Music Doesn’t Make A Movie… Hans Zimmer’s Music Makes A Movie

"It depends entirely on the story," the 59-year-old says down the phone from his LA office. "Why are you doing what you're doing? You're doing it because hopefully you get told a different story every day. That keeps you fresh." He recalls three years ago when rapper Pharrell Williams (one of the many big names he nonchalantly drops into conversation) came to him with the idea of this year's Academy Award-nominated film, Hidden Figures. "He said, 'I've got this idea. I've heard this story. It's a period piece, it's African American, it's three women and it's about mathematics. What do you think?' And I said, 'Hang on that sounds about the most uncommercial proposition ever!' He goes, 'Yeah but it's NASA and it's space.' And I go, 'Oh yeah, that's great!' So that becomes exciting. Or Steve McQueen coming over and showing me 12 Years A Slave without any warning at 9am in the morning. There wasn't a lot he had to say after that."

Late last year, the German-born musician launched his very first online masterclass, in which he claims despite his continued success, he has no idea what kind of score he can write for a film without knowing what the story is.

"[2014 sci-fi] Interstellar is a good example," he says, before quickly correcting himself,  "Actually, no. Interstellar is a terrible example, because [director Chris Nolan] didn't tell me the story! We ran into each other and he said if he were to write one page of something and wouldn't tell me what the movie is about, but just write one page, would I write something that inspired me from this one page. So I did that... Chris came over on a Sunday night and I played him this really fragile little piece and he said, 'Yeah, that's pretty good.' And then he said, 'I suppose I should make the movie now.' And I said, 'So what is the movie?' and he started talking about space and epic stuff and I'm going, 'I just wrote you this little fragile thing.' And he said, 'Yeah but now I know where the heart of the movie is.'" Such is the power of Hans Zimmer's work.

Whether you're aware of it or not, you would have heard Zimmer's work in at least one of your favourite movies. Maybe it was in one of the films in Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. Maybe it was The Lion King. Or Gladiator. Or perhaps it was even in The Holiday (ya know, the rom-com starring Jack Black and Kate Winslet). But with a catalogue as extensive as his, Zimmer says it is near-impossible to pick out a personal highlight.

"The ones that are close to my heart are weirdly to do with my kids," he explains. "The Lion King was written for my oldest daughter, Interstellar was written for my son. I have four kids. One of the things I loved was taking them to see the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies." Zimmer says what ultimately does stay with you is the experience.

"I'll give you an Australian [example]," he begins on what we presume is a tale from his last local visit while working on Mission: Impossible 2.

"The flights from LA arrive in Sydney at some ungodly hour, like really early. So, I was on the Fox's lot, I think, at 7am and nobody else was there and I thought I would just hang out and wait until everybody shows up, when suddenly I got a tune in my head. It was a really good tune and luckily I knew people in Sydney. So I phoned them and got them out of bed and said, 'Listen, I've got this tune and I have to record it now, otherwise it'll be gone!' I dragged some mates out of bed, recorded the tune. By the time I got back to the lot for the meeting at 10am, I actually had a theme. It's stuff like that that you remember."

Zimmer will make his long-awaited return to Australia this month in support of his Hans Zimmer Revealed tour, where he will perform arena concerts around the country for the very first time.

"As usual, I'm winging it a bit," he says casually. "Like everything I do, there's a bit of anarchy involved. A bit of bad behaviour goes into the set list as well."