Hans Zimmer opens heart for 'Divas'

Lopez lands Oscar-winning composer for $1

By ANNA MARIE DE LA FUENTE

You can't beat the music budget on Issa Lopez's "Casi Divas": The Mexican scribe-helmer landed Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer for the low, low cost of just $1 dollar.

Zimmer and his team of crack musicians -- Martin Tillman, Heitor Pereira, Lorne Balfe, Lili Haydn and Ryeland Allison -- have been working for more than a month on the soundtrack of "Casi Divas" (Road to Fame), a dramedy that tracks four wildly different girls who answer an open casting call, for Columbia Pictures Mexico.

The lure, Zimmer and the musicians told Lopez, was a much-welcomed chance to experiment.

"We went out to dinner one night and they thanked me for giving them the opportunity to work on my film," says an over-the-moon Lopez.

Recording sessions at Zimmer's Remote Control studio in Santa Monica, where's he's also at work on "The Dark Knight" and "Kung Fu Panda," are more like free-wheeling jam sessions, say the musicians.

As for the musicians' pay, Lopez says the budget only goes so far.

"I don't think Zimmer is splitting the dollar," she quips.