Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.
I'm one of those people who is actually inspired by a deadline. I might not sleep for many days on end, it may not be good for my health, but it definitely helps.
Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.
Hopefully each film can be given a musical voice of its own, which is not to say that the instrumentation is always unique, but that the relationship between the sound and the image is unique.
How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.
I think I've only done one horror movie, Psycho III. That was a walk in the park compared to a romantic comedy.
I don't personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people.
John Barry was my hero when I was about 13. His scores to the James Bond movies were the scores of my life back then.
If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.
Any film which views the darker side of life, which is death with a sense of humor, is very much to my taste.
I like business and personal life to be distinct.
Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.
I like the fact that New York looks a bit backwards, toward the Old World, rather than resolutely forwards.
John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.
Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.
The jarring change going from an urban environment to an extremely remote natural environment is extremely inspiring. It's constantly stimulating, it's like a slap in the face.
I write music to please myself. Hopefully the director's enjoying it too.
I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.
Los Angeles is an industry town, and it has great facilities and personnel. The disadvantage is that everyone there seems to talk about the same subject matter.
All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.
I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.
Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.
I would like to do a science fiction film some day. Star Wars seems really to have destroyed the genre, which at one time offered great musical opportunities.
A carefree quality is a whole aspect of life that I will never understand. I don't think I have ever been carefree and can't see the pleasure of it.
