Hollywood’s music man
Meet the legend behind some of the most-memorable movie scores ever…
Composer Hans Zimmer’s incredible 40-year career has seen him go from playing in a band in working men’s clubs to composing music for Hollywood blockbusters such as Gladiator and the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Now, a new documentary tells his story in his own words, with interviews from many of the legendary directors he’s worked with including Ron Howard, Barry Levinson and Denis Villeneuve.
It reveals how Hans lost his father a week before his sixth birthday and was expelled from eight schools before his mother moved him from Germany to
England to concentrate on his music. ‘I played the piano because it put a smile on my mother’s face,’ he says.
Despite only having formal lessons for two weeks, Hans played in a band before writing TV jingles and composing the music for the 1985 British film My Beautiful Laundrette.
‘I don’t know that many people had the idea you can go and do film scores with a little keyboard and no orchestra, but you can,’ explains Hans.
Stellar career
Soon Hans became Hollywood’s most sought-after composer, working on films such as Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Mission: Impossible 2, The Dark Knight and 12 Years a Slave.
He won Oscars for 1994’s The Lion King and the 2021 sci-fi film Dune, and has provided the music for acclaimed Sir David Attenborough series such as Blue Planet II, Frozen Planet II and Planet Earth II.
‘It’s not a job, it’s a calling,’ says Hans. ‘I can’t imagine not writing music. I’m just getting started.’