The Rock is a 1996 action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was directed by Michael Bay, director of Bad Boys, and stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of Top Gun and Crimson Tide, and released through Hollywood Pictures. The film is dedicated to Simpson,^[2] who died five months before its release. This was the first film on which Cage and Bruckheimer worked together.

Plot[link]

A group of rogue Force Recon Marines led by disenchanted Brigadier General Frank Hummel (Harris) seize a stockpile of deadly VX gas–armed rockets from a heavily guarded military bunker, reluctantly leaving one of their men to die in the process, when a bead of the gas falls and breaks. The next day, Hummel and his men, along with more renegade Marines (Captains Frye and Darrow who have never previously served under Hummel) seize control of Alcatraz during a guided tour and take 81 tourists hostage in the prison cells. Hummel threatens to launch the stolen rockets against the population of San Francisco unless the government pays ransom and reparations to the families of Recon Marines, (using money the US earned via illegal weapons sales) who died on illegal, clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not honored.

The Pentagon and FBI develop a plan to retake the island with a Navy SEAL Team, enlisting the bureau's top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), who initially thinks he's consulting the team, but soon learns that he has to accompany the SEALs due to his specialisation in chemical warfare. Goodspeed's confidence, already shaky as he received only minimal training in combat, is further tested when his fiancee Carla reveals that she is pregnant.

Recognizing that any surface approach will be seen by Hummel's men, FBI Director James Womack (John Spencer) is forced to turn to federal prisoner John Mason (Connery), a former MI6 Agent and SAS Captain who has been illegally detained for decades by Womack and his predecessors. Mason is the only Alcatraz inmate ever to escape through the prison's uncharted tunnels, doing so in 1963, one year after imprisonment.

Although Goodspeed manages to convince Mason to cooperate with the FBI in return for a pardon from the US Attorney General, Womack reneges on the deal. While in custody under the supervison of Special Agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe), Mason manages to escape to see his estranged daughter Jade (Claire Forlani), who is the only proof that he exists. Goodspeed arrives and reveals to Mason's daughter that he is aiding the FBI. Womack initially only wants Mason to consult the SEALs, as he confides to Agent Paxton that he does not want Mason loose, but the FBI have no choice but to let Mason accompany the SEALs since he has committed the maps to memory.

The team infiltrates Alcatraz, through the underground tunnels with Mason's guidance. The SEALs however are surrounded and gunned down by Hummel's marines in a shower room after SEAL Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn) refuses to surrender (the fight is provoked by Marine Captains Frye and Darrow, later revealed to be following Hummel only for the money instead of honor), leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Womack plans to abort the mission, but Paxton agrees to let them them continue saying that Mason and Goodspeed are their last hope. Mason attempts to leave the prison, but Goodspeed manages to convince him to help him defuse the rockets, since Mason's daughter is at risk from the rockets. Using Mason's knowledge of the prison, they quietly eliminate several small teams of marines and disable 12 of the 15 rockets, until Hummel threatens over the loudspeaker to execute a hostage if the remaining "Navy SEALs" do not surrender and return the guidance chips from the rockets. Only Mason surrenders to Hummel, trying to buy Goodspeed some time. Though Goodspeed manages to disable another rocket, the Marines capture him shortly thereafter. With the incursion team lost, the military readies a backup plan: an air strike by F/A-18's with Thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas but kill everyone on the island including the hostages.

As Mason uses his unique experience to escape from their cells, he reveals why he was held there for so many years — for stealing a microfilm of the United States' most closely guarded secrets, including the Roswell UFO incident and the John F. Kennedy assassination (Womack revealed this to Paxton, earlier). Mason states he didn't return it, because he knew the FBI would "suicide" him, if he did. While Goodspeed and Mason search for the final two rockets, Hummel fires one of them but changes the coordinates at the last second causing the rocket to crash harmlessly out to sea. Facing Captains Frye and Darrow's (Gregory Sporleder and Tony Todd) frustration, Hummel explains that their bluff failed and that he refuses to harm innocent civilians. He orders them to exit Alcatraz with a few hostages and the remaining VX rockets to cover their retreat, while he'll stay, personally assuming blame. Realizing that they will not be paid their $1 million apiece, Frye and Darrow, along with Sergeant Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine), decide mutiny against Hummel and his second-in-command, Major Tom Baxter (David Morse). With Mason and Goodspeed watching from afar, Crisp attempts to secure Hummel on Darrows orders, but fails as the General is able to hold the NCO at gunpoint. When Baxter is asked to take a side, he appears to side with Frye, Darrow and Crisp. The Major says what a privilege it was serving with Hummel, then fires at the three rogues. In the ensuring firefight, Crisp is killed by Hummel but Baxter is killed while Hummel is fatally wounded and pulled away by Mason. Darrow and Fyre proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. With his last breath, Hummel tells Goodspeed the location of the last rocket. As the jets approach, Darrow is killed when Goodspeed fires the last disarmed rocket into him, launching the Marine outside where he falls and is impaled on a fencepost. Goodspeed stows the last gas pearls from the warhead and takes a loose one, but is then attacked by Frye who begins to strangle Goodspeed to death. Using the VX to defend himself, Goodspeed shoves the gas pearl into Frye's mouth and gives him an uppercut to the jaw, breaking the pearl and exposing both of them to the gas. Goodspeed injects himself in the heart with atropine as Frye dies from the VX gas. Goodspeed then lights green flares to signal that the threat is over, but only after one of the pilots fires, sending Goodspeed flying into the sea. The early detonation hits the back of the island and harms no one else.

