1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,600 - Ladies and gentlemen, Hans Zimmer! 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:17,760 [ Applause ] 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,560 - There's a word I don't use very often, which is genius. 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Hans Zimmer is one of them. 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,600 He has the incredible capacity to reinvent himself 8 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,120 without losing his identity. 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,880 He's a storyteller. 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,680 He tells stories with music. 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:39,920 - It's not a job. It's like a calling. 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,920 It's like a crazy thing. 13 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,280 I can't imagine not writing music. 14 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,920 - Hans Zimmer is the world's most sought after 15 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,400 and prolific movie composer. 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:54,800 He's written music for blockbusters, romcoms, 17 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,880 animations and even iconic nature documentaries. 18 00:00:58,960 --> 00:00:59,920 [ Howling ] 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,440 This is a dangerous place. 20 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,280 - He's fascinated just by sound itself. 21 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,920 He has all kinds of technical ideas 22 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,560 and tricks going on at any one time. 23 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,680 - Throughout his career, he's broken all the rules 24 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,520 about how you compose music for films. 25 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,440 - I don't think anybody's ever won an Oscar for a score 26 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,640 that blatantly is bagpipes, heavy-metal guitars 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,160 and a woman screaming at you. 28 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,400 - [ Yells indistinctly ] - This is great! 29 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,160 - He doesn't want to read a script. 30 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:32,600 He wants me to tell him, 31 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,680 "What is the movie you think you're making?" 32 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,080 It's like being psychoanalysed. 33 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,560 - Even if you're not hearing what you want to hear always, 34 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,120 the project gets better every time 35 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,840 it gets under Hans's microscope. 36 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,680 He remains a child, in a way. 37 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:51,400 And I think you have to have that quality in order 38 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,720 to sort of be a successful musician for all that time. 39 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,120 - I've been doing this for, what, 40 years? 40 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,320 Somebody the other day said, "When are you gonna slow down?" 41 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,120 "What do you mean 'slow down'? I'm just getting going! 42 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:08,560 I'm just getting started." 43 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,800 [ Cheers and applause ] 44 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:23,560 ♪♪ 45 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:32,160 ♪♪ 46 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:35,920 - Hans is experimenting with some ideas 47 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,160 for the soundtrack of a new BBC Natural History documentary. 48 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:47,240 ♪♪ 49 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:55,080 ♪♪ 50 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,240 - Just try to get to something that sounds remotely frozen. 51 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:04,280 ♪♪ 52 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,080 [ Waves crashing ] 53 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,800 I'm using a bit of noise, 54 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,880 make it a bit more tundra-like. 55 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:14,520 You know, I mean, it's just... 56 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,600 I like the idea that there's, like, a wind 57 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,680 rattling across everything. 58 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,200 I'm literally making it as we're talking about things. 59 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:29,880 Er... Let's say... 60 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,240 Let's go and use this, too. 61 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:40,080 It's relatively chilly, but we can make it chillier. 62 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:45,440 ♪♪ 63 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,520 Bit of frozenness. 64 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,080 The problem is that wind across a tundra 65 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,040 and bacon frying are very similar. 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:03:59,880 This is a stronghold 67 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:04,280 for one of Antarctica's most remarkable inhabitants. 68 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,360 [ Seal yawns ] 69 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,880 ♪♪ 70 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,600 - The seriousness and the depth that we bring to this project 71 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,000 comes a lot from me being a kid. 72 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,760 One of my main memories is just shortly 73 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:28,320 before my father's death, where he took me to the Rhine, 74 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,720 which was completely covered in foam. 75 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,200 And he was explaining to me, 76 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:36,160 "You know, look, we're destroying the world. 77 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,600 We now need to go and do something about that." 78 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,400 And I think it hugely influenced me in our work 79 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,240 with Sir David Attenborough. 80 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,640 ♪♪ 81 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,920 - Hans was born in Frankfurt, Germany, 82 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,040 in 1957 into a Jewish family. 83 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,880 - I knew what the Nazis had done to the Jews. 84 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,000 It would be brought up quite a lot. 85 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,880 The fear was that, "You know what? 86 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:09,720 If you tell the neighbours, 87 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,760 your best friend can turn on you within one moment." 88 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,960 - While still a child, Hans's family was torn apart 89 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,120 by a bolt from the blue. 90 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,760 - The week before my 6th birthday -- 91 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:28,760 my birthday was on a Sunday -- 92 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:33,120 my dad died on either the Friday or the Saturday. 93 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,280 And on Monday, my mother, who was totally overwhelmed, 94 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,040 basically dropped me off for my first day at school. 95 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,040 It was like, you know, all these kids, 96 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,960 terrible teachers of an older generation. 97 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,760 Then came the moment where she said, 98 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:53,960 "You know, I think you should have piano lessons. 99 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:55,920 Do you want piano lessons?" 100 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,360 And as a 6-year-old, 7-year-old, 101 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,720 you think that stuff you hear in your head, 102 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,240 a magical man is going to come 103 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,800 and tell you how to put it under your fingers. 104 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,080 And, of course, that's not at all what happens. 105 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,680 Some horrible German comes who raps you across the knuckles 106 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:18,400 if you don't play your scales right. 107 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,880 You know, "Read, read, read, read, read!" 108 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,360 And to this day, if you put music in front of me, 109 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:29,560 it just starts getting wobbly and swimmy and... 110 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:30,680 and defocuses. 111 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,880 [ Piano playing softly ] 112 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:40,520 ♪♪ 113 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,040 - Despite having only two weeks of formal lessons, 114 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:46,920 Hans found his home in music. 115 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,480 - I play the piano because it put a smile on my mum's face. 116 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,240 It's the only reason. 117 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:02,760 It's not the only reason -- it put a smile on my face, too. 118 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:09,600 - Hans kicked against the rules, not just in learning music 119 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:11,520 but in everything. 120 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,360 He was thrown out of eight schools in Germany 121 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,960 for not conforming to the strict discipline demanded. 122 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,880 - The music teacher threw a chair at me. 123 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,560 I remember that. 124 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,520 - He always told stories of his childhood, 125 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:30,080 all the shenanigans he got into -- 126 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,680 crazy thing in boarding school that got you kicked out. 127 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,120 He got kicked out of boarding school quite a few times. 128 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,880 - I know my mum was really worried about me. 129 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,640 I think everybody was really worried about me. 130 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:46,960 Hans's rebellious streak 131 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,880 led to his mother moving them to England. 132 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:51,840 There they found a progressive school 133 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,360 where he could concentrate on his music. 