Saturday Night at the Movies with Tommy Pearson, 7 February 2015, 5pm. In the third of his exclusive interviews with the world’s greatest film composers, Tommy Pearson speaks to the genius behind The Lion King, Gladiator and Interstellar.

This week’s film composer under the spotlight is one of the leaders of the pack, Hans Zimmer.  The multi-award winner has written the music for a wide variety of films including Gladiator, Inception and The Lion King – and he’s currently in the running for a BAFTA and an Oscar for his music for Interstellar. 

Hans Zimmer: ‘Winning an Oscar is a dangerous experience’

Zimmer joins Tommy to share the stories behind the scores, and to discuss his career highlights so far. 

Just as Hollywood’s composers of the 1950s brought jazz into the vocabulary of film music, Hans Zimmer has successfully blended conventional orchestral and choral forces with rock elements – including synthesisers and electronic drums – to create a thrilling contemporary sound. The composer won his first Oscar for Disney’s The Lion King (1994), in which he seamlessly blended large orchestral forces with the African choral music of Lebo M and Elton John’s songs. His collaboration with Lisa Gerrard on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) gave Zimmer a worldwide, best-selling album. His partnership with Scott – and more recently Christopher Nolan – continues the tradition in which certain directors and composers enjoy a particularly successful working collaboration.