Hans Zimmer

Birth Notes:	Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Birth Name:	Zimmer, Hans Florian
Birth Date:	12 September 1957

Hans Zimmer Trivia

Frequently works with director 'Ridley Scott'.
Fans and industry insiders in the film music world credit Crimson Tide (1995) as a turning point in both his career and the scoring business. The Grammy-winning score, often heard in trailers since, was a departure from the norm, making use of digital synthesizers, electronic keyboards, and the latest computer technology to digitally produce a rousing score with traditional orchestral arrangements.
He told in an interview that he would retire for some years after The Dark Knight, saying he has been exhausted in the past years. He also said that he wants to help young composers and would produce their scores. His future plan is also about touring the world holding concerts with his own music.
The Last Samurai marked his 100th score.
In 2000 Gladiator became into one of the best selling film score albums of all time.

Hans Zimmer Mini Biography

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents, having first enjoyed success in the world of pop music as a member of The Buggles. The group's single Video Killed the Radio Star became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be aired on MTV. Zimmer entered the world of film music in London during a long collaboration with famed composer and mentor 'Stanley Myers (I)', which included the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). He soon began work on several successful solo projects, including the critically acclaimed A World Apart, and during these years Zimmer pioneered the use of combining old and new musical technologies. Today, this work has earned him the reputation of being the father of integrating the electronic musical world with traditional orchestral arrangements. A turning point in Zimmer's career came in 1988 when he was asked to score Rain Man for director 'Barry Levinson (I)'. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score. The next year, Zimmer composed the score for another Best Picture Oscar recipient, Driving Miss Daisy (1989), starring 'Jessica Tandy', and 'Morgan Freeman (I)'. Having already scored two Best Picture winners, in the early 1990s, Zimmer cemented his position as a pre-eminent talent with the award-winning score for The Lion King (1994). The soundtrack has sold over 15 million copies to date and earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, an American Music Award, a Tony, and two Grammy Awards. In total, Zimmer's work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammys and seven Oscars for Rain Man (1988), Gladiator (2000), The Lion King (1994), As Good as It Gets (1997), The The Preacher's Wife (1996), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and The Last Samurai (2003). With his career in full swing, Zimmer was anxious to replicate the mentoring experience he had benefited from under 'Stanley Myers (I)'' guidance. With state-of-the-art technology and a supportive creative environment, Zimmer was able to offer film-scoring opportunities to young composers at his Santa Monica-based musical "think tank." This approach helped launch the careers of such notable composers as 'Mark Mancina', 'John Powell (I)', 'Harry Gregson-Williams', 'Nick Glennie-Smith', and 'Klaus Badelt'. In 2000, Zimmer scored the music for Gladiator (2000), for which he received an Oscar nomination, in addition to Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Awards for his epic score. It sold more than three million copies worldwide and spawned a second album Gladiator: More Music From The Motion Picture, released on the Universal Classics/Decca label. Zimmer's other scores that year included Mission: Impossible II (2000), The Road to El Dorado (2000), and An Everlasting Piece (2000), directed by 'Barry Levinson (I)'. Some of his other impressive scores include Pearl Harbor (2001), The Ring (2002), four films directed by 'Ridley Scott'; Matchstick Men (2003), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), and Thelma & Louise (1991), 'Penny Marshall (I)''s Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), and A League of Their Own (1992), 'Quentin Tarantino''s True Romance (1993), Tears of the Sun (2003), 'Ron Howard (I)''s Backdraft (1991), Days of Thunder (1990), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and the animated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) for which he also co-wrote four of the songs with 'Bryan Adams (I)', including the Golden Globe nominated Here I Am. At the 27th annual Flanders International Film Festival, Zimmer performed live for the first time in concert with a 100-piece orchestra and a 100-piece choir. Choosing selections from his impressive body of work, Zimmer performed newly orchestrated concert versions of Gladiator, Mission: Impossible II (2000), Rain Man (1988), The Lion King (1994), and The Thin Red Line (1998). The concert was recorded by Decca and released as a concert album entitled "The Wings Of A Film: The Music Of Hans Zimmer." Last year, Zimmer completed his 100th film score for the film The Last Samurai, starring 'Tom Cruise', for which he received both a Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film Critics nomination. Recently, Zimmer scored 'Nancy Meyers'' comedy Something's Gotta Give (2003), the animated Dreamworks film, Shark Tale (2004) (featuring voices of 'Will Smith (I)', 'Renée Zellweger', 'Robert De Niro', 'Jack Black (I)', and 'Martin Scorsese'), and most recently, Jim Brooks' Spanglish (2004) starring 'Adam Sandler (I)' and 'Téa Leoni' (for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination). His upcoming projects include Paramount's The Weather Man (2005) starring 'Nicolas Cage', Dreamworks' Madagascar (2005), and highly anticipated Warner Bros. summer release, Batman Begins (2005). Zimmer's additional honors and awards include the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Composition from the National Board of Review, and the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has also received ASCAP's Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. Hans and his wife live in Los Angeles and he is the father of four children.

Hans Zimmer Quotes

"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."
"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."
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.
"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." - about previous Batman scores
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.