Hans Zimmer & Friends: Diamond in the Desert

Hello, everyone. - Hi-ya.

May I introduce you to the person

that actually got me into trouble?

- This is Johnny Marr. Hi-ya!

And I wouldn't have... I would've stayed at home.

I would've been a good boy writing film scores,

I would not have left my room.

I hadn't left my room in 40 years,

and he and Pharrell Williams

basically bullied me, badgered me!

Yeah.

Look at all these synths!

You're just jealous. You just want that one.

The reason I've gathered all these people together

is really quite simply this.

These are all people who are telling the story

of who we are as human beings,

directors, actors, musicians,

people who have a history beyond one movie,

or beyond one project together.

I'm fascinated at not having their opinion about my work,

but just having their opinion

about who are we as human beings,

why are we making culture,

why are we trying to make music, or act, or make a movie?

At the end of the day,

why are we all interested in being story tellers?

["A Time of Quiet Between the Storms" from "Dune 2"]

Good evening.

Good evening, Dubai!

What an honor it is for us to be here!

What a joy it is to play for you!

- It's so... - We love you, Hans!

Good, I'm glad.

The riot starts before I even started it.

No, seriously, we wanted to come here to this wonderful city,

and I realized what a true jewel you have here,

what an amazing city, what an amazing...

And I realized that...

I mean we've been travelling all over the world recently,

and I suddenly realized the future is here.

- It's so good to see you. - It's good to see you.

It's so good to see you.

I'm really happy to see you looking well.

So, I remember the fateful day.

I don't know if you guys had planned it,

but you and Pharrell sat me down on the couch,

sat a little too close on either side of me,

and started to give me a lecture about

how I needed to go and play live.

I mean, the whole reason I had a career in film

was because I didn't want to go and stand on a stage,

so I had to find a different way of...

- Yeah. - Making a living.

I remember afterwards saying how amusing it was for me

to see the guy who wrote "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now,"

with the guy who wrote "Happy."

- I know! - Literally, that was hilarious!

And you two getting on like a house on fire.

If it hadn't been for the two of you,

I would never have gone out on the road.

It was obvious to us that not only could you do it,

but you should do it,

but now, what we're talking now,

like almost ten years later,

look how many shows you've done.

I didn't know that you were going to be a complete road dog!

I know, I know, I didn't know either.

You're more of a road dog than I am!

I know, I mean I'm loving it.

I don't know whether you remember this,

I asked you to remember that you were an electronic musician.

You know, that's a really big... that's a huge point!

It was important that people hear you play a synthesizer.

Well, exactly.

Being a composer, a film composer,

brings a certain kind of association and an idea of,

you know, sophistication and orchestration,

but what I know of you is programming

and Jupiters and Moogs,

and I'm really glad that that's a big part of your show now,

that the electronic side of it is showing people

who you are and what you started off.

You know, the other thing I love is how international we are.

The whole thing, you know, like the orchestra.

The orchestra is from Odessa in Ukraine.

Yeah.

So they came over two weeks after the war started,

and we had to smuggle them out.

Not smuggle them out,

but it was very hard for them to cross the border.

I heard that, yeah.

So, there are some real world problems going on,

dramatic problems going on with the orchestra

and for three hours,

they don't let the audience know this,

and they play with a smile on their face with great passion,

and they can't get to their phone,

while their country is being destroyed.

Yeah.

So it's not just about the playing.

I think that's why the idea

that it's a family isn't so wrong.

I read a lot of stuff by young composers on the internet

and that they're "work for hire,"

and I never behaved like this even in films.

And I don't treat anybody else as a "work for hire"

- or a hired musician. - No.

No, I mean, sometimes it's not even how well you play,

it's more are you a good hang?

- You know? - That's right.

There you have it, because there's all this other stuff,

but essentially, at heart,

you've got the soul of a rock musician.

Yeah, exactly! Yeah.

- Hans! - Dude...

- Hello! - It's been so long!

Hello, my friend!

- How are you? - I'm good!

We haven't seen you in like four years.

- It's been such a long time. - It's a treat to see you!

I think that's complete bullshit!

I don't think it's been four years.

I think it's been...

Four years ago, we hadn't even written the song.

- Four years ago we had. - Wait, we had.

Four years ago, we had recorded...

- Okay, so it's been four years. - It's been four years.

But luckily we're all still youthful.

You look the same!

This might be the same outfit

I've seen you in it before. You look great!

Look, the reason I wanted to have you

be part of this is because,

the more I started working on

this little documentary or concert film,

the more I realized I actually wanted to make it

about what it's like to be an artist, or what we do.

I loved "Barbie," by the way.

- Oh, thanks. - I truly loved it.

That was a real treat.

That was, you know, an experience that I felt like

we were better equipped for having worked with you.

I think that that was like, you know,

being guided through the Bond experience with you

and learning so much from you,

meant that that experience was like,

"We can implement all of this stuff that we learned."

- Yeah, 100%. - It was directly applicable.

We would never have been able to make that.

To me it was such an example

of how to collaborate in the most effective way.

That was one of the biggest things

I feel like I got from you,

because I was also 17 and new and was very...

just things were exploding around me.

And I was just trying to figure it out.

I think it was hard to know how I was supposed to act

most of the time,

and I think that your being so welcoming to us

and also just being such a good collaborator

was really something that I think all of us learned from,

but I was really at an age where I'm really glad

to have had that experience with you

because I feel like I then took that

and was very inspired by it in my career.

And you didn't make us feel like you felt

like you knew everything about everything

and you're the only one that's right.

- But I know nothing. - That's amazing!