134 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,760 [ Soft-rock music playing ] 135 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:00,960 On graduating, he followed his dream 136 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,280 and joined a band called Krakatoa, 137 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,160 mainly playing working men's clubs. 138 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,160 - ♪ Don't apologise, it's not your style ♪ 139 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,440 ♪♪ 140 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,480 - We were the entertainment nobody listened to. 141 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:19,080 We were so bad, up north, 142 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:21,680 we would be the support act to the strippers. 143 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,520 ♪ Treat your mama good ♪ 144 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,600 - And it was interesting because it was the '80s 145 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,280 and it was Margaret Thatcher and it was... 146 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:34,440 coal miners' strike. 147 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,080 [ Indistinct yelling ] 148 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,000 Whoa, it was rough up north. 149 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,880 People were so frustrated. 150 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,120 You know, you left London and you entered another world, 151 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,760 you entered another country. 152 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,040 And this country was a country that was desperate 153 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,440 and it was poor and it was everything 154 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,680 that you could only imagine of the left behind 155 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,040 and left for forgotten. 156 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,120 And to this day... 157 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,440 I have this person I write my music for. 158 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,760 And she's fictitious. 159 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,520 She's called Doris and she lives in Bradford. 160 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,160 She has a grey coat and, you know... 161 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,160 is of uncertain age. 162 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,800 She's got two terrible boys. 163 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:21,360 I mean, they're so ill-behaved. 164 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,320 And her hair-dye job isn't very good, you know? 165 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:28,800 And she works really hard throughout the week. 166 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:30,760 And come the weekend, she has a choice. 167 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,560 She has a choice of going to the pub, having a drink, 168 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,800 or she has a choice of coming and seeing one of our movies. 169 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,080 And she's a hero to me because she works hard. 170 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:47,520 And so when she comes and sees one of my -- our -- movies, 171 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,520 I want to make sure that she gets her money's worth and... 172 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:54,440 I promise you. I mean, every movie, 173 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,040 I sit there and I go, "What would Doris think?" 174 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,080 ♪♪ 175 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:07,080 It's so easy to think about the past in a nostalgic way. 176 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:08,600 Yeah, I loved it. I loved it. 177 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,040 My friend Warren Cann, drummer from Ultravox, 178 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:13,840 we decided to do an album together, 179 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,040 which, absolutely, we couldn't give away. 180 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,640 To this day, we couldn't give it away. 181 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:21,760 Oh, and then we had this crazy idea. 182 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,320 We did a concert at the London Planetarium, 183 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,040 you know, basically, people looking up at the stars 184 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,080 and us playing weird, cosmic music to them 185 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,560 and scaring the children in the process of it. 186 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,480 [ Electronic music playing ] 187 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:39,680 - The 1980s saw a revolution in music, 188 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:41,680 video and film production. 189 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,680 Computers and synthesisers were changing how music 190 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,360 was made and recorded. 191 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,440 Hans saw the potential in all this new technology 192 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:52,760 and made himself the master of it. 193 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,040 - I was seriously into synthesisers 194 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:01,200 and I was a lot skinnier then as well. 195 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,960 But I still have this, of course, 196 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,200 and I still make music with it. 197 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,800 And, you know that sound that basically pins you 198 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:12,640 into your seat when you watch "Dark Knight"? 199 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:17,480 [ "The Dark Knight" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 200 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:19,080 That's that beast. 201 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,160 It was a time where 202 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,520 you suddenly could have access to computers, 203 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,160 so the whole idea about doing things on stage 204 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,880 was far less exciting than the idea 205 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,320 of "How far could I push this technology?" 206 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,880 Using his know-how of studio technology?" 207 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,360 [ Dog barking ] 208 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,560 It was in this unassuming yard 209 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,360 that Hans began to hone his writing and production skills. 210 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,560 Together with his friend and mentor, 211 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,360 composer Stanley Myers, 212 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:56,080 he set up his first recording studio. 213 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:00,840 - I mean, you can tell from the glamorous nature of this door 214 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,720 that this is the door that leads directly to Hollywood, 215 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,320 fame and Oscars. 216 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,040 This used to be my studio. Actually, it wasn't my studio. 217 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,160 It was Stanley Myers' and my studio. 218 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,480 Absolutely extraordinary composer. 219 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:20,680 I mean, everybody owes a lot of things to everybody in life. 220 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:22,960 My film language, for instance, 221 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:24,880 I very much learned from Stanley. 222 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:26,520 It's really simple. 223 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:27,840 If you don't have a tune, 224 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,880 you've got nothing to hang on to. 225 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,120 So, this sort of somewhat decrepit building 226 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,080 actually turned out to be a haven for us. 227 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,520 I don't think many people had the sort of idea 228 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,520 that you could go and do film scores with a little keyboard 229 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,080 and not an orchestra, but you could. 230 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:53,760 - I want to be manager of this place. 231 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,080 I think I can do it. Please let me. 232 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,080 - Of course, "My Beautiful Laundrette," 233 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,200 I think, was pretty much the first thing we did here. 234 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:04,920 - Stanley Myers was doing the music 235 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,560 for "My Beautiful Laundrette," 236 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,280 and Hans was always in the other room. 237 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,520 So for some reason, that was where you ended up. 238 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,280 Stanley was always in the front room reading the racy news, 239 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,120 and there was clearly a rather clever chap 240 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,200 in the back doing all the work. 241 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,440 - A skinny, lanky guy who was German 242 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,440 with a little computer thing, and everyone thought, 243 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,400 "What the hell's that?" basically. And...[mumbles] 244 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,440 - Because - - I guess it was electronic, 245 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,320 so Hans was doing it 246 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,600 because he knew how to work all those machines 247 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,120 and he knew how to make the eccentric sounds. 248 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:47,720 Between them, they thought up 249 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,320 what the film should sound like. 250 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,680 - And it was pretty obvious when it was a Stanley piece 251 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:56,080 because it was elegant and beautiful 252 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:57,360 and when it was a Hans piece, 253 00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:59,920 which was a bit like lead boots. 254 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,520 [ Electronic bubbling ] 255 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,000 And it was all rewrites for me. 256 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,160 And Stanley would very gently 257 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,640 steer me in the right direction. 