Mason reappears to pull the unconscious Goodspeed to shore. When he recovers, Goodspeed tells Mason that Womack tore up his pardon, which Mason expected. When radioed, Goodspeed states that Mason is dead. Goodspeed tells Mason to go to his hotel room, take a change of clothes and $200 he stashed and run. Mason thanks Goodspeed, and gives him a note that holds the location of where he had stashed the microfilm. When the FBI arrives, Goodspeed is asked about Mason and says the man was "vaporized," though Paxton silently suspects otherwise (he, too, sympathizes with the former agent).

Goodspeed and his pregnant bride Carla (Vanessa Marcil) visit Fort Walton, Kansas, recovering the microfilm with a half-century of state secrets, including who actually killed John F. Kennedy.

Cast[link]

• Sean Connery as Captain John Patrick Mason, former SAS operative
• Nicolas Cage as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, FBI Special Agent
• Ed Harris as Brigadier General Francis X. (Frank) Hummel, USMC Force Recon
• John Spencer as FBI Director James Womack
• William Forsythe as FBI Special Agent Ernest Paxton
• David Morse as Major Tom Baxter, USMC Force Recon
• John C. McGinley as Marine Captain Hendrix, USMC Force Recon
• Tony Todd as Captain Darrow, USMC Force Recon
• Gregory Sporleder as Captain Frye, USMC Force Recon
• Bokeem Woodbine as Sergeant Crisp, USMC Force Recon
• Jim Maniaci as Private Scarpetti, USMC Force Recon
• Greg Collins as Private Gamble, USMC Force Recon
• Steve Harris as Private McCoy, USMC Force Recon
• Brendan Kelly as Private Cox, USMC Force Recon
• Michael Biehn as Commander Anderson, USN SEAL
• Danny Nucci as Lieutenant Shephard, USN SEAL
• Vanessa Marcil as Carla Pestalozzi
• Claire Forlani as Jade Angelou
• Anthony Clark as Paul, the hotel barber
• Todd Louiso as Marvin Isherwood
• Sam Whipple as Larry Henderson
• David Bowe as Dr. Ling
• John Laughlin as General Peterson
• Jim Caviezel as F/A-18 Pilot

Actors Xander Berkeley, Raymond Cruz and Philip Baker Hall make uncredited appearances in the film

Box office[link]

Produced at a budget of US $75,000,000, the movie was a smash hit, grossing a total of $134,069,511 domestically and $200,993,110 internationally, for a worldwide total of $335,062,621.^[3] Of the year 1996, it was the 7th highest home-grossing film in the US, and the 4th highest US film worldwide.^[4]

Production[link]

Quentin Tarantino was an uncredited screenwriter on The Rock.^[1] LA-based British screenwriting team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were brought in at Connery's request to rewrite his lines, but ended up altering much of the film's dialogue. It was Nicolas Cage's idea that his character would not swear; his euphemisms include "gee whiz." Bay had worked closely with Ed Harris to develop his character as concretely as possible, later adding a sympathetic edge to Hummel.

