Interview: Diane Warren on Looking Back at Her Career, That Elusive Oscar Win and her SXSW Entry ‘Diane Warren: Relentless’

Just two days after being at the Oscars for the fifteenth time, for her latest Best Original Song nomination, Diane Warren is in Austin, Texas for the world premiere of Diane Warren: Relentless. Screening in the 24 Beats Per Second section, Bess Kargman’s film offers an unprecedented look at who Warren is and how she operates.

We had the chance to speak to Warren ahead of SXSW and before the Oscars, in her first-ever interview for a project where she appears in front of the camera rather than as the songwriter of one of its most memorable melodies. Warren was honest and insightful about working with others, her biggest hits, and, most importantly, her attitude towards the many times she’s been a nominee at the Oscars.

Abe Friedtanzer: Thank you so much for speaking with me today, and congratulations on being the subject of a film! I’m sure you’ve done lots of press for the songs that you’ve written. What is it like to now be doing it as a subject?

Diane Warren: This is literally the first interview that I’ve ever done being the subject of my own movie! Yeah, wow. Crazy. 

AF: How is it hitting you? 

DW: I mean, I don’t think it’s hit me yet. It’s just so surreal and weird, right? I haven’t even seen the finished version of the movie. I only saw a very rough cut. It’s kind of strange to see your life, certain aspects of it. Kind of strange, to be honest. 

AF: Well, how did the film come to be and how were you approached about being part of it? 

DW: My friend Risa Shapiro, she managed Cher, and she’s a really good friend of mine. Risa talked to Todd Garner, who’s a friend of hers who’s a pretty big movie producer. I think he had seen a documentary on David Foster and called Risa. Risa always thought there should be a documentary on me for years. Why aren’t we doing this doc on Diane? So Risa and Todd together, I guess, reached out to XTR, the production company, and then Bess Kargman got involved and here we are. 

AF: What surprised you about the experience of having your life covered in this way? 

DW: It’s strange. I’m a real behind-the-scenes person. It’s strange, but it’s going to be even weirder being in a room full of people at SXSW. But it’s awesome. It’s really cool. And it’s right after the Oscars! There’s a lot going on in the next bunch of days.

AF: What’s been your experience in the past with SXSW? Have you been before? 

DW: I’ve only been there one time where I did a song for Michelle Obama. It was pretty cool. Everybody did it. Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Zendaya. All these cool artists on this one song for Michelle Obama, and I met her there. It was a panel I did with her and debuted the song. So that’s the only time, and that was a while ago, probably about seven years ago. So I haven’t been there since. This will be the second time I’m there. 

AF: I remember seeing the world premiere of Flamin’ Hot there last year, so I’m sure it’s going to be a warm, inviting audience.

DW: How cool! And then it ended up winning the Audience Award. Here we are, I’m about to be at the Oscars on Sunday night with the song I wrote for it. So cool. What could be cooler? Whatever happens, I’m happy to be there. 

AF: I want to dive more into the Oscars, but before we get there, can we talk about Flamin’ Hot and the experience of “The Fire Inside”? 

DW: Yeah, I love everything about it. I absolutely love the movie. It had so much heart in it. I love underdogs. Richard Montañez was a true underdog that came from nothing and just had an idea that he believed in. He wasn’t going to stop, kind of like me being a songwriter from the Valley and knowing nobody. You’ve got to have that fire in you. The fire inside had the double meaning of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, of course, you eat them, there’s a fire you’ll get inside. The fire inside is really passionate. It’s that burn, that burning passion, burning thing that makes you achieve anything, basically. It’s the force that drives you to burn down every obstacle. I loved being a part of this movie. I’m excited about the song. I kind of annoyed Eva Longoria. I knew she was going to direct the movie and she happened to be in my building. I kept saying, when can I see it? When can I see it? And then finally, there was something to see. I just loved it when I saw it and the whole journey. Now, maybe the coolest part besides being nominated for an Oscar for it – I mean, it doesn’t get cooler than that, but – I have my own Pink’s Flamin’ Hot vegan hot dog. It’s called The Fire Inside at Pink’s. I might not be a winner, but I’m a wiener! And I’m vegan and I’m spicy. 

AF: I appreciate your attitude about the Oscars. In this film, there are all these clips of the winner being announced and those of us who have followed the Oscars know how it traditionally has gone. What was it like to, as part of the film, look back at all these times that you were very close? 

DW: In all honesty, the fourteen times I lost, there were times where it hurt, a couple of times, two or three times. One especially, with the song I wrote for Gaga, “Til It Happens to You.” That was a painful one, because everybody was like, oh, you’re gonna win! You’re gonna win on this song. That performance was just one of the best things I’ve ever seen, when she was on that stage with all those sexual assault survivors and the way she sang that song. It got like a five-minute standing ovation and people were crying. And then it lost to the James Bond song. I was thinking to myself, if only they could have their vote back after the performance and revote, because that definitely would have won. So there were a couple of times, just being candid, that it hurt. But, I know the cliché about it, it’s an honor being nominated, but it is a fucking honor to be nominated. Any of us, at the Oscars, when there’s five people in each category, besides the ten for best picture, it’s all five, only five, any of us that are chosen by our peers who are the best at what they do in the world, you have won.

