Hans Zimmer praises Sir David Attenborough: He makes you fall in love

The Oscar-winning composer has worked alongside the veteran broadcaster and environmentalist on a number of projects.
Composer Hans Zimmer (Doug Peters/PA)
PA Wire
Naomi Clarke20 October 2022
The Weekender

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Hans Zimmer has praised the work of Sir David Attenborough, saying he “makes you fall in love” with the world around you.

The Oscar-winning composer, 65, has worked alongside the veteran broadcaster and environmentalist, 96, on a number of projects including Frozen Planet II, Planet Earth II and Seven Worlds, One Planet.

Reflecting on Sir David’s style, Zimmer told The Jonathan Ross Show: “He’s not cajoling, he’s not crusading, he’s just showing you.

“He makes you fall in love and like all good love stories, all good love affairs, to treat them mindfully with a little respect.

“As much as I love Interstellar and all that stuff, I don’t want to live on Mars, I want to stay here.”

One of the most famous scenes from Planet Earth II was a den of snakes hunting iguanas, which was narrated by Sir David and the dramatic music composed by Zimmer.

Zimmer, who has worked alongside a host of Hollywood’s best directors including Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and Steve McQueen, said: “Every director I know who’s ever done a car chase or action scene wishes he could have done that scene.”

The German composer also revealed that director Nolan feared people would not understand the layers behind the 2010 film Inception which they worked on together.

Zimmer recalled advising him: “In a funny way it doesn’t quite matter if you don’t understand the thing intellectually, just come along for the ride.”

Platinum JubileeHans Zimmer (Jacob King/PA) tion]

The composer has composed music for a plethora of films including The Lion King, Gladiator, the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar and Dunkirk.

He has won two Oscars during his career, the first for his work on The Lion King and later for Dune in 2022.

Zimmer also tours with bands and orchestras across the world and admitted he has started calling out people who arrive late for the expensive front row seats.

He said: “We basically stop and look at them. And after a while, 12,000 people are looking.

“The best one was a girl sitting in the front row texting, we literally stopped. The audience is looking, she’s texting away, she doesn’t realise the music has stopped.

“Then she looks around and 12,000 people are looking. She’s dying, she had the ticket to meet the artist afterwards. Awkward.”

Also among the guests who will feature alongside him on The Jonathan Ross Show are model and businesswoman Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, former athlete Dame Kelly Holmes and comedians Sara Pascoe and Chris McCausland.

Arctic Monkeys will also perform at the end of the show.

The Jonathan Ross Who airs on Saturday at 10pm on ITV and ITV Hub.

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