Hans Zimmer on ‘cut-throat’ Hollywood, Brexit ‘bureaucracy’ and protecting the planet

Prolific film composer Hans Zimmer has spoken of his Brexit frustrations, the “grim” state of the world and says he fears the consequences of what’s happening in Number 10 “are going to be dreadful”.

The 12-time Oscar nominee – who is the subject of a new BBC documentary, Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel – told Sky News: “The world is really grim so we need music, we need the arts, more than we ever did.”

Born in Germany, Zimmer was 14 when he moved to England. Now one of the most sought-after men in Hollywood, having produced hundreds of film scores during his 40-year career, he now divides his time between LA and London.

“There are so many wonderful, horrible things you can say about Hollywood, you know, and they are all true,” he teases, “cut-throat is like the best thing you can say… but the thing is, it does commission orchestral music on an hourly basis.

“If the symphony orchestras go, such a large chunk of our culture would go,” he explains before letting out a big sigh.

“I mean, how political do we want to get? Brexit was sort of a surprise to me as a foreigner, especially because, you know, I kept bringing movies back to England and employing orchestras all the time.

Zimmer says he experienced the “bureaucracy” first hand as he toured across Europe for a series of live performances of his work earlier this year.

“My orchestra came from Odessa, Ukraine. The war had started so we only managed to get 10 people out and it was really difficult. But for all of Europe – no problem. Going across borders everybody was welcoming them with open arms….

“[then] Trying to get across the Channel it was a different thing. I had to leave seven behind. They just couldn’t get visas.

“They weren’t going to stay here,” Zimmer explains incredulously, “they didn’t want to!”

As a country, for Zimmer, Britain seems to have lost sight of the importance of what the arts can offer.

“If you’re too literal about these things, you know, you are going to come up with a disaster of just scrapping the arts. Yes, the symphony orchestra is a very, very expensive hobby but if you think about what it means to humanity, to human culture… if the symphony orchestras go, such a large chunk of our culture would go.

“The other thing that’s very important to me, is the operative word in music is ‘play’,” he explains.

Referring to Liz Truss, he teases: “If people were just a little bit more playful, they might stay a little longer as premier of the United Kingdom, no never mind, I didn’t mean to say that.

“I mean, either we weep or let’s be a little bit playful about the whole thing because the consequences are going to be dreadful,” he adds.

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While Zimmer has written scores for movie classics like the Lion King, Gladiator, even The Dark Knight, he’s also written music for the natural world, working on a number of projects with veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, including Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II.

“That’s actually the most important work I’m doing because, I don’t know if you noticed, it was quite warm this summer.

“We desperately need a voice in this world that speaks to us about how we are just a small part of this planet, and that maybe – despite of what we did in Interstellar – it might not be such a good idea to leave this planet, it might be better to be a little bit more mindful about who we share this planet with.”

Hans Zimmer – Hollywood Rebel is available now on BBC iPlayer.