For Oscar winners, the moment of winning an Academy Award is filled with all the glitz and glam Hollywood can offer. There’s the meticulously planned outfit, hearing your own name read after the iconic phrase “And the Oscar goes to…”, the tearful and triumphant acceptance speech and, of course, the paparazzi and their flashing cameras while you pose with your statuette.
Last night, Jewish composer Hans Zimmer, who won for scoring the film “Dune,” had none of that. Yet his Oscar acceptance last night was received with a level of joy second only to when Troy Kotsur became the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award. (The first, Jewish actress Marlee Matlin, who won in 1987 for her role in the film “Children of a Lesser God.”)
And Zimmer wasn’t even in attendance!
Zimmer was unable to be at the Oscars in person due to his “Hans Zimmer Live” European tour, and so, when his name was called during the Oscars pre-show, “Dune” star Jason Momoa accepted the award on his behalf. About 45 minutes into the televised ceremony, however, Zimmer tweeted his response:
It’s 2am in Amsterdam, and my daughter Zoë woke me up to go to the hotel bar. Wow!! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VlwnrElkaL
— Hans Zimmer (@HansZimmer) March 28, 2022
And a little while later, he also shared this video:
Thank you to @TheAcademy, but most importantly, to all the @DuneMovie musicians and our leader Denis Villeneuve. pic.twitter.com/XbVBYJ8dHY
— Hans Zimmer (@HansZimmer) March 28, 2022
During an Oscars ceremony which will be remembered for its ultra-stressful moments (we are not even going to touch the Will Smith-Chris Rock slap), Hans Zimmer’s bathrobe win provided a level of adorable humility that social media ate up; at the time of this article’s publication, Zimmer’s original tweet has 153.3K likes and 17.3K retweets.
For those familiar with Hans Zimmer’s work and nomination history, the win rewards a long career of hard — and iconic — work. Over the years, Zimmer has scored such notable films as “Rain Man,” “Gladiator,” “The Prince of Egypt” and, of course, “The Lion King.” Before tonight, he had racked up 12 Academy Award nominations for best score, but had only snagged the Oscar once, in 1995, for “The Lion King.”
His win also reflects a triumph of human spirit and Jewish excellence. In 1939, Hans Zimmer’s mother escaped Germany and the Nazis to survive the war in England.
Mazels on your win, Hans! Personally, we feel the bathrobe was a perfect Oscar-winning look and we hope you bring it back for future Academy Award ceremonies!