Basically, I’ve always just loved being nominated. I stay up all night and literally count the seconds till the nominations. I’m excited. I already win when my song is nominated, and I really feel that in my heart. Okay, well, if it happens that I actually do hear my name called, that would be really awesome. I got the honorary Oscar the year before last, which was never given to a songwriter, and that was the coolest thing ever. That’s not an easy Oscar to get. It’s probably a harder one to get, not that I know because I haven’t gotten it yet. But I know that a lot of people have wanted to get the honorary Oscar that they don’t get, and I know that when I heard that as soon as my name got put through, it was unanimous, everybody agreed, which I guess never happens. That’s a huge honor, getting the honorary Oscar. But he wants a friend! He’d like a little Oscar friend, and it would be great. I’m not going to lie. It would be awesome. I’ve been nominated in five decades, how crazy is that? Eighties, nineties, so if any of those decades I won the competitive Oscar and never got nominated again, I would choose this. I want to keep racking up the nominations, man. That’s winning. That’s making history. That’s getting the respect. It’s such a sign of respect from people I respect, because the people in the music branch are the best of the best on the planet at film music. And if they choose five songs and one of them is mine, how is that not a huge win? It is. 

AF: People like me go through and try to see every film nominated in every category, so the fact that you’ve gotten nominated partially based on your reputation so many times means that people have tracked down films like Tell It Like a Woman that otherwise wouldn’t really have gotten a lot of exposure. So that’s an exciting consequence of you being included here, which is great for just finding these films. 

DW: It’s cool. I could have a song in Armageddon, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” that everybody saw, and then something like Tell It Like a Woman that really nobody saw, but the people that saw it loved the song, and that was great. It’s a great feeling, and if the songs weren’t good, it wouldn’t happen, so I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the work. 

AF: You mentioned being respected by a lot of people in the industry. The film starts off with some pretty blunt things being said about you that I think you’re probably familiar with from other people. Were you surprised by what you heard other people say about you? 

DW: That I’m a pain in the ass and difficult and stuff like that? No, because I am, but I’m nice and I just really believe in what I believe in, you know? I’m relentless, so hence the title. But my relentlessness has helped a lot of people’s careers with songs they didn’t want to do or weren’t sure about. I’m like, just do it. Just do it. Just try it. No, I don’t know. Just fucking try it. I know I’m right. And then it changes their life. It’s happened so many times. 

AF: You said that you’re not very comfortable in front of the camera. Do you now feel that you have any desire to be back in front of the camera like this and doing interviews like this? 

DW: I love my job. I love what I do. I don’t need to be in front of the camera. I have stage fright. 

AF: You’re going to SXSW soon, which is very exciting. What do you think people should expect from this film if they’re familiar with you or if they aren’t? 

DW: Well, that’s a very good question. I don’t know how to answer. I guess you’ll see how weird I am. The weird person behind the songs. That should be the headline, the weirdo, the freak behind the songs, I don’t know. I don’t even know what to tell people what to expect. I don’t even know what to expect. I saw a rough cut, so I don’t know what to expect. I hope the lighting’s good. 

AF: Is this the kind of film you would watch yourself?

DW: Yeah, I would watch it, because I love documentaries, and I love to learn something about somebody that I have no idea about. 

AF: Looking back at some of the songs that you’ve been nominated for, I was struck by “Io Sì” from The Life Ahead. It’s such a memorable song that I didn’t realize was yours, which I’m sure happens a lot. What is it like working in another language? 

DW: I wrote the song in English. It’s called “Seen” in English. I love the song. It’s one of my favorite melodies that I’ve written, it’s such a beautiful melody. They were trying it in the movie, the demo, and it wasn’t working right. My friend Bonnie Greenberg, the music supervisor, goes, okay, let’s try a different arrangement. We tried a different arrangement, and it still wasn’t working. All of a sudden, I go, it’s not working because the fucking movie is in Italian and the song is in English! That’s just basic! What are we doing? Then I realized that it had to be in Italian. When I get an artist for a movie, I’m casting. I’m casting that artist to be authentic to the song and to the movie. Since it was Sophia Loren, I wanted it to be a great diva Italian singer. I knew Laura Pausini. We had talked about working together years ago, and I thought she’s such a great singer. I thought she’d be perfect, and Laura ended up writing the Italian lyrics. And then it worked!

AF: Is there anything that you haven’t done yet that you feel you’d really like to, whether it’s a genre or a type of song? 

DW: I write in every genre. I’m really into Afrobeats now. I’m working with some great Afrobeat artists. I love that. I’m always in lots of genres. I do country, I do dance. I’m working with David Guetta right now too on something else. As you know, Ke$ha is in this movie. I love the song in this movie. I love just doing what I do and working with all kinds of different artists and different genres. It’s fun.

AF: Was there anybody that you were surprised to see included in the film, who you hadn’t expected would want to talk about your collaboration? 

DW: No, I knew who they were going to go to, and everybody was pretty honest. David Foster’s a really honest guy. No, everybody was cool. I want everybody to be honest. Who wants a puff piece and people kissing your ass and stuff? Talking about how great you are for three hours. Nobody. You want to just see people be honest. As long as they’re saying great things!

AF: Thank you so much, Diane. I wish you good luck at SXSW, good luck on this press tour, and, most importantly, good luck at the Oscars.

DW: Thank you. I appreciate it. Whatever happens, like I said, I already won. I get to be at the coolest party in the world.