258 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:13,960 ♪♪ 259 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,560 - He's an incredibly charming man. 260 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:18,320 And he was just absolutely brilliant 261 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,160 cos he had this new form of, in a funny way, '80s music, 262 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:24,800 but he also had the wit and the ability to charm 263 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,960 and to be the whole package, as it were. 264 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:29,320 Without that character, you know, 265 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,320 he'd still be a great composer, 266 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:32,440 but he wouldn't have been the successful composer that he is. 267 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,040 No way. 268 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:35,600 It was just a weird thing, 269 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:37,440 because, here in England, you were always an equal. 270 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,600 I mean, you were totally involved in the storytelling, 271 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,760 and that was the thing that I thought was really exciting, 272 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,520 these conversations you are having with film directors, 273 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,680 which were far more up my streets 274 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,840 than just playing in a band. 275 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:52,880 - I know that he's the most successful composer 276 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:54,360 in the world, 277 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,040 but to me, he's the boy in the back room. 278 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:57,480 [ Laughs ] 279 00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:59,200 It makes me laugh. 280 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,000 - By the late 1980s, Hans was gaining a reputation 281 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,280 as a film composer of British films and TV. 282 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,200 [ Grunts softly ] 283 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,640 He is developing fast. 284 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:16,680 Yes. 285 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,360 - A knock on the door at Lillie Yard late one night 286 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,360 was going to change his life forever. 287 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,400 - You know, 11:00 at night -- musicians' hours. 288 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,440 Of course we were working. 289 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,160 So I open the door and there's a guy standing there 290 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,880 and he's going, "Hi. My name's Barry Levinson." 291 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:34,280 Pause. 292 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,280 "I'm a Hollywood director." 293 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:38,760 From the first time I met him, 294 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,760 I thought that he was extremely talented, 295 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,080 and that's before he had worked on any of the music. 296 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:48,920 I just got... 297 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,480 Sometimes you get a feeling with people that you connect. 298 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:53,400 And he came in and... 299 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,880 I mean, basically, the bottom line of the story is, he went, 300 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:57,160 "Do you want to do this film 301 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,560 'Rain Man' that I'm working on?" 302 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,960 And I said, "Yes." 303 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:06,880 [ "Rain Man" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 304 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:08,520 Hans's ideas for "Rain Man" 305 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,680 were unusual for a traditional American road movie. 306 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,080 - There's a tendency to use sort of guitar music, 307 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,520 that type of travelling across country, 308 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,280 and I didn't think it was appropriate for the piece. 309 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:28,000 And he came up with that sound, which was very unique 310 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,120 and very distinctive... 311 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,280 ♪♪ 312 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,880 ...and very different than a normal travelling movie. 313 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:40,320 ♪♪ 314 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,080 You know, I'm sure the studio wasn't thrilled 315 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,880 because it's like, "Alright, I got somebody, Hans Zimmer," 316 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,400 and they're going, "Who?! For this film? 317 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:50,280 You know, we got Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. 318 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,560 And who is this composer?" 319 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:59,360 ♪♪ 320 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,960 [ Cheers and applause ] 321 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,720 ♪♪ 322 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,920 For his first Hollywood movie, 323 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,440 Hans received an Oscar nomination. 324 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,200 - I went for that lunch that they have, the Oscar lunch, 325 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,840 and I picked up, I don't know, five, six, seven. 326 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,080 I mean, I didn't stand up and say, "Anybody got a movie?" 327 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,520 I just sat there and people would come up to me and say, 328 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:31,080 "Hey, do you wanna do my movie?" 329 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:32,840 [ Cheers and applause ] 330 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:38,840 [ "Driving Miss Daisy" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 331 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,040 - The following year, he composed the music 332 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:44,880 for yet another Oscar-winning film... 333 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:46,960 "Driving Miss Daisy." 334 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,000 And then in 1994... 335 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,400 ♪ Nants ingonyama ♪ 336 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:57,680 ♪ Bagithi baba ♪ 337 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,040 The first notes that you hear, 338 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,400 you're in. 339 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:03,920 And it's magic. 340 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,640 ♪ Nants ingonyama ♪ 341 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,120 - And the vocal that you hear with it... 342 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,120 - ♪ Baba ♪ - ...poetry. 343 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:14,240 ♪ Nqoba ♪ 344 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,080 Musical poetry. 345 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,520 - ♪ Siyo Nqoba ♪ - ♪ Ingonyama ♪ 346 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:25,680 - The studio had given Hans a strict brief about the opening. 347 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,240 - It was supposed to be 20 seconds of Elton's song 348 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,560 and then there was going to be a dialogue scene and... 349 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,080 da-da-da-da, right? 350 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:34,880 And I forgot about the 20 seconds. 351 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,880 I just got excited about doing the chant with Lebo. 352 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,400 [ Sings indistinctly ] 353 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:44,160 - Then I did an arrangement of Elton's tune. 354 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,880 And so I played it to them, and as I'm playing it to them, 355 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,400 I'm going, "Oh, God, I forgot. 356 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,200 It's supposed to be 20 seconds long, 357 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,320 and then it's supposed to become a dialogue piece." 358 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,480 And they sort of shuffled off into a corner, 359 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,760 and they're talking. 360 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:00,200 And I know what they're talking about. 361 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:01,640 They're talking about, 362 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,280 "Who are they gonna get to replace me?" 363 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:04,720 So I'm going over there, and I'm saying, 364 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:06,080 "Look, guys, I'm really sorry. 365 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:07,680 I can do this thing in 20 seconds." 366 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,200 They're going, "No, no, no! 367 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:10,280 That's not what we're talking about at all. 368 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:11,480 We're thinking we're gonna go 369 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:13,520 and reanimate the whole opening. 370 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,280 We're gonna take all that dialogue out and da-da-da-da." 371 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:17,720 ♪ Ingonyama ♪ 372 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:19,560 It was an experiment, 373 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,160 and what's in the movie is my original demo. 374 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,480 The African sounds... 375 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:29,960 ♪ Ingonyama ♪ 376 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,160 ...the unique instruments... 377 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:34,320 ♪ Ingonyama ♪ 378 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,160 ...it's beyond profound. 379 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,920 ♪ The circle of life ♪ 380 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,560 - And the Oscar goes to Hans Zimmer for "The Lion King"! 381 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,040 [ Cheers and applause ] 382 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:52,080 - So full of life and wonder and beauty. 383 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,320 ♪♪ 384 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:56,920 - I wrote a speech, but I realised, 385 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:58,600 "It's so boring," so I'm not gonna do it. 386 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,080 I'd like to thank my wife because she's my best friend. 387 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,680 I'd like to thank my daughter because she now thinks I'm cool 388 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,120 cos I did "The Lion King"! 389 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:07,480 [ Laughter ] 390 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,280 I'm incredibly nervous. 