Ennio Morricone remembered by Antonio Banderas, Hans Zimmer, Edgar Wright, and more

Hans Zimmer, Antonio Banderas, John Carpenter, and Edgar Wright are among those who have paid tribute to Ennio Morricone. The legendary composer of the scores for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, and The Hateful Eight, died in Rome on Monday at the age of 91. Morricone's lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, confirmed his death to multiple outlets, adding that Morricone had been hospitalized last week after falling and fracturing his leg.

"I am devastated obviously by this news," Zimmer, who composed the scores for Interstellar and Inception, told the BBC. "Because Ennio was an icon and icons just don't go away. Icons are there forever. It really has taken me by surprise because he was still touring. I saw him about a year ago. He seemed strong...And it wasn't just the music he wrote for spaghetti westerns. I mean, think about The Mission, think about Once Upon a Time in America. What beautiful music that truly was."

"With great sadness, we say goodbye to a big master of cinema," tweeted Banderas, whose 1989 film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! was scored by Morricone. "His music will keep playing in our memories. Rest in peace."

"Brilliant composer Ennio Morricone has passed away," wrote Carpenter who worked with Carpenter on the director's 1982 horror classic The Thing. "A friend and collaborator, his talent was inestimable. I will miss him.

"Where to even begin with iconic composer Ennio Morricone?" wrote Wright, the director of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver. "He could make an average movie into a must see, a good movie into art, and a great movie into legend. He hasn't been off my stereo my entire life. What a legacy of work he leaves behind. RIP."

"‪There’s no greater film composer than Ennio Morricone," Ed Wood co-screenwriter Larry Karaszewski wrote on Facebook. "So distinctive. So prolific. He made every movie he worked on better. Beloved for his westerns and thrillers but my favorite score is from Gillo Pontecorvo’s brilliant political epic Queimada."

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