There were tensions during shooting between director Michael Bay and the Walt Disney Company executives who were supervising the production. On the commentary track for the Criterion Collection DVD, Bay recalls a time when he was preparing to leave the set for a meeting with the executives when he was approached by Sean Connery in golfing attire. Connery, who also produced the film, asked Bay where he was going, and when Bay explained he had a meeting with the executives, Connery asked if he could accompany him. Bay complied and when he arrived in the conference room, the executives' jaws dropped when they saw Connery appear behind him. According to Bay, Connery then stood up for Bay and insisted that he was doing a good job and should be left alone.^{[citation needed]}

The scene in which FBI director Womack is thrown off the balcony was filmed on location at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The filming led to numerous calls to the hotel by people who saw a man dangling from the balcony.^[5]

Censorship[link]

In the original UK DVD release, the scene in which Connery throws a knife through a sentry's throat and says "you must never hesitate" to Cage was cut, although this scene was shown on British television.^[6] Consequently, a later scene in which Connery says to Cage, "I'm rather glad you didn't hesitate too long" lost its impact on viewers who had not seen the first scene. Other cuts included the reduction of multiple gunshot impacts into Gamble's feet in the morgue down to a single hit; a close-up of his screaming face as the air conditioner falls onto him; a sound cut to Mason snapping a Marine's neck and two bloody gunshot wounds (to Hummel and Baxter), both near the end of the film.^[6]

When the film premiered on German television (RTL), it was shown in two versions: the first version (starting at 8:15 pm) had most of its violence and gore cut, going so far as to suggest that some of the terrorists survived. The second version started at 1 am, and left all scenes intact. This scheme was repeated for the second viewing.

The film also received some censorship of profanity in its Asian releases; the terms "fuck" and "Goddamn" are normally omitted or substituted. For instance, whenever Star Movies (a popular Asian movie channel) plays the film, Connery's line in which he says to Cage "winners go home and fuck the prom queen" is replaced with "winners go home and date the prom queen", while in another scene where Connery's character is described as a "son of a bitch" the line is replaced with "son of a Brit" in the censored cut.

Awards and recognition[link]

The Rock won a number of minor awards, including 'Best On-Screen Duo' for Connery and Cage at the MTV Movie Awards. It also was nominated for the Best Sound (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Keith A. Wester).^[7] It currently holds a "fresh" rating (67%) on Rotten Tomatoes based on 48 reviews,^[8] making it Michael Bay's highest rated film and his only film labeled as "fresh".

The film was selected for a limited edition DVD release by the Criterion Collection, a distributor of primarily arthouse films it categorizes as "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest". In an essay supporting the selection of The Rock, Roger Ebert, who was strongly critical of most of Bay's later films, gave the film a 3 1/2 out of four stars, calling it "an action picture that rises to the top of the genre because of a literate, witty screenplay and skilled craftsmanship in the direction and special effects."^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Rock (film)

• The Rock at the Internet Movie Database
• The Rock at AllRovi
• The Rock at Box Office Mojo
• The Rock at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Rock at Metacritic
• Criterion Collection essay by Roger Ebert

Look up Rock, The Rock, rock music, or rock in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Rock usually refers to:

• Rock (geology), naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloid
• Rock music, form of popular music

It can also refer to:

Geology[link]

• Rock (geology), naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids
• Rock salt or halite, mineral form of sodium chloride

People[link]

• Rock (name), several people

Fictional characters[link]

• Rock (comics), a fictional character in the DC Comics universe
• Rock (manga character), a recurrent major character in most of Osamu Tezuka's manga series
• Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (ROCK), from the Styx rock opera Kilroy was here - see Mr. Roboto

Music[link]

• Rock music, form of popular music
• Rocks (album), by Aerosmith
• Rocks (Harem Scarem album), 2001
• "The Rock" instrumental song by The Who from Quadrophenia
• "Rocks" (song), by Primal Scream
• "Rock", one of the tracks on "Soft/Rock", a single by Lemon Jelly
• Rock (Casting Pearls EP), by Casting Pearls
• The Rock (Rachmaninoff), an orchestral composition
• The Rock (The Frankie Miller Band album), the third album from The Frankie Miller Band
• The Rock (John Entwistle album), the sixth solo album by John Entwistle, bassist for The Who
• The Rock (Tracy Lawrence album), the tenth studio album by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence
• The Rocks (band), a former UK indie rock band
• "The Rock", a song by Atomic Rooste from In Hearing of Atomic Rooster

Entertainment[link]

• Another term for uprock, a form of street dance
• The Rock (film), 1996 film starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage directed by Michael Bay
• The Rock (play), T.S. Eliot's 1934 pageant play

Places[link]

Australia[link]

• The Rocks, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia
• The Rock, New South Wales, a town in southern New South Wales

Canada[link]

• The Rocks or Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick, a coastal formation
• Newfoundland (island), Canada

United Kingdom[link]

