Which composer scored the music for Christopher Nolan's film Inception?

Hans Zimmer composed the music for Christopher Nolan’s film Inception.

Zimmer’s score combines a large orchestral sound with electronic textures, creating the film’s distinctive sense of pressure, scale and altered time. The music was written while production was still underway, allowing Zimmer and Nolan to shape the score alongside the film’s intricate dream-layer structure.

One of the score’s most recognizable ideas grew from Édith Piaf’s song “Non, je ne regrette rien,” which appears in the film as a signal connected to dream timing. Zimmer slowed and transformed elements of the song into the score’s massive brass-like sound. The soundtrack also features guitar parts performed by Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths.

Inception marked Zimmer’s third collaboration with Nolan, following Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Zimmer later scored several other Nolan films, including Interstellar and Dunkirk. A common mix-up is assuming Nolan’s Batman collaborator James Newton Howard also scored Inception; Howard co-composed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with Zimmer, but Inception’s principal composer was Zimmer alone.