With just a few notes, Hans Zimmer can transport you back to your childhood (Pirates of the Caribbean,The Lion King) or forward to a dystopian future (Dune, The Dark Knight). Sometimes his work twists the knife (Interstellar, No Time to Die). Other times it lifts your spirits (Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated). After a 40-year career, the two-time Academy Award–winning German composer now steps into the spotlight in a new film dedicated to the study of his scores, featuring conversations with everyone from Denis Villeneuve and Timothée Chalamet to Billie Eilish and Zendaya. According to Christopher Nolan, expect “proper Zimmer madness.” To celebrate the release of Diamond in the Desert, Zimmer shares his key components to the good life. —Carolina de Armas
Airline: Emirates.
Airport: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.
Alibi: “The dog did it.”
Bag: Rimowa.
Bedtime: No bedtime.
Car: BMW.
Cocktail: A Bellini—in Capri.
Cocktail appetizer: Caviar.
Date: My partner.
Dinner, weekday: Pasta.
Dinner, weekend: Pasta.
Drive: Through the English countryside in the spring.
Escape: I have a place, but if I told you, then everyone would come.
Excuse: “The dog did it.”
Family: The ones across the fence.
Friend: Pharrell Williams.
Hideaway: If I told you my perfect hideaway, it wouldn’t be a hideaway.