• Rock, Cornwall, village in Cornwall, England
• Rock, Northumberland, village in Northumberland, England
• Rock, West Sussex
• Rock, Worcestershire, village in Worcestershire, England
• Lewis, an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
• Rock, County Tyrone – a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

United States[link]

• Kodiak Island, Alaska
• The Rock or Alcatraz Island, small island in San Francisco Bay, California, United States
• The Rock, Georgia
• The Rock (Northwestern University), a landmark at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois
• Rock Island, Illinois, county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States
• Memorial Stadium (Indiana), on the Indiana University campus
• Rock, Kansas, unincorporated community in Cowley County, Kansas, United States
• The Rock (Michigan State University), a boulder on the campus of Michigan State University
• Rock Township, Benson County, North Dakota, civil township in United States
• The Rocks or McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, a borough
• Rock, West Virginia, a community in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States
• Rock County, Wisconsin, county in United States
• Rock, Rock County, Wisconsin, town in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States
• Rock, Wood County, Wisconsin, town in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States

Other Places[link]

• "The Rock" is a poetic and popular term for Bermuda.
• The Rock or Gibraltar, British overseas territory near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain)
• Corregidor, an island in the Philippines
• Niue, an island near Tonga
• Rockall, a islet in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the United Kingdom
• Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa
• Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler, a Marine Corps Base Camp in Okinawa Japan
• Foundation Stone, the rock inside Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock
• Newark's Prudential Center, nicknamed "The Rock" due to Prudential Financial's logo

Food[link]

• Rock candy, type of confectionery composed of large sugar crystals
• Rock (confectionery), type of stick-shaped boiled sugar confectionery
• Edinburgh rock, stick-shaped Scottish confection, notably different from ordinary rock
• Plymouth Rock (chicken), breed of chicken
• Rock salmon, Often referred to as Rock. Sold in UK fish and chip shops.

Computers[link]

• Rock (processor), microprocessor by Sun Microsystems
• Rocks Cluster Distribution, Linux distribution for cluster computing
• Rocks (PHP)

Sports[link]

• Rock, used in the sport of Curling
• The Rock (rugby team) or Atlantic Rock, a rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
• The Rocks or the Scottish Rocks, a basketball team
• "The Rock," nickname of the athletic teams of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
• "Rock" is a slang term for a basketball.

Other uses[link]

• ROCK1, human gene
• Rock or islet, small island
• Rock, or distaff, a tool used in spinning
• Rock, slang term for crack cocaine
• The Rock, a headland occupied by the original fortified town of Monaco, today's Monaco-Ville
• The Rock or Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, former Class I railroad in the United States
• The Rocks, Inc., US military officers' organization
• The Rock (New Zealand), a New Zealand rock music radio station

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Rock"
• All pages with titles containing "Rock"
• Rock of Ages (disambiguation)
• Rock and roll (disambiguation)
• Rockman or Mega Man
• Rok (disambiguation)
• ROC (disambiguation)
• Roque (disambiguation)
• Rockfish (disambiguation)
• Rock River (disambiguation)
• David Rock (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer receiving his star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2010)
Background information
Birth name	Hans Florian Zimmer
Born	(1957-09-12) 12 September 1957 (age 54) Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Genres	Film score, Video game score
Occupations	Film composer, Video game composer, Music producer
Instruments	Piano, Keyboard, MIDI Master Keyboard, Synthesizer, Guitar
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Remote Control Productions
Website	hanszimmer.com

Hans Florian Zimmer, German pronunciation: [hans ˈfloːʁi̯aːn ˈtsɪmɐ]; (born 12 September 1957) is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including award winning film scores for The Lion King (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), Gladiator (2000), The Last Samurai (2003),The Dark Knight (2008), and Inception (2010).

Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios, and works with other composers through the company which he founded, Remote Control Productions.^[1]

Zimmer's works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. He has received four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Classical BRIT Award, and an Academy Award. He was also named on the list of Top 100 Living Geniuses, published by The Daily Telegraph.^[2]

Early life[link]

Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. As a young child, he lived in Königstein-Falkenstein, where he played the piano at home, but had piano lessons only briefly as he disliked the discipline of formal lessons.^[3] He moved to London as a teenager, where he attended Hurtwood House school.^[4] In an interview with the German television station ZDF in 2006, he commented: "My father died when I was just a child, and I escaped somehow into the music and music has been my best friend."^[5]

Early career[link]

