“No Time to Die,” from the James Bond film of the same name, took home the Oscar for best song. The accolade is the first Oscar win for Billie Eilish and Finneas, the brother and sister team who co-wrote the track. The song made Eilish the youngest artist ever to record a Bond theme.
“This is the first song I know Daniel’s opinion of, of ours,” Finneas told the BBC, referring to the movie’s star, Daniel Craig, who has said this is his last turn in the role. “If Daniel doesn’t like it, you don’t get the job.”
The previous two Bond themes also won Oscars, for Adele (“Skyfall”) and Sam Smith (“Writing’s on the Wall,” from “Spectre”).
Last fall, Finneas spoke to The New York Times about recording the Bond theme with Eilish, the composers Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr, and others at Air Studios, a 19th-century former church, in London. After he and his sister wrote the song, Finneas said they linked up with Zimmer, who has two Oscars (including one he earned on Sunday for “Dune”), to produce it.
“I was very prepared for him to go, ‘I’ve scored every movie ever made, I know exactly what to do — shut up, listen to me.’ You know, I would’ve been really understanding,” Finneas said. “I would’ve been like, ‘Yeah, he knows more than me, of course.’”
Instead, he recounted, Zimmer welcomed their musical ideas. “What do you guys want? I’ll tell you what I think, I think what’s great is how intimate Billie’s voice sounds, and I definitely don’t want to get in the way of that,” Finneas recalled Zimmer telling them. “‘Maybe it should build at the end. What do you guys think?’”
Zimmer’s openness and the deep relationship he has with his orchestra members — some of whom have played with him for decades — impressed Finneas. “I was like, man, I hope if I get to have a career as long as Hans, I am the way he is when I’m his age,” said Finneas, who is 24. To be “deep into your illustrious, successful career, and have these brand-new kids come in and show as much deference as he did — I was really floored by that.”
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
