In an inter­view with Bloomberg,  Hans Zim­mer spoker about his work on The Dark Knight, along­side James New­ton Howard,

Oscar-winning com­poser Hans Zim­mer was strug­gling to find the right music to rep­re­sent the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” the new Bat­man movie sched­uled for release this summer.

Zim­mer, who wrote the scores for “The Lion King,” “Glad­i­a­tor” and more than 100 other films, had already com­posed a two-note sig­na­ture for the fiendish char­ac­ter, played by the late Heath Ledger. But he wanted to expand that sound to sym­bol­ize the Joker’s pen­chant for anarchy.

“I’ve been sit­ting here all night try­ing to find out what else to do with those two notes,” Zim­mer said dur­ing an inter­view last month at his Santa Mon­ica, Cal­i­for­nia, studio.

Zim­mer, who col­lab­o­rated on the score with James New­ton Howard, said Ledger’s death from an acci­den­tal drug over­dose in Jan­u­ary wouldn’t change his musi­cal approach to the Joker. The com­poser said the best trib­ute would be an accu­rate reflec­tion of Ledger’s portrayal.

“The worst thing I can do is stray from that course and not be rig­or­ous about his per­for­mance,” the tall, bald­ing com­poser said in a Ger­man accent that reflects his native country.