391 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,280 I tell you what, writing a score is much easier than this. 392 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:13,440 Thank you. Just let me go, okay? 393 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,320 ♪ Circle ♪ 394 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:17,800 I've listened to how many 395 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,440 songs of how many scores end on... 396 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,800 [ Emphatic drumbeat ] 397 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:29,600 Exclamation point that is... amazing 398 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,200 and a signature of his. 399 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,080 - The directors and the producers were coming in 400 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,120 and I hadn't finished it, so that's why that big drum -- 401 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,200 the "Boing!" -- is there, to distract them 402 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,160 from the fact that I hadn't finished the track. 403 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:49,520 ♪♪ 404 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,680 - Hans used his mastery of digital technology, 405 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,960 especially sampling, to change the way movie directors 406 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,800 collaborated with their composers. 407 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,400 - The standard way of working with a director before Hans 408 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,000 is that there was no way to present the music 409 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:07,360 other than to play it on the piano -- 410 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:08,920 "Here's your theme, 411 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,600 and here's where the brass comes in down here, 412 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,840 and the strings are playing this." 413 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,760 - You know, I wasn't as good of a piano player, 414 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,040 but one of the things I figured out really, really quickly, 415 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:25,920 that the best way to communicate with a filmmaker 416 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,320 was to play them, like, a fake version of the score, 417 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,320 a synthesised version of the score. 418 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,400 ♪♪ 419 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,160 So basically what you have is you have 420 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,680 - all the different instruments - - horns and trumpets. 421 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:45,080 [ Instruments playing on synth ] 422 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:46,880 - In those days, nobody did it like this 423 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,320 other than Hans, you know? Nobody demoed things. 424 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,960 Nobody, you know, mocked everything up 425 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:53,920 so you could hear it beforehand. 426 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,080 Hans was quite unique that way, and I liked that method. 427 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,760 I loved technology. I loved his way of doing it. 428 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,520 And that's why things changed in film music, 429 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,840 you know, when he came on the scene. 430 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:06,240 Part of it was the technique he was using, 431 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,680 to do it with these "demos." 432 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:15,040 - Hans didn't just change the way composers use technology, 433 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:16,920 he developed a sound that influenced 434 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:21,320 a whole generation of movie composers and directors. 435 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:27,040 ♪♪ 436 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:29,680 - I'm fascinated by the idea of time. 437 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,760 The ticking happens a lot in my stuff. 438 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,200 Rather than going for a groovy rhythm, 439 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,000 it's ticking without accents. 440 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,520 It doesn't give the game away, 441 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,720 where the next part or the next cut is. 442 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,120 It just is like a river flowing. 443 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,320 And it sort of takes you on a journey. 444 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,880 - In his score for the film "The Thin Red Line," 445 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:00,560 he developed a technique of building 446 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:05,280 an incredible tension over very long scenes. 447 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:08,400 - What it got was this incredible 448 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,200 sort of feeling of fate and dread. 449 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,160 It really was unique at the time. 450 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:17,400 There's not really anything that quite does that. 451 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,080 He's very influential. 452 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,200 It's part of the language of filmmaking now. 453 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,080 I completely ripped him off on that. 454 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,160 I've ripped him off on other times, and then other times... 455 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,080 I mean, there's probably a few little moments 456 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,520 where he's ripped me off back. 457 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,520 - It was everything that music school tells you you can't do. 458 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,520 So there was the... 459 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,280 You're not supposed to do parallel things. 460 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,520 And they're all minors. 461 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,400 And it's asymmetrical. 462 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,880 ♪♪ 463 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,280 You know, music school will teach you 464 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:54,840 you're not supposed to do things 465 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,280 in these sort of parallels. 466 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:58,680 They're not chords. 467 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:00,360 A chord needs three notes. 468 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,640 This is two notes, always. 469 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:07,960 And it just sort of meanders in this... 470 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,480 while this note always stays... 471 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,360 ♪♪ 472 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,800 So, you get these really interesting clashes. 473 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,480 And it became a sort of... 474 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,920 a new language in film. 475 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,280 [ "The Thin Red Line" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 476 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:35,360 ♪♪ 477 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:43,440 ♪♪ 478 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:51,960 ♪♪ 479 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,320 - By the 2000s, Hans had established himself 480 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,840 as one of the top composers in Hollywood. 481 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,400 He was always looking for a new way of doing things. 482 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:08,920 Along with his business partner Steve Kofsky, 483 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,560 he built a studio complex in Santa Monica, 484 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,040 expanding it over several decades, 485 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:16,560 where teams of composers and sound technicians 486 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,600 work on movies, TV shows and documentaries. 487 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:21,960 - Hello, boys. - Hi. 488 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,840 - What you guys working on at the moment? 489 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,280 - Erm..."His Dark Materials," "Wheel of Time." 490 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:30,160 - People here get the opportunity to rub shoulders 491 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:31,760 with the right kind of directors. 492 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,600 I mean, you know, guys actually sit in meetings. 493 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,080 You know, Hans brings... 494 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:36,680 Whoever's working on the project with Hans, 495 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,080 for example, will be in a meeting. 496 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,320 This was your big idea, 497 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,560 so I just want to make sure I don't destroy it. 498 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,320 - The beauty of the old show was it was full... 499 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,680 - He wasn't afraid to bring in his team into a meeting. 500 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,200 Don't break it. 501 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,640 - There's always been ghost-writers in films, 502 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,560 but Hans opened up the door to all of his assistants... 503 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,400 [ Indistinct conversations ] 504 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:59,320 - ...who were able to experience the meeting 505 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,400 and take that for their own careers moving forward. 506 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,280 ♪♪ 507 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,680 - At the centre of the complex lies Hans's studio, 508 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,880 an extension of his own personality. 509 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,120 - I, as a European working in America, 510 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,240 I miss a Europe that doesn't actually exist any more. 511 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,240 And I myself had these doubts about staying here, you know? 512 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,840 And I wanted to go -- I wanted to go back to Europe. 513 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,160 And I thought, "Hang on. This is Hollywood. 514 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:35,240 You know, you can be and build whatever you want to do." 515 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,680 So I was very precise about my thinking about this room... 516 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:44,480 even though it just sort of looks like some crazed German 517 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,280 tossed it together... 