryantAnd it's a wonderful thing to... I work with other people, but mostly I work with him, and it's a wonderful thing to have a sort of, a really deep understanding and to have learned the craft and pushed the craft forwards together, you know? So it's a very fruitful, relationship. And I've always enjoyed the collaborative nature of what we do.

25:50Jawad MirRight. So his role…

25:51Simon BryantThat's…

25:52Jawad Mir... On this film was

25:54Simon BryantDirector

25:54Jawad Mir... Director. So…

25:57Simon BryantYeah

25:57Jawad Mir... And how... I guess it's, it's, it's in… interesting. You know what I find interesting about you is that, I'll, I'll be very honest. My pre…

26:08Simon BryantSure

26:08Jawad Mir... Pre-conce… pre… preconceived notion was that you're a Zimmer's fan. Like, you know, you know Hans Zimmer inside and out. And then as…

26:16Simon BryantYeah

26:16Jawad Mir... You're talking to me about it, and I'm thinking in the beginning, I'm like, "That's interesting," because then you bring something completely fresh. You don't have these preconceived atta… attachments to his music, you know? And it's just something completely out of the norm, and I think that really, I mean, I would imagine speaks volume about what you're doing. I'm not trying to... You know, you have obviously a skill set and everything, but I think that angle brings in something fresh, and I'm sure it's a similar thing to all the other films that you have edited. Would that be safe to assume that?

26:51Simon BryantY… yes. Yeah, yes, sa… yeah, definitely. I mean, yeah, as I was sort of talking about earlier on, I have to find a... For me to do my job well, I have to find a way into the, to the content. I have to find…

27:09Jawad MirYeah, of course

27:09Simon Bryant... So even if it's music which I wouldn't normally listen to, or I wouldn't normally, or I don't even enjoy particularly, which does happen pretty regularly, I have to find... So to some, and even if it's stuff I know quite well, I have to find something about that performance or that moment that pulls me in, that I feel a... Because I need to feel a connection to that performance and that song so that I can transmit that. Because it's, it's quite a specific type of filmmaking in the sense that I'm trying to just tran… I'm trying to just be a sort of, a medium through which the power of what happened on a certain... I mean, this is specific to concert films, but the power of what happened in a certain room on a certain night is transmitted and if possibly amplified as purely as possible. So in one sense, I don't really wanna be seen, and the…

28:13Simon Bryant... Best way I can do that is to, is to find my, find my connection, the thing that, "Oh, I'm like, oh man, this, you know, I'm really feeling this." And I mean, I c… it was quite... I mean, it was quite easy with Hans because it's just so enormous. You know? It's just so... The both, the music is huge, the band is huge, and the venue is huge, and there's, in fact, there's one particular song, oh, is it Inception, I think, which is filmed, and I can't re… in the most important…

28:53Jawad MirOh, is it, is it called Time?

28:55Simon BryantYeah.

28:55Jawad MirIt's probably Time.

28:57Simon BryantYeah.

28:57Jawad MirYeah.

28:57Simon BryantYeah, which is filmed in the most enormous thing that you could only ever have in Dubai. But so it was quite easy to get a sense, to feel a sense of awe from what I was watching, so that's quite e…... And also you're watching musicians who are really at the top of their game playing with real passion. So it was quite easy to find my, find a hook into that. I've slightly forgotten the question, but yes. So you are right. Yes. So actually coming to things fresh has an advantage, and I think to some degree I try and approach things from a fresh point of view, even if they're not fresh to me.

29:44Jawad MirYeah.

29:44Simon BryantI think that has real, has real value because it, because it, you're, you're not really trying to impose yourself, or you're, you're, you're in fact you're trying to do the opposite. I'm not trying to impose an idea because it... And it's also the same, so I've, we've got like, you know, on Hans Zimmer, so you've probably got 16 really skilled camera ops, and you can sort of wish that they were doing things, but actually you're better off to go, and they're, they're all being directed by the director over so they can hear him. He's calling it. He's watching all of these cameras…

30:24Jawad MirYeah

30:24Simon Bryant... And he's calling that, and he wants some shots. So you're also, rather than trying to force an edit, you're also trying to go, "Well, you know, what's this camera person up? What are they thinking? Why are they doing that?" Like, let's just see where they're going with that. Are they gonna pull focus? Have they got a plan? So there's a lot of trying to get out the way, get yourself out the way, and just see what's there, both in terms of, in the performance and the feeling of the musicians and in the box, and just trying to see what it is and let it be what it can be. And then, kind of when you've got a sort of structure, then you can kinda say, "All right, well, my job is to sort of find a flow through this, to knit it all together, to knit all these elements together, to try and, yeah, comm… communicate as purely the power of what it would've been like to be, to be there on that, you know, on that day."

31:23Jawad MirLovely. No, that's, that's, really cool, man. I, you know, I... Have you, have you heard of this,.. You must, you must listen to The Beatles, or you have at a certain point.

31:33Simon BryantYeah. I'm pretty well... Yeah.

31:36Jawad MirHa… have you heard of the new film that coming, that's coming out in about f… three years?

31:41Simon BryantThe Sa… is it Sam Mendes?

31:43Jawad MirYeah, the four films from four different perspectives.

31:47Simon BryantYeah. Oh, is that what it is?

31:48Jawad MirI think that's fascinating.

31:49Simon BryantYeah.

31:50Jawad MirYeah. I don't know how they're gonna release them…

31:51Simon BryantYeah

31:51Jawad Mir... But it's basically four different films.

31:55Simon BryantYeah. I'm, I'm a bit averse to biopics. The, yeah, I'm a bit aver… I... It's not something... I, like, yeah, I'm, I am a bit averse to biopics. Like, I th… I think you, even if you do it in the most masterful way, you could s… you'll still be a million miles away from

32:20Jawad MirThe actual story

32:20Simon Bryant... What it was really like.

