According to Zimmer, the soundtrack for Inception is "a very electronic score".[1] Nolan asked Zimmer to compose and finish the score as he was shooting the film. The composer said, "He wanted to unleash my imagination in the best possible way".[2] At one point, while composing the score, Zimmer incorporated a guitar sound reminiscent of Ennio Morricone and was interested in having Johnny Marr, former guitarist in the influential 80s rock band The Smiths, play these parts. Zimmer's reported inspiration was finding a synthesizer track that he had written similar to Marr's guitar style. Nolan agreed with Zimmer's suggestion, and then Zimmer approached Marr, who accepted his offer. Marr spent four 12-hour days working on the score, playing notes written by Zimmer with a 12-string guitar.[3][4]
For inspiration, Zimmer read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter because it combined "the idea of playfulness in mathematics and playfulness in music".[2] Zimmer did not assemble a temp score but "every now and then they would call and say 'we need a little something here.' But that was OK because much of the music pieces aren't that scene-specific. They fall into little categories".[2] While writing the screenplay, Nolan wrote in Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" but almost took it out when he cast Marion Cotillard, who had just completed an Oscar-winning turn as Piaf in the 2007 film La Vie en rose. Zimmer convinced Nolan to keep it in the film and also integrated elements of the song into his score;[3] in particular, the film's iconic brass instrument fanfare resembles a slowed-down version of the song's instrumentation.
The trailers for the film feature specially composed music by Zack Hemsey, which does not appear on the official soundtrack.[5] The soundtrack was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy and a BAFTA.
James Southall of Movie Wave awarded the score five stars, calling it "Zimmer’s finest work in a number of years",[11] and Jim Lochner of Film Score Click Track, who said "Inception is one thrilling and trippy [...] musical ride",[12] awarding the score four and a half stars out of five.