518 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:49,600 because I knew I was going to spend 519 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,160 90%, probably, of my life in this room. 520 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,200 I thought I might as well have some fun with it 521 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,560 and do something which lets people 522 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,080 speak their mind, you know? 523 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,840 A room that is safe. 524 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,960 - Hans works in a space that removes you from the world. 525 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,640 You've never been in a space like it. 526 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,480 It's always been fun to hang out there, 527 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,600 sometimes watch him suffer, 528 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,720 have a glass of wine while he suffers. 529 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,600 - The environment inside his studio 530 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,560 is so alive with exploration 531 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,560 and discovery that it's a blast. 532 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,160 - You know, the sort of samurai thing, 533 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,080 and it's really kind of, you know... 534 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,560 This room is like a Buddhist sort of... 535 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,040 Old Buddhist temple. And...what else? 536 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:40,760 The keyboard and whatnot, you know? 537 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,400 And you just sit on a nice couch and you just feel it, 538 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,760 you talk about it, you feel it, you talk about it, 539 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:47,760 you feel it, you talk about it. And he's on the keys. 540 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:49,440 He's on the keys, he's feeling it. 541 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:50,800 You know, he's almost, like, having the conversation 542 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,360 with the keys as you talk about it. 543 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:53,680 And then you find, "Hey, hey, hey, what's that? 544 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,440 What's that? What's that note? 545 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,160 Do that again. Is this written down? 546 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:58,680 Okay, it's being recorded. 547 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:00,920 Okay, it's being recorded. Okay." 548 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:02,400 - He doesn't want to read a script. 549 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,080 So he...It's... 550 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,680 You know, it's like being psychoanalysed. 551 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,200 He wants to... 552 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,040 You know, he wants me to tell him the story. 553 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:14,280 Because we had talked about that... 554 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:15,880 - Not only tell him the story but, like, 555 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,640 "Why must I tell the story?" 556 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,280 - It's about getting the big picture. 557 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:25,320 It's about figuring out what moves somebody, 558 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:26,400 what doesn't move somebody. 559 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,040 It's about playfulness. Right. 560 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:32,400 That's why I don't take notes. 561 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:33,880 Why take notes? 562 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:35,400 You know, we'll just record it. 563 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:36,880 We'll just listen to it afterwards. 564 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:38,720 Okay, this part of our meeting... 565 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,560 There's nothing that stops playfulness 566 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,920 more than seeing somebody taking notes. 567 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,080 You know, suddenly it's a job. 568 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:49,800 - And he asks all kinds of questions, you know? 569 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:51,520 And I think he's searching for an angle. 570 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,280 And then at some point, he'll be like, "That's it." 571 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:54,960 Womp, womp, womp. Instead of... 572 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,040 [ Hums rhythm ] 573 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,280 In the case of "Pirates," it was... 574 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,080 He was technically unavailable, 575 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:03,840 but I really think he just thought 576 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,760 it was a failed endeavour from the outset. 577 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,080 Just the genre, just a pirate movie, 578 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,880 was like, "What are you doing?" Like, "Pass!" 579 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,440 You know, but in a "nice" way. 580 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,640 Like, "I'm doing 'Mission: Impossible.' 581 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:16,640 I can't do your pirate movie." And so... 582 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:18,120 So when we were done editing, 583 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:19,880 I brought it to him and played it to him. 584 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,760 And I think he sort of shifted 585 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:24,440 and he started playing at that little... 586 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,360 [ Hums tune ] 587 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:31,200 [ "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 588 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,080 - They had fired the original composer. 589 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,160 That's very interesting. 590 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,560 - And we had three weeks to finish the score. 591 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,720 So, Hans went home... 592 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,440 and started writing. 593 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,920 And he wrote all the themes overnight. 594 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:53,520 ♪♪ 595 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,880 - And then we talked, you know, at length about, 596 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:58,480 like, the drunken waltz. 597 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,280 Like, "Why is Jack like that with his sea legs?" 598 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,080 What is that? Sort of... 599 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,360 It's not just a waltz, it's a kind of slurred waltz. 600 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,480 [ Waltz music playing ] 601 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:10,040 Keep a sharp eye. 602 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,000 ♪♪ 603 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:18,080 - So, the character of Jack Sparrow is... 604 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,560 ♪♪ 605 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,880 The notes go up, positive. 606 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:28,960 Sort of, you know, the innocence. 607 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,520 There's like an innocence, hope in there. 608 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,640 You know, it's like, "Oh, I can go and do anything, right?" 609 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,480 Now... [ Plays notes ] 610 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,080 ...this bit... 611 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,520 ♪♪ 612 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,920 ...is a bit naughty, right? 613 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,600 ♪♪ 614 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,560 That's the wrong chord. 615 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,960 So, you go from naughty to, you know, he's doing something. 616 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:54,840 - It's still - - It's still benign, 617 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,040 but it's definitely the wrong chord. 618 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,160 ♪♪ 619 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:01,680 Here we are. 620 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:06,880 We're back on the safety of the optimism, but... 621 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,880 the devil's fifth... 622 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:11,200 to a minor chord. 623 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:12,960 So, that's part of his character. 624 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,360 He is definitely naughty. 625 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,880 And then he does something unexpected. 626 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,520 ♪♪ 627 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,960 He changes key right in the middle of the phrase, 628 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:25,560 but only for one second. 629 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,760 ♪♪ 630 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,560 And it resolves in a sort of classical way, 631 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,280 which is really a lie 632 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,920 because he goes to something even naughtier, 633 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:39,200 etcetera, etcetera. 634 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,920 So each phrase is part of his... 635 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,960 I'm describing his character. 636 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:46,680 [ "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme ] 637 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:48,440 ♪♪ 638 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,440 [ Hums ] 639 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,240 ♪♪ 640 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:55,920 It kind of rolls like you're on the deck of a boat. 641 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,360 ♪♪ 642 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:01,160 - Boat and rum make for unsteady rhythms. 643 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,200 ♪♪ 644 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:05,640 It's not clever. It's just fun. 645 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,320 - I think Hans has an approach, which I wouldn't call unifying, 646 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,280 but I do recognise it over and over again. 647 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,080 [ Cheers and applause, camera shutters clicking ] 648 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:23,440 It's this great ability to build a theme. 649 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,960 - In the "Da Vinci Code," Hans refined the technique 650 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,600 he pioneered in "The Thin Red Line" 651 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,160 of using a small number of notes to create complex, 652 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,760 driving themes. 653 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:40,560 I mean, this is so simple. 