Hans Zimmer devastated by news of cinema massacre

Movie composer Hans Zimmer has been left "devastated" by the Colorado cinema massacre, revealing the tragedy has wrecked what should have been a weekend of celebration for himself and the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises.

The Oscar-winning maestro created the score for the film, which was playing when gunman James Holmes opened fire in an Aurora cinema just after midnight on Friday morning, killing 12 and injuring almost 60 film fans.

As the film breaks box office records across America, Zimmer, director Christopher Nolan and his cast and crew should be celebrating - but the composer admits he is experiencing deep sadness instead.

Speaking to RollingStone.com on Friday from London, where he was preparing for the now-cancelled Paris premiere of the film on Friday night, Zimmer says, "We're all devastated by what's happened. When we set up this interview, we didn't know that things would change. I was going to send a note to Chris (Nolan)... but I didn't have the words. Suddenly, words become meaningless because it's so beyond anything. Devastated, I suppose, is the word.

"It's just sad. Here we are, we were trying to celebrate this movie and celebrating that we'd finished it and then this happened. I just feel so incredibly sad for these people."