Hans Zimmer has contributed the music to some of the most successful Hollywood films – and is now considered a legend. However, the German keeps his two Oscars well under wraps, he now reveals. This also has to do with the poor processing of the coveted trophies.
Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer keeps his two Oscars in an unusual place. They are “in the bedroom, under the closet, where you can’t see them,” said the 65-year-old in an interview with “Spiegel”. The reason is the “magical attraction” of the Oscars: “Anyone who has one in front of them has to touch it. But the Oscar is cheaply made, the gold layer on it doesn’t last.”
When Zimmer’s first Oscar, which he received in 1995 for “The Lion King”, “a whole lot of it peeled off”. Zimmer received his second Oscar in March for the music to the film “Dune”. That night he was sitting in a hotel bar in Amsterdam, surrounded by Ukrainian orchestra musicians who will accompany him on his concert tour this year and next. “They worried about their families back home. I was ashamed of them,” said Zimmer. “For giving my industry a chance to forget everything that’s going on in the world for one night.” He doesn’t say that Hollywood shouldn’t celebrate itself: “But maybe not in such a stupid way. Have you ever heard the speeches?”
Zimmer also struggles with the development of the industry. “Hollywood has become corporate,” Zimmer said. “Warner Brothers was founded four years ago by telecommunications service provider AT
Zimmer still struggles with his old homeland of Germany. He first had to go to England before someone recognized his talent. “The prophet in his own country and so on and so forth, you know that.” He was amazed “that Germany, which was once the country of poets and musicians, can be so stubborn,” says Zimmer. “You must have gone to college and show off all the stuff you learned there.” Only then will it be considered that a composer could also write something like “crime scene” music.
He himself did not complete any academic musical training. “In England and the USA nobody has ever asked me if I studied music.” Zimmer was born the son of an entrepreneur. The father died of a heart attack when he was six years old. After that it became difficult financially. The fear of losing everything in one fell swoop characterizes Zimmer to this day. “This thought is there every day. Something like that never lets you go. But now I know: If everything should blow up, the music will stay in my head. As long as nobody turns it off, everything’s okay.”