654 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,040 The simpler these things are, the more I fear 655 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:44,880 I'm going to get found out. 656 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,640 I mean, look, I can't think of any artist who doesn't think, 657 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,920 "They're gonna catch me at it. They're gonna find out." 658 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,440 You get some very simple notes 659 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,120 that inspire other simple notes that go with it, 660 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,760 and you can go and play with these rounds. 661 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,280 It's not easy, 662 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:14,160 but it's incredibly powerful and stirring. 663 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,080 That's one of his patterns that you will see 664 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,360 and with different kinds 665 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,640 of themes, different sorts of tunes. 666 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:22,120 Some of them are just one or two notes. 667 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,040 Some are very melodic, like this one. 668 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:30,840 But getting that music, through repetition, 669 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,160 to sort of evolve into something 670 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,280 go from one place to another, 671 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,840 well, that's what every movie wants to be is a journey. 672 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,280 And, you know, his cues often convey that. 673 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,680 ♪♪ 674 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,320 - It's a journey. It takes you on a journey, 675 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,440 and you add experiences every time round. 676 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,080 I mean, you've heard it, 677 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,760 so now you need to add another layer of experience, 678 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,680 a layer of time, layer of something to it. 679 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,160 [ "Da Vinci Code" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 680 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:10,640 ♪♪ 681 00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:17,280 ♪♪ 682 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,080 - This technique of creating longer themes 683 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,400 that build and build found their ultimate expression 684 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,040 in the films of one of Hans's key collaborators. 685 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,400 - I've never liked music that feels layered onto the movie, 686 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,600 like sauce going onto a piece of meat. 687 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,280 You know, to me, good film music really should be baked 688 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,400 into the DNA of what the actual film is 689 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,800 and woven into the fabric of the film itself. 690 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:48,360 And Hans was very on board with that process. 691 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:49,920 - There's certain things which... 692 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:51,320 I know they're good ideas, 693 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,640 but I'm not good enough to do them yet, 694 00:34:53,720 --> 00:34:56,640 so I use the next movie to actually go 695 00:34:56,720 --> 00:34:59,560 and get a little bit better at them. 696 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,280 [ Indistinct shouting ] 697 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:03,920 Hans's work with Nolan 698 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,520 would result in some of his most memorable scores, 699 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,360 involving war movies, 700 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,120 dream-stealers... 701 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,400 ...and superheroes. 702 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,680 - It's not who I am underneath... 703 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,920 but what I do... 704 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,400 that defines me. 705 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,080 - What he was doing on "Batman Begins" 706 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:28,560 is he was distilling the essence of this great icon, 707 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,800 not into a complex melody, into an idea 708 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,640 of almost the sound effects approach of these bat flaps, 709 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:39,240 these kind of big whooshes of noise. 710 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:45,080 ♪♪ 711 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,400 Literally two notes, but the recording process 712 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,160 that went into that -- the layering process, 713 00:35:51,240 --> 00:35:55,480 the hundreds and hundreds of tracks of sound 714 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,400 that is supporting that, 715 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,760 musically and harmonically and all the rest, 716 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,560 and the different combinations that allowed from us -- 717 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,160 is extraordinary. 718 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:11,440 ♪♪ 719 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:15,520 At times, the music is very, very minimal, 720 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,920 but the production methodology is always extremely expansive 721 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,440 and full of design ideas and imagination. 722 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:28,440 ♪♪ 723 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,400 I mean, that's nothing, right? 724 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,560 And then the theme is... 725 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,560 [ Plays theme ] 726 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,720 It's two notes, right? 727 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,280 That's it. 728 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,440 And only at the end does it break. 729 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:44,880 And it goes... 730 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,880 Still the same two notes. 731 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,760 And it becomes triumphant for one moment... 732 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,640 ...before it recedes back into darkness. 733 00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:59,560 You know, just for one moment, you can see... 734 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:01,640 You know, quite maniacal. 735 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:03,520 ♪♪ 736 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,320 - He's fascinated just by sound itself, 737 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:10,400 beyond the emotional qualities of music. 738 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:12,880 He has the best samples, for example, 739 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,600 of anyone in the world, 740 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:17,920 but he continually strives to improve them. 741 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:23,640 ♪♪ 742 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:24,640 - When it came to "The Joker Suite," 743 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:26,160 I remember talking to him. 744 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:28,680 He was like, "I'm convinced that the Joker 745 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,320 should be a piece of music and started from one note." 746 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,080 I was like, "Oh, God, here we go!" 747 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,120 You know, but if anyone could do it, it would be -- 748 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:36,800 That's more the thought of an inventor. 749 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:38,520 - Do you see what I mean? - Come on, come on! 750 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:40,200 I want you to do it. I want you to do it. 751 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:41,760 Come on, hit me. Come on, hit me! 752 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,760 - There's something anarchic about the Joker. 753 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:46,680 Hit me! 754 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,400 - By the time I'd bumped into him again, he was like, 755 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,480 "I think I have to concede. It has to be two notes." 756 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,320 So, he spent ages on this, 757 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,760 and it became the iconic, sort of distorted violin thing 758 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:56,920 that's just the two notes going... 759 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,080 [ Humming ] 760 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:00,560 I thought that Joker was 761 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:02,280 the most interesting character in that movie. 762 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,960 He was always in control of the situation 763 00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,880 and was the only one who always spoke the truth. 764 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,040 - And then this idea of these endless rises 765 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:14,640 that start in one pitch and just climb and climb 766 00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:16,320 and climb and climb and climb. 767 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,600 ♪♪ 768 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,560 - Ay! - [ Laughing ] 769 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,280 [ Flutters lips, spits ] Come on! 770 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:30,720 - This idea of just one note metamorphosising 771 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,160 in this absolute incredible... 772 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:35,400 and very quietly as well. 773 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:39,520 I wanted you to lean in a little bit to pick it out. 774 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,400 I wanted you to lean in to the darkness. 775 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,640 - Could you please just give me a minute?! 776 00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:45,120 That, to me, 777 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:46,880 is something no-one had really ever done. 778 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,240 You had people who wrote 779 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,760 extremely note-y symphonic music 780 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,960 and you had, like, rock guys 781 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:54,520 who just about crossed over enough 782 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,160 to be able to scramble together a film score, 783 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:00,800 but to have someone sort of right in the middle 784 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:02,360 who could sort of steal 785 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,280 the underlying structural techniques 786 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,520 of modern, popular music 787 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,280 and then understand enough of all the vocabulary 788 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,080 of all sorts of different kinds of, 789 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,320 and often symphonic, music and sort of put that together. 