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 the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.
Carefully execute every instruction given to you by the director, producer, and studio. But that would be a life not worth living.
I don’t generally find myself listening to the music of a film unless there’s something awfully wrong with it.
There is not much irony when people are being happy on screen.
If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.
In mainstream romantic comedies, I’m usually tearing my hair out. It’s just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.
I just love the sheer mess of New York.
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.
Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.
I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn’t want that if I were in the audience.
I think being a little nuts is helpful.
I