Zimmer began his career playing keyboards and synthesizers. He worked with The Buggles, a New Wave band formed in 1977 with Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, and Bruce Woolley. Zimmer can be seen briefly in The Buggles' music video for the 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star".^[6] After working with The Buggles, he started to work for the Italian group Krisma, a New Wave band formed in 1976 with Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser. He was a featured synthesist for Krisma’s third album, Cathode Mamma. He has also worked with the band Helden (with Warren Cann from Ultravox).^[7] Both Zimmer (on keyboards) and Cann (on drums), were invited to be part of the Spanish group Mecano for a live performance in Segovia (Spain) in 1984. Two songs from this concert were included in the "Mecano: En Concierto" album released in 1985 only in Spain. In 1980 Zimmer co-produced a single, "The History Of The World Part 1," with, and for, UK Punk band The Damned, which was also included on their 1980 LP release, "The Black Album," and carried the description of his efforts as "Over-Produced by Hans Zimmer."

While living in London, Zimmer wrote advertising jingles for Air-Edel Associates.^[7] In the 1980s, Zimmer partnered with Stanley Myers, a prolific film composer who wrote the scores for over sixty films. Zimmer and Myers co–founded the London–based Lillie Yard recording studio. Together, Myers and Zimmer worked on fusing the traditional orchestral sound with electronic instruments.^[8] Some of the films on which Zimmer and Myers worked are Moonlighting (1982), Success is the Best Revenge (1984), Insignificance (1985), and My Beautiful Launderette (1985). Zimmer's first solo score was Terminal Exposure for director Nico Mastorakis in 1987, for which he also wrote the songs. Zimmer acted as score producer for the 1987 film The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.^[7]

One of Zimmer's most durable works from his time in the United Kingdom is the theme song for the television game show Going for Gold, which he composed with Sandy McClelland in 1987. In an interview with the BBC, Zimmer said: "Going For Gold was a lot of fun. It's the sort of stuff you do when you don't have a career yet. God, I just felt so lucky because this thing paid my rent for the longest time."^[9]

Hollywood film scoring[link]

A turning point in Zimmer's career occurred with the 1988 film Rain Man.^[8] Hollywood director Barry Levinson was looking for someone to score Rain Man, and his wife heard the soundtrack CD of the anti-Apartheid drama A World Apart, for which Zimmer had composed the music. Levinson was impressed by Zimmer's work, and hired him to score Rain Man.^[10] In the score, Zimmer uses synthesizers (mostly a Fairlight CMI) mixed with steel drums. Zimmer explained that "It was a road movie, and road movies usually have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept thinking don't be bigger than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesn't actually know where he is. The world is so different to him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don't we just invent our own world music for a world that doesn't really exist?".^[11] Zimmer’s score for Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award in 1989, and the film won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.^[12]

A year after Rain Man, Zimmer was asked to compose the score for Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy which, like Rain Man, won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Driving Miss Daisy’s instrumentation consisted entirely of synthesizers and samplers, played by Zimmer. According to an interview with Sound On Sound magazine in 2002, the piano sounds heard within the score come from the Roland MKS–20, a rackmount synthesizer. Zimmer joked: "It didn't sound anything like a piano, but it behaved like a piano."^[13]

1991's Thelma & Louise soundtrack by Zimmer featured the trademark slide guitar performance by Pete Haycock on the "Thunderbird" theme in the film. As a teenager, Zimmer was a fan of Haycock, and their collaboration on film scores includes K2 and Drop Zone.^[14]

For the 1992 film The Power of One, Zimmer traveled to Africa in order to use African choirs and drums in the recording of the score. On the strength of this work, Disney Animation Studios approached Zimmer to compose the score for the 1994 film The Lion King. This was to be his first score for an animated film. Zimmer said that he had wanted to go to South Africa to record parts of the soundtrack, but was unable to visit the country as he had a police record there "for doing 'subversive' movies" after his work on The Power of One. Disney studio bosses expressed fears that Zimmer would be killed if he went to South Africa, so the recording of the choirs was organized during a visit by Lebo M.^[15] Zimmer won numerous awards for his work on The Lion King, including an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. In 1997, the score was adapted into a Broadway musical version which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.^[16][17] As of April 2012^[update], the musical version of The Lion King is the highest grossing Broadway show of all time, having grossed $853.8 million.^[18]

	Crimson Tide - "Roll Tide" noicon A clip from the score of the 1995 film Crimson Tide.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Zimmer's score for Crimson Tide (1995) won a Grammy Award for the main theme, which makes heavy use of synthesizers in place of traditional orchestral instruments. For The Thin Red Line (1998), Zimmer said that the director Terrence Malick wanted the music before he started filming, so he recorded six and a half hours of music.^[11] Zimmer's next project was The Prince of Egypt (1998), which was produced by DreamWorks Animation. He introduced Ofra Haza, an Israeli Yemenite singer, to the directors, and they thought she was so beautiful that they designed one of the characters in the film to look like her.^[11]

