Hans Zimmer
Birthday: 12 September 1957, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, West Germany
Birth Name: Hans Florian Zimmer
Height: 178 cm
German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star ...Show More
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] I thought how do we deal with in a children's movie the idea Show more
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] I thought how do we deal with in a children's movie the idea that a father dies and make an emotional yet not horrifying experience. And it's very simple. It's my point of view because my dad dropped dead when I was six. I had nobody to talk to about it. Hide
[on his score for Batman Begins (2005)] I think this one has more electronics in it than anything el Show more
[on his score for Batman Begins (2005)] I think this one has more electronics in it than anything else. I didn't want to do straight orchestra because Batman, he's not a straight character. I mean where do you get those wonderful toys from and the technology? So I thought I could embrace a bit more technology in this one... there isn't a straight orchestral note on this score. Hide
I have all these computers and keyboards and synthesizers, and I rattle away. For instance, with The Show more
I have all these computers and keyboards and synthesizers, and I rattle away. For instance, with The Lion King (1994), I wrote over four hours' worth of tunes, and they were really pretty - but totally meaningless. So in the end I came up with material I liked. We worked on The Lion King for four years, but I wasn't toying until the last three-and-a-half weeks properly. On Crimson Tide (1995), on the other hand, I just went in and within seconds I knew what I wanted. Hide
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] I'd never written for talking fuzzy animals before. I knew h Show more
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] I'd never written for talking fuzzy animals before. I knew how to write to human emotions but these were animals. It took me a while to sort of get over that and do what you do which is just treat them like human characters. Hide
[on his previous Batman scores] Nobody ever mentions the Elliot Goldenthal scores. And of course, I' Show more
[on his previous Batman scores] Nobody ever mentions the Elliot Goldenthal scores. And of course, I'm not mentioning any of that either, because quite honestly I didn't go and look at the old Batman movies again. Hide
If the secret should be known, which is not much of a secret at all, this is my hobby I love doing t Show more
If the secret should be known, which is not much of a secret at all, this is my hobby I love doing this. Anything else feels like work to me. Hide
You have to remain flexible, and you must be your own critic at all times.
You have to remain flexible, and you must be your own critic at all times.
I am not saying it is a bad movie or good movie, but it is an odd movie. All of the music was writte Show more
I am not saying it is a bad movie or good movie, but it is an odd movie. All of the music was written before Terry would edit a scene. That was just how he wanted to work. It was a very odd way of working for me, because I had to lead the charge up the hill all the time. It gets a little daunting. Hide
If something happened where I couldn't write music anymore, it would kill me. It's not just a job. I Show more
If something happened where I couldn't write music anymore, it would kill me. It's not just a job. It's not just a hobby. It's why I get up in the morning. Hide
I wake up around noon, light a cigarette, get a cup of coffee, sit in the bathtub for an hour and da Show more
I wake up around noon, light a cigarette, get a cup of coffee, sit in the bathtub for an hour and daydream, and I usually come up with some ideas... It's a very irresponsible life. The only decisions I make are about the notes I'm writing. Hide
[on his score for Hannibal (2001)] This is the best love theme I've ever written, I keep telling eve Show more
[on his score for Hannibal (2001)] This is the best love theme I've ever written, I keep telling everyone this is a romantic comedy, but nobody believes me. Hide
I don't drive, so one of my assistants drives me to my writing room, and I have a calendar on the wa Show more
I don't drive, so one of my assistants drives me to my writing room, and I have a calendar on the wall telling me how much time I have left, and how far behind I am. I look at it and panic, and decide which scene to work on. And you sit there plonking notes until something makes sense, and you don't think about it any more. Good tunes come when you're not thinking about it. Hide
When you write a theme one of the things you want to do is you want to see how much life it really h Show more
When you write a theme one of the things you want to do is you want to see how much life it really has. How many possibilities there are. Can it speak to you in joy? Can it speak to you in sorrow? Can it be love? Can it be hate? Can you say all these things with just a few notes? That's the thing when you figure out if a tune is any good or not. Does it have more than one shallow little character? Does it have just one little thing to tell you. Can it get underneath there under your skin? Can it get dark? Can it talk about the death of a father or something like that. Hide
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] The main emphasis to me was how we were going to get, in a c Show more
[on his score for The Lion King (1994)] The main emphasis to me was how we were going to get, in a children's movie, to the idea that a father dies and make it an emotional yet not horrifying experience but make it something that children might want to start asking some questions about. It's very simple. It's my point of view because my dad dropped dead when I was six and I had nobody to talk to about it. So, it's a very personal sort of thing. Hide
Hans Zimmer's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (37)
