The origin of the is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Hans Zimmer has stated that Nolan never gave him a script or a traditional briefing. Instead, Nolan gave Zimmer a single page of typed paper: a story about a father saying goodbye to his son, who doesn't want him to leave.
The score was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score (losing to The Grand Budapest Hotel in a controversial snub). However, it won the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ Saturn Award.
The instrument allowed Zimmer to transition from "breath-like whispers" to "overwhelming walls of sound" that physically shake the theater. Physics Rendered in Music