Hans Zimmer speaks with Lesley Stahl about scoring movies with a computer and piano keyboard.
Music in the background of a movie is often crucial to how we experience the film. In some cases, it can become as memorable as the movie itself. Think of the screaming violins in « Psycho » or the haunting tuba in « Jaws » – the latter written by John Williams – who for more than a generation was Hollywood’s leading composer.
But over the years as directors and studios began to look for edgier scores, they have increasingly turned to a German-born composer named Hans Zimmer. If you’ve been to the movies in the past 40 years, you’ve heard a Hans Zimmer score.
Action, drama, comedy, romance, blockbusters – he’s done them all.
Including the 1994 film, « The Lion King, » for which he won an Oscar. With its opening Zulu chant, sung by Lebo M., a South African musician who was working at a car wash in Los Angeles when Hans enlisted him.
Hans Zimmer: That’s how that opening song came about, literally. Microphone in the room, not in a booth or anything like this.
Hans told the executives at Disney that he wanted to say right off the bat this is not a typical Disney movie; it’s a father-son story that takes place in Africa.
Hans Zimmer: And they said, « Exactly. That’s good. Do– do what– do what you do. »
He showed us what he does at his studio in Los Angeles, where he composes his scores on this keyboard and computer. For example, the music for the first « Pirates of the Caribbean » movie.
Hans Zimmer: So, if you have « Pirates, » which is basically this sort of a thing, there’s a jauntiness, right–
Lesley Stahl: Yeah.
Hans Zimmer: And it’s– The music is really big. And he’s in a little rowboat with a little sail, and you hear this huge orchestra. Because that’s the music he hears in the– in his head, because he’s the greatest pirate that has ever lived in his imagination. So when you listen to the Joker [from « The Dark Knight »], he’s quite the opposite. It’s like, you know, a bow on a bow and arrow. And you stretch it.
Lesley Stahl: Ooh. Oh my god.
Hans Zimmer: And it’s– it’s not pretty.
Lesley Stahl: It’s very emotional inducing. I can’t even express why. I wouldn’t know– be able to put words to it. But—
Hans Zimmer: That’s the idea. At my best, words will fail you because I’m using my own language.
Since the 1980s, Hans Zimmer’s language in his scores, like last year’s biggest hit, « Top Gun: Maverick, » has defined not just the characters but has helped tell the stories of chest-thumping action films and sci-fi epics. Like « Dune, » which he won an Oscar for in 2022, in which he used juddering drums and electronic synthesizers.
Lesley Stahl: So you’ve been called a maverick. You’ve been called a visionary. How would you describe yourself?
Hans Zimmer: I would describe myself as somebody who’s deeply in love with music, and deeply in love with movies, and playful. I love to play, like, as any musician does, as in any language. It says, you know, you play music.
His choices have been unpredictable. For every « Man of Steel, » there’s a « Kung Fu Panda » and a « Sherlock Holmes, » in which he used a broken piano and banjos for the 19th-century detective turned quirky action hero.
Lesley Stahl: How important is the instrument to getting what you want?
Hans Zimmer: Vastly important. I mean, because instruments come with baggage. You know, for instance, the definition of a gentleman is somebody who knows how to play the banjo but refrains from doing so.
Lesley Stahl: Whoa. (LAUGH)
Hans Zimmer: Why that banjo worked, right? Because it was funny.
He has used banjos, bagpipes, buzzing electronics. And this, a good old-fashioned orchestra.
Think about the composer of « The Dark Knight » writing something this delicate.
Hans Zimmer: Really good.