790 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:18,520 People don't even need to think about this 791 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:20,320 when they're watching a movie, 792 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,080 but it's one of the reasons that he's able to deliver 793 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,280 so much of the feeling you need and the storytelling 794 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,960 without being invasive and fussy and pompous. 795 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,760 ♪♪ 796 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:34,520 - The more I worked with Hans, the more I realised 797 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,080 the value of his creative contributions 798 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,160 to the conceptual underpinnings of what the films could be. 799 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:44,080 With prompting from Nolan, 800 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,520 Hans developed radical new ways of scoring a movie. 801 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:50,760 With "Interstellar," 802 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,920 I actually got him to do his first demo 803 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,440 on the basis of a short letter that I wrote him, 804 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:58,760 explaining the feelings, 805 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:00,240 the sort of fable at the heart 806 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:01,880 of what the film was going to be 807 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:03,520 without even telling him the genre. 808 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,600 And I did that while I was writing the script. 809 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,760 ♪♪ 810 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,960 I gave him one day to give me his first impression 811 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:13,760 of the emotions I was talking about. 812 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,920 And what he did for me in that one day 813 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,320 became the basis of the entire score. 814 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,360 ♪♪ 815 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,920 - Chris made me write this whole score away from picture. 816 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,320 It was a good experiment. 817 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,600 I was writing freely. 818 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:36,600 You know, I wasn't a slave to the edit, as it were. 819 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:38,840 - He stopped writing pieces of music 820 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,160 that are integral to the structure of the film, 821 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,320 and he started just writing music 822 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,040 and not watching the picture. 823 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:48,040 So, he would create a 35-minute piece 824 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,440 that he would try against picture 825 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:53,760 and it would inform, then, the process. 826 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,320 By writing these big, long pieces of music, 827 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,400 it gives you more of a sense of what the picture is 828 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,160 and how the music can help it. 829 00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:06,200 ♪♪ 830 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:07,840 - A couple months ago, I was rewatching the movie 831 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:13,520 with my friends and we're all sobbing. 832 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,680 And I realised that the way 833 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,320 that my friends were experiencing the movie 834 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,120 was completely different from how I was, 835 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:25,080 because I was able to hear how my father loves, you know, 836 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,280 because that movie is about a father and a daughter. 837 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:31,160 And to be able to hear how my father loves 838 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:32,840 and how he sees his children, 839 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:36,640 I think, is probably the greatest privilege of my life. 840 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,200 He worked really, really hard. 841 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:42,320 You'd catch him in the mornings, catch him at night. 842 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,280 But throughout the day, 843 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:46,840 every single day, he was working. 844 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,880 Yeah, I'm glad that he takes more breaks now, 845 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:55,880 not just for us to be able to spend time with him 846 00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:59,120 but also for himself. 847 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,200 - Because he hasn't been around in my life -- 848 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,520 and the life of his children -- 849 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:08,880 all too much, he's tried to really make up for it. 850 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,120 I think every parent comes with flaws, 851 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:17,760 but he's really tried to show us how he can love. 852 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,360 He doesn't always say it, but he shows us with his gestures. 853 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,080 He tells you with his eyes, "I understand. 854 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:27,840 I'm here. 855 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,040 I'm sorry I wasn't earlier, but I'm here now." 856 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:38,120 ♪♪ 857 00:42:39,240 --> 00:42:41,680 - Having conquered the world of superheroes 858 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:43,600 and science-fiction epics, 859 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:48,880 Hans was on the lookout for new collaborators and new projects. 860 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:50,640 He sought one out. 861 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:54,640 It was a world away from Hollywood blockbusters. 862 00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:56,600 I made a film called "Shame." 863 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:58,520 And there was a piece of music, there was a little temp music 864 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,040 we were using by Hans Zimmer. 865 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,520 It was close to him, but not exactly. 866 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:05,080 So we were just playing with it. 867 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,600 I thought it was great. I thought it was okay. 868 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:08,280 It's not that piece of music, obviously not. 869 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,440 But, yeah, it is obviously hugely inspired by it. 870 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,960 So I was in New Orleans, in a hotel room, 871 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:16,880 and I get this call early in the morning 872 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:18,240 and it's Hans Zimmer. 873 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:19,840 And I said, "Oh, shit, 874 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:21,160 this guy's gonna sue me or something. 875 00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:22,640 What's going on?" I immediately thought... 876 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:25,080 He goes, "No, no, no, no, no, no! 877 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,080 But why didn't you ask me to work with you?" 878 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:30,520 I thought, "Well, I never thought I could, you know." 879 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,200 He was like, you know, "You should ask me. 880 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:33,720 I'm interested in working with filmmakers, 881 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:35,240 great filmmakers like yourself." 882 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:36,400 I said, "Okay, well, I'm working on this film 883 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:37,760 called '12 Years a Slave.' 884 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:38,800 Are you interested in working on it?" 885 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:40,080 He goes, "Yeah, of course!" 886 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:41,080 "Okay, but you're pretty expensive." 887 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:42,520 "Don't worry about that. 888 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:43,560 Listen, I would love to work with you." 889 00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:44,960 And that was it. 890 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:47,520 That was the start of our relationship. 891 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:50,600 - Hans is lavish with what he brings you. 892 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,120 You know, "12 Years a Slave" is the really good example, 893 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,120 that we were there with empty pockets 894 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:57,320 and he was getting people on planes 895 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,520 and first-class musicians to come over from Germany 896 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:03,920 and start working with us and developing... 897 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,440 You know, we wanted a kind of slightly home-made feel 898 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,440 about some of the score in "12 Years a Slave," 899 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:09,840 particularly in that area 900 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,800 where he's trying to write using juice. 901 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:17,400 I loved working on it so much. 902 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:20,960 I thought it was important. 903 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,040 Nobody believed in it. 904 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,080 We had no budget. 905 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:29,920 It's very few of us, but I remember 906 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,040 Steve being in the room, and it's like... 907 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,960 The intimacy was vital. 908 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,280 - It was a very low-budget film, 909 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:45,160 and it was really Hans's generosity 910 00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:47,880 at bringing the right ingredient over 911 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:51,080 and getting him to work with us. 912 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,080 - I'm a short-order cook. 913 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,560 You know, I go out, I find... 914 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:56,960 I go shopping. 