Work: 2000–present[link]

	Gladiator - "Battle" noicon A clip from the score of the 2000 film Gladiator.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the 2000s, Zimmer has composed scores for Hollywood blockbuster films including Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down and Hannibal (2001), The Last Samurai (2003), The Da Vinci Code (2006) The Simpsons Movie (2007), Angels and Demons (2009) and Sherlock Holmes (2009). While writing the score for The Last Samurai, Zimmer felt that his knowledge of Japanese music was extremely limited. He began doing extensive research, but the more he studied, the less he felt he knew. Finally, Zimmer took what he had written to Japan for feedback and was shocked when he was asked how he knew so much about Japanese music.^[11]

During the scoring of The Last Samurai in early 2003, Zimmer was approached by the producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with whom he had worked previously on Crimson Tide, The Rock and Pearl Harbor. Bruckheimer had finished shooting Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but was unhappy with the music composed for the film by Alan Silvestri and wanted a replacement score.^[19] Bruckheimer wanted Zimmer to rescore the film, but due to his commitments on The Last Samurai, the task of composing and supervising music for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was given to Klaus Badelt, one of Zimmer's colleagues at Media Ventures. Zimmer provided some themes that were used in the film, although he is not credited on screen.^[20][21] Zimmer was hired as the composer for the three subsequent films in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), collaborating with Rodrigo y Gabriela.^[22]

For the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, "The Daily Variety" reported that Zimmer purchased an out-of-tune piano for 200 dollars and used it throughout the scoring process because of its "quirkiness".^[23]

Hans Zimmer in 2008

Zimmer is also noted for his work on the scores of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), on which he collaborated with James Newton Howard.^[9] The scores for these films were disqualified from receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score due to too many composers being listed on the cue sheet.^[24] Zimmer succeeded in reversing the decision not to nominate The Dark Knight in December 2008, arguing that the process of creating a modern film score was collaborative, and that it was important to credit a range of people who had played a part in its production.^[25] Zimmer explained his approach to scoring with other musicians in an interview with Soundtrack.net in 2006:

	Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard - "Now We Are Free" noicon A clip from the score of the 2000 film Gladiator.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"Originally I had this idea that it should be possible to create some kind of community around this kind of work, and I think by muddying the titles - not having "you are the composer, you are the arranger, you are the orchestrator" - it just sort of helped us to work more collaboratively. It wasn't that important to me that I had "score by Hans Zimmer" and took sole credit on these things. It's like Gladiator: I gave Lisa Gerrard the co-credit because, even though she didn't write the main theme, her presence and contributions were very influential. She was more than just a soloist, and this is why I have such a problem with specific credits."^[26]

Zimmer is also composing the score for The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The film is scheduled for release in July 2012.^[27]

Zimmer works with other composers through his company Remote Control Productions, formerly known as Media Ventures. His studio in Santa Monica, California has an extensive range of computer equipment and keyboards, allowing demo versions of film scores to be created quickly.^[28] His colleagues at the studio have included Harry Gregson-Williams, James Dooley, Geoff Zanelli, Henning Lohner, Steve Jablonsky, Mark Mancina, John Van Tongeren, John Powell and Thomas J. Bergersen.

In October 2000, Zimmer performed live in concert for the first time with an orchestra and choir at the 27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent.^[29] He has received a range of honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in film Composition from the National Board of Review, the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, and BMI's Richard Kirk Award for lifetime achievement in 1996. Recent work includes the Spanish language film Casi Divas,^[30] Sherlock Holmes, The Burning Plain (2009), and Inception (2010). He composed the theme for the television boxing series The Contender, and worked with Lorne Balfe on the music for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was his first video game project.^[31] Zimmer also collaborated with composers Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu to create the score for the video game Crysis 2.^[32]

In December 2010, Zimmer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He dedicated the award to his publicist and long term friend Ronni Chasen, who was shot dead in Beverly Hills the previous month.^[33]

Zimmer composed and produced the music for the 84th Academy Awards with Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes.^[34]

Zimmer lives in Los Angeles with his wife Suzanne, and has four children.^[35][36]

Discography and awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Book: Hans Zimmer
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hans Zimmer