32:21Jawad MirYeah.

32:21Simon BryantAnd sort of fabricating a truth, you know? Like, you know…

32:26Jawad MirFair enough.

32:27Simon BryantYeah, sorry to beat that. Yeah, I…

32:29Jawad MirNo, it's fine. It's fine. I, it's interesting because there's a lot of paradox to a lot of stuff that you say, which I think is, a lot of us are like that in varying different, in different, including myself. You know, like, I don't, I know nothing about how to play a note, but I know…

32:47Simon BryantYeah

32:47Jawad Mir... When I hear something marvelous in terms of music…

32:50Simon BryantYeah

32:50Jawad Mir... Right?

32:51Simon BryantYeah.

32:51Jawad MirAnd it's…

32:52Simon BryantAbsolutely

32:52Jawad Mir... Similarly with what your approach is too, is like, you don't know much about how to compose music, but you just know when to listen to the right one, and it connects to you at a very…

33:01Simon BryantYeah

33:01Jawad Mir... Very deep level, and I think that's more po… that's very powerful.

33:05Simon BryantYeah. And the challenge i… is to, in my job, I have to, I find myself trying to get inside music, which in my life I would never…... Have any time for, you know? And, but it's a, but it's a really interesting thing because, 'cause you're, because, you know, whatever it is, 60,000 people who've turned up to this concert can't be wrong. You know, there's something going on here. So it's a really fascinating thing to try and, to try and find that, you know? It's a, it's a, it's a privilege really to sort of, you know, just, it's, it's good to have your horizons broadened, isn't it? And not just to stick in the…

33:54Jawad MirIt is. It is

33:54Simon Bryant... Stick in your lane.

33:56Jawad MirNo, 100%. What's, what's, what's next for you, Brian? Anything exciting that, aside from what Simon, you're working on, anything exciting?

34:05Simon BryantWe've got, we've finished a film for AC/DC, which is… ... Was due to come out, but it's been postponed 'cause they've gone back on tour. That was m… incredible. I mean, for s… what, you know, they're sort of late 60s now, and to see how hard they play is mind-blowing. Something I'm really excited about, which I, he's finished. He's, he's, I think he's just finished, and we're still waiting on a release. He's a film for, I dunno if you're aware of a band called Rammstein. You heard of those?

34:44Jawad MirNo. What is it? What's it called?

34:45Simon BryantRammstein. A German, they're a German band who s… who I suppose make what you'd call quite heavy me… well, yeah, metal type of music. But it's, it's hugely theatrical. So we, so we shot them in, over three nights in Mexico to, I think a total of like, you know, 180,000 people, and they have the most wild stage show you can imagine, just huge amount of pyrotechnic and theater and it's one of the most, it's a gift for a filmmaker to try and capture that, you know? This wild, you know, it's, it's a spectacle, but it's also really heavy, powerful music. And I think, I think that will be going at cinemas too. So, yeah, that'll be quite a cinema…

35:42Jawad MirWell, I'm looking…

35:43Simon BryantThat'll be…

35:43Jawad Mir... Forward to that.

35:44Simon BryantYeah.

35:45Jawad MirI just looking at some images of their performance. They do seem extravagant and grand, so.

35:49Simon BryantYeah. Yeah, they are. Yeah. Yeah, they're quite…

35:52Jawad MirYeah

35:52Simon Bryant... I mean, there's nothing else like them. It's almost like, at times, we almost try to make it unwatchable, and it's, and it's, because the music's pretty brutal at times. It's almost like, how far can we push this? Not for the whole thing, but you know what I mean? So some bits are so brutal. So it's a gift to be able to really put, to really, to re… be required to push something that hard.

36:22Jawad MirAwesome. Well, looking forward to that. You know, I'll be very honest. So I have grown up mostly with music scores than songs.

36:33Simon BryantRight

36:33Jawad Mir... A… and I've, and I mean, I know the odds, you know, like the Michael Jackson, Beatles

36:39Simon BryantRight

36:39Jawad Mir... Madonna, and all those…

36:41Simon BryantYeah

36:41Jawad Mir... People. But my image, I would say I've probably not listened to more than 50, 60 songs, if maybe 100, in my entire life.

36:52Simon BryantWow.

36:52Jawad MirIn terms of, in terms of English, but I've listened to thousands of movie soundtracks. Like, whether it's Hans Zimmer…

37:00Simon BryantWow

37:00Jawad Mir... Whether it's John Williams, whether it's Vangelis, and, J… James Horner, you know, Jerry Goldsmith. I mean, I can go on and on. That's my world of music. And…

37:10Simon Bryanthuh. Wow

37:11Jawad Mir... To be able to see, to be able to speak to s… somebody who's, in a similar way but different, who's not really not familiar with how to create music, but appreciates music, I think it's, I think it's really cool that you were able to work on this film because, and now I'm excited to see it. I wish I had. Normally, that's what I do, but just because of the limited release, I just had… hadn't had a chance.

37:36Simon BryantYeah

37:36Jawad Mir... And I would like to see how you, what, all the things that you talked about, how you sort of brought that from your individual standpoint to the film.

37:46Simon BryantYeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, well let, yeah, let me know what you think, what you think when you get to see it.

37:52Jawad MirI will. I will. That's amazing, man. Thank you so much for your time. And thank you for…

37:56Simon BryantPleasure

37:56Jawad Mir... Working on this film. It's, yeah, it's, it's amazing to see, at least from the trailer, I was blown away, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.

38:06Simon BryantYeah, man, you, if you're a fa… fan of Hans Zimmer, you will, you will love it, and, I think you'll really enjoy the conversation too.