Hans Zimmer, 59, has made his way from a childhood in a village close to Frankfurt right into Hollywood's top league.
Today, he is considered one of the most in-demand, innovative and, with over 150 films behind him, most productive composers in the business.
Ahead of this year's Academy Awards, Zimmer talks to SBS German about his roots, the art of composing, his upcoming Australia tour and a stage fright you would not expect from one of the cinema's greatest.
Listen to Hans Zimmer's full interview (in English or German):
Zimmer's work begins a long time before the filming, with his ideas being based on a story the movie's director provides him with.
"The process is: I know what I want to tell and I have no idea how to tell it," Zimmer told SBS German.
"I come in where the words, the images and the acting aren't enough. I have to figure out how to paraphrase it, how to be the metaphor, how to be the subtext."
Zimmer says his work goes beyond the obvious things that people see on the screens.
He mentions Lion King, "which is a children's movie, but I was writing about the death of my father."
Zimmer's father passed away when he was only six years of age.
"On the other hand Gladiator, which is a very elegant and beautiful movie, is full of musical jokes," he says. "I went ok.. I am going to write some fake Wagner."
Mixing electronic sounds with classical orchestras
Since the 1980s, the German has composed music for more than 150 movies.
His works include world-famous blockbusters such as The Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception and Interstellar.
Zimmer's work is known for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. His scores, like the one of the quirky Pirates saga, are widely famous and recognizable:
Hans Zimmer calls composing his true passion, "this in my one and only life."
"You can either grow up or become a musician."
Surprisingly, he finds it harder and harder to come up with new ideas.
"It's a very collaborative process," explains Zimmer. "But there comes the moment when we are all alone."
"I sit there with a blank page in front of me. And weirdly after having done so many movies the page seems to get blanker, it seems harder to come up with the next new idea that we've never done before."
Stages of frustration and writers-block are part of the business, according to Zimmer, including failure: "They truly encourage you to experiment. And the other good thing about film is they know that occasionally you have to fail. They encourage failure so you can move forward in your art."
Hans Zimmer has won four Grammy Awards, three Classical BRIT Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award, for his work on the Lion King, for Best Original Score in 1994.
In 2010, he received the 2426th star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
A life at the spotlight
Although being a frequent guest on the Red Carpet, Zimmer doesn´t consider himself a fan of the spotlight: "I have terrible stage freight and a big mouth, I won't censor myself."
After having won an Academy Award in 1994, he says he would love to stay away from the big stages nowadays.
"I have disqualified myself from the Oscars," says Zimmer. "As musicians we try to support each other and the Oscar nominations put a weird thing into the mix."
"I'd rather not be part of the competition, I'd rather just go back to pure music-making and pure storytelling."
"The greatest reward is making a movie and that I am still being asked to write scores and one way or another I am still relevant.”
Touring Australia
For the first time, Hans Zimmer will take the best that came out of his studio throughout the decades into big live shows, taking place in four Australian cities this May:
2 May, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
4 May, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
6 May, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
10 May, Perth Arena
"You can expect to see a guy walk on to stage in an absolutely state of terror, then you see all the musicians, they are my brothers and sisters.”
Find out more about his tour here.