• Official website
• Hans Zimmer at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Hans Zimmer in Film Score Monthly
• Interview with Hans Zimmer about Sherlock Holmes from C Music TV
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Michael Bay
on the set of Transformers (May 30, 2006)
Born	Michael Benjamin Bay (1965-02-17) February 17, 1965 (age 47) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Film director Film producer
Years active	1984–present

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects.^[1][2] His films, which include The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the Bad Boys and Transformers series, have grossed over three billion dollars world-wide.^[3] He is co-founder of commercial production house The Institute, a.k.a. The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness.^[4] He is co-chair and part-owner of the digital effects house Digital Domain.^[5] He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror movies including Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.^[6]

Early life[link]

Michael Bay was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist, and Jim, a CPA.^[7] Bay's grandfather was Russian.^[8] His cousin, Susan Bay, is the wife of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy.^[9] He attended the exclusive Crossroads School, in Santa Monica, California.^[10] Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8mm camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.^[11]

Career[link]

Bay got his start in the film industry interning with George Lucas when he was fifteen, filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he thought was going to be terrible. His opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director.^[12] He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and Film.^[13][14] He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historian Jeanine Basinger.^[15] For his graduate work, he attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he also studied film.^{[citation needed]}

Michael Bay began working at Propaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his post-graduate degree.^{[citation needed]} His 90-second World War II-inspired Coca-Cola advertisement was picked up by Capitol Records. His first national commercial for the Red Cross won a Clio Award in 1992.^[16][17] He directed Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Got Milk? advertisement campaign for the California Milk Processors Board in 1993.^[18]

Bay's success in music videos gained the attention of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who selected him to direct his first feature-length film, Bad Boys. The film was shot in Miami in 1994 and starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The action film proved to be a break-out role for Smith, who was segueing from television to films at that time. Shooting in Miami was a good experience for Bay who would later own a home in the city and spend a great deal of time there.^[19] The film was completed for $19 million dollars and grossed a remarkable $141 million at the box office in the summer of 1995.^[20] Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship with Jerry Bruckheimer.^[21]

His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), was an action movie set on Alcatraz Island, and in the San Francisco Bay area. It starred Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, the latter of whom died five months before the film's release. The film is dedicated to him.^[22] Connery and Cage won 'Best On-Screen Duo' at the MTV Movie Awards in 1997 and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Achievement in Sound category for the work of Greg P. Russell, Kevin O'Connell, and Keith A. Wester.^[23][24]

In 1998, Bay collaborated with Jerry Bruckheimer again, this time as a co-producer, as well as directing the action-adventure film Armageddon.^[25][26] The film, about a group of tough oil drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth, starred Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It was nominated for 4 Oscars at the 71st Academy Awards including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Song.^[27] The film earned 9.6 million dollars on its opening day and a total of 36.5 million through the first weekend.^[28] The production budget, $140 million dollars, was one of the highest of the summer of 1998. Armageddon went on to gross over $553 million dollars worldwide.^[29]

In 2001, Bay directed Pearl Harbor. It starred Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001. Again, Bay produced the film with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Song. Again, Kevin O'Connell received another nomination for Best Sound, but he did not win. Pearl Harbor won in the category for Sound Editing.^[30] Michael Bay also directed the music video for nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artist Faith Hill.^{[citation needed]}

Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, an event which also marked Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film grossed $138 million domestically, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the first movie.

In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science-fiction film starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It was the first film Michael Bay made without Jerry Bruckheimer. The Island cost $126 million to produce. It earned $46 million domestically and $172 million worldwide. Bay stated that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign as it confused the audience as to the true subject of the film.^[31]

In 2007, he directed and teamed up with Steven Spielberg to produce Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. The film was released in the U.S. and Canada on July 3, 2007, with 8 p.m. preview screenings on July 2. The previews earned $8.8 million, and in its first day of general release it grossed $27.8 million, a record for Tuesday box office attendance.^{[citation needed]} It broke the record held by Spider-Man 2 for the biggest July 4 gross, making $29 million. On its opening weekend, Transformers grossed $70.5 million, amounting to a $155.4 million opening week, giving it the record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel.^{[citation needed]} As of November 2007, the film has made over $319 million domestically and over $708 million worldwide.