915 00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,280 Oh, good ingredients -- you know, 916 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:00,880 fresh tomatoes, special... 917 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:02,280 "Oh, look at those carrots! 918 00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,080 They look really good," you know? 919 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,680 And then I spend forever peeling and chopping, etcetera. 920 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:09,040 And because the ingredients are fresh 921 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,200 and the ingredients are delicious, 922 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,560 I'm hoping it's gonna be okay. 923 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:19,440 ♪♪ 924 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:21,680 - He's like a kid that doesn't want to do his homework, 925 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,280 and it's like, "Come on, what the fuck?" 926 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,880 But at the same time, he's working. 927 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,280 He's... It's working, he's working. 928 00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,880 Shit takes time. You know, anything takes time. You know? 929 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:34,960 ♪♪ 930 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:37,360 - This desire never to be pigeonholed 931 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:41,040 even led him to score Natural History films. 932 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:45,120 ♪♪ 933 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:47,720 Hans brought all his feature-film experience 934 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:48,960 to these projects. 935 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:56,040 ♪♪ 936 00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:03,640 ♪♪ 937 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,800 - The iguana and the snake scene. 938 00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,440 The best car chase nobody ever filmed. 939 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,120 ♪♪ 940 00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:17,240 I know every director is just immensely envious of it. 941 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:22,880 ♪♪ 942 00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:28,360 ♪♪ 943 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:30,280 - He's always changed. He changes and changes. 944 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:34,520 Yeah, he uses a sound for a while 945 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,280 as he kind of perfects it, and then there's this era 946 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:40,200 of that sound on films, and then he'll change again. 947 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,280 He gets bored with his own sound. 948 00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:45,440 ♪♪ 949 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,680 Hans's most recent work 950 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,160 not only earned him his second Oscar, 951 00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:51,720 but it might be the most radical 952 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,680 reinvention of his sound ever. 953 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:57,080 His brief was to create what the director, 954 00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:01,360 Denis Villeneuve, described as an alien score. 955 00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:05,680 [ "Dune" theme by Hans Zimmer playing ] 956 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:08,360 - The idea for doing that, it should be a score 957 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:13,400 that will use unknown instruments... 958 00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:16,320 that the sound would be something 959 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:19,200 that would come from another time, 960 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:21,120 from another place. 961 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:28,120 ♪♪ 962 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:30,440 It was also very important that the score would have 963 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:32,960 some kind of spiritual quality. 964 00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:38,800 [ Sings in foreign language ] 965 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:41,440 - It's one of the main theme of "Dune," 966 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,160 is that exploration of religion 967 00:47:44,240 --> 00:47:47,600 and the danger of mixing religion and politics together. 968 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:52,720 [ Sings in foreign language ] 969 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:54,640 It was really important for me 970 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:57,600 to find a great female voice... 971 00:47:57,680 --> 00:47:59,920 [ Yells indistinctly ] 972 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,120 ...and then frame her... 973 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:04,520 with all these instruments 974 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,480 which we built, which we synthesised, 975 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:12,240 which we drove people crazy that write software, you know. 976 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:16,880 "Can you build me a resonator that will turn Tina Guo's cello 977 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:18,840 into a Tibetan war horn?" 978 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,120 "What does a Tibetan war horn sound like?" 979 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:22,240 "I have no idea." 980 00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:29,080 ♪♪ 981 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,240 - As much as he has designed all those alien instruments, 982 00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:35,600 he decided that the instrument that will have survived 983 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:39,040 10,000 years in the future will be the bagpipes. 984 00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:43,280 He started to compose with the bagpipes, 985 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:48,760 which was, like, very fresh, surprising and interesting. 986 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,640 - And the Oscar goes to Hans Zimmer, "Dune." 987 00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:55,320 [ Cheers and applause ] 988 00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:57,840 - I don't think anybody's ever won an Oscar for a score 989 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:01,040 that blatantly is bagpipes, heavy-metal guitars 990 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:02,640 and a woman screaming at you. 991 00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:04,320 [ Screaming ] 992 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:09,160 ♪♪ 993 00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:12,640 - "What's going on here? Where are the strings? 994 00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:16,000 Where are the nice things?" 995 00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:18,040 It was just a provocative thing. 996 00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,880 [ Screaming continues ] 997 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:27,880 ♪♪ 998 00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,360 [ Cheers and applause ] 999 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:33,520 - Hans began his musical career in a band 1000 00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:36,760 touring working men's clubs. 1001 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:39,080 His life has turned full circle 1002 00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:42,880 as he takes his scores on the road. 1003 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:46,720 But these days, the venues have changed. 1004 00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:49,280 His enthusiasm has increased. 1005 00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:53,920 I think it's going out on tour that's responsible for that. 1006 00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:58,200 ♪♪ 1007 00:49:58,280 --> 00:49:59,640 He loves the people he works with. 1008 00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:02,400 He loves touring. It feeds him. 1009 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:04,840 It nurtures him. 1010 00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,120 When he's on a stage, there's nobody who quite 1011 00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,760 has that relationship with the audience. 1012 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:12,640 They come in to see a maestro and they end up seeing 1013 00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:14,600 somebody who feels like a friend by the end of the show. 1014 00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:18,800 ♪♪ 1015 00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:21,600 - I used to be so afraid of being on stage, 1016 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:24,320 but nowadays, it was just like dinner party 1017 00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:29,080 with 12,000 people, just having a chat. 1018 00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,080 - He's basically had a midlife crisis and become a rock star. 1019 00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:36,440 ♪♪ 1020 00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:40,320 [ Cheers and applause ] 1021 00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:42,520 I'm still learning something. 1022 00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:44,640 I just want to use all those things I've learned. 1023 00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:46,600 And I want to go and play with all these synthesisers, 1024 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,280 and I want to go and tell all these stories, 1025 00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:52,200 and I want to go and work with all these directors. 1026 00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:53,560 - He is not the norm, and that's, like, 1027 00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:54,840 why he has the career that he does. 1028 00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:56,280 Like, he doesn't want to do things 1029 00:50:56,360 --> 00:50:57,480 the way other people have done it, 1030 00:50:57,560 --> 00:50:59,560 and he thrives on it. 1031 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:00,920 You know, he loves it. 1032 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,480 ♪♪ 1033 00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:07,760 Things moved really fast. 1034 00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:11,200 Life isn't as long as you think it is. 1035 00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:12,680 You have a choice. 1036 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:14,480 You can go and try to live a playful life, 1037 00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:19,160 or you can go and live a life which excludes playfulness. 1038 00:51:19,240 --> 00:51:20,880 And it doesn't get you anywhere. 1039 00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:24,920 Playfulness gets you somewhere. 1040 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,320 It's fun, it's inspiring, just making a racket 1041 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:32,880 and hopefully have a bit of a laugh. 1042 00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:34,440 It's wonderful. 1043 00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:41,520 ♪♪ 1044 00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:49,320 ♪♪ 1045 00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:55,680 ♪♪ 1046 00:51:55,760 --> 00:52:02,080 ♪♪ 1047 00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:08,160 ♪♪