Angels and Demons

Above the Line
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Music

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Composer

Hans Zimmer

Bio

HANS ZIMMER has scored over 100 films, grossing more than 13 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. He has been honored with an Academy Award®, two Golden Globes, and three Grammys. In 2003, ASCAP presented him the prestigious Henry Mancini award for Lifetime Achievement for his impressive and influential body of work. Zimmer’s interest in music began early, and after a move from Germany to the U.K., would lead to playing with and producing various bands, including The Buggles, whose “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to ever appear on MTV. But the world of film music was what Zimmer really wanted to be involved with. Not long after meeting established film composer Stanley Myers, the two founded the London-based Lillie Yard Recording Studios together, collaborating on such films as My Beautiful Laundrette. It was Zimmer’s solo work in 1988’s A World Apart, however, that gained the attention of director Barry Levinson, who then asked Zimmer to score Rain Man, Zimmer’s first American film. Levinson’s instinct was right – the score’s Oscar® nomination that followed would be the first of seven. With Zimmer’s subsequent move to Hollywood, he expanded the range of genres he explored, and his first venture into the world of animation, 1994’s The Lion King, brought Zimmer the Oscar®. Zimmer’s career has been marked by a unique ability to adeptly move between genres – between smaller films and comedies (such as Driving Miss Daisy, Green Card, True Romance, As Good As It Gets, and Something’s Gotta Give) and big blockbusters (including Crimson Tide, Mission: Impossible 2, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, The Last Samurai, The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, Batman Begins, and The Da Vinci Code). In the middle of Zimmer’s unparalleled pace of taking on new projects, his ability to innovate, to re-invent genres is what is perhaps most striking. The film scores Zimmer has done this for speak for themselves, whether it has been for drama in Rain Man, action in Ridley Scott’s Black Rain, historical in Gladiator, war in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, or most recently the dark comic book world of The Dark Knight. The nine Golden Globe nominations Zimmer has earned in the process haven’t slowed down his pace. In 2008 Zimmer scored six films, including Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 2, Frost / Nixon, and The Dark Knight. “ACADEMY AWARD®” and “OSCAR®” are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”