Bay returned as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24, 2009 and went on to gross over $832 million worldwide. Although it received mostly negative reviews by critics,^[32] including aggressively critical reviews by American film critics such as Roger Ebert,^[33] Michael Phillips^[34] and David Denby (who referred to Bay as "stunningly, almost viciously, untalented"),^[35][35] the film was well-received by its intended audience and was one of the highest-grossing films of 2009.^[36][37] In 2010, it earned seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations and winning three: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay.^[38]

As of 2009, Michael Bay's worldwide box office totals make him the director with the eighth highest domestic US gross of all time (not adjusted for inflation).^[39] It was also one of the best selling DVD and Blu-ray Discs of 2009, second only to Twilight in DVD format and the number one of all time in Blu-ray format until it was surpassed by Blu-ray sales of James Cameron's Avatar in April 2010.^[40][41][42]

Bay directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 28, 2011.^[43] He may direct a sequel to the Bad Boys franchise or a "small" film he's been developing for years, tentatively called Pain & Gain.^[44] The true crime story, based on events described in a Miami Herald article^[45] written by Pete Collins, concerns a group of bumbling bodybuilders working together to commit a robbery.

Bay produced DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, based on a series of novels by authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes published by HarperCollins Children's Books. D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) directed.^[46][47]

Bay will co-produce One Way Out, a reality series that pits ordinary people against each other as they try to keep their pasts hidden and builds toward a showdown where all those secrets will be revealed.^[48]

Gideon's Sword, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's novel set for release in February 2011, was optioned by Bay Films and will be produced by Michael Bay. The main character, Gideon Crew, avenges the death of his father.^[49][50]

In June 2011, Bay confirmed that Pain & Gain was his next project and that it would have a budget of $20 million.^[51]

On February 13, 2012, Paramount Pictures announced that Bay will produce and direct a fourth Transformers movie with a scheduled release date of June 2014.^[52]

Production and FX companies[link]

Platinum Dunes[link]

Bay founded this production house with fellow producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form in 2001.^[53] Platinum Dunes is named after one of Bay's first student films at Wesleyan University. Brad Fuller also graduated from Wesleyan and worked for Bay as an executive assistant before joining him in this business venture. The company's first film, a remake of the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, grossed $107 million dollars worldwide.^[54] Platinum Dunes produced lucrative remakes of classic horror films and introduced new directors like Sam Bayer and Marcus Nispel to feature film audiences. Their most recent horror film production, A Nightmare on Elm Street starring Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, was released April 2010. The film made 32.9 million dollars in its opening weekend, covering nearly its entire 35 million dollar budget and went on to gross over 100 million dollars worldwide.^[55]

Paramount Pictures signed a first look deal with Platinum Dunes in 2009.^[56] As part of this new relationship, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon have brought the Platinum Dunes producers on to produce a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, rebooting the film series launched by New Line in 1990. Bay, Fuller and Form will co-produce with Galen Walker, Scott Mednick and Marina Norman.^[57]

Platinum Dunes is currently in the process of selling an unnamed TV series to a "major cable network" with Bay in talks to direct the pilot.^[58]

Digital Domain[link]

Bay and Wyndcrest Holdings, a Florida-based investment firm, acquired the digital effects company Digital Domain from James Cameron and Stan Winston in 1996, infusing the struggling business with a $50 million dollar investment.^[5] Digital Domain considered an initial public offering in 2009 but ultimately withdrew the offer, because of the lack of interest. Currently a work for hire visual effects production house, Digital Domain plans to expand its efforts in the video gaming industry and become a full-fledged motion picture production house. Headquartered in Venice, Los Angeles, California, the company is also working to open branches in Vancouver, Canada and the state of Florida.^[59]

The Institute[link]

After leaving Propaganda Films, Bay and producer Scott Gardenhour, also formerly at Propaganda, formed The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness^[60] (now known as The Institute), to produce commercials and other projects. Through The Institute, Bay has directed and produced spots for Victoria's Secret, Lexus, Budweiser, Reebok, Mercedes-Benz, and Nike. His most recent advertisement for Victoria Secret was the 2009 "A Thousand Fantasies" holiday campaign.^[61]

Awards and honors[link]

Bay has received five MTV Movie Awards: Best Movie and Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet for Transformers, Best Action Scene for Pearl Harbor, Best Action Scene for Bad Boys II, and Best Action Scene for The Rock.^{[citation needed]} In 1994, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America with an award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials.^[62]

Michael Bay received the ShoWest 2009 Vanguard Award for excellence in filmmaking at the confab of theater owners.^[63]

Personal life[link]

Bay lives in Los Angeles and Miami with his two bullmastiffs, Bonecrusher and Grace, named for characters in Transformers and Armageddon, respectively. As a boy, he donated his Bar Mitzvah money to an animal shelter and often includes his bullmastiff dogs in his films.^[64] He had another dog, Mason. Mason the dog's last appearance in a film was as Miles' dog in Transformers. He died during production of that film in March 2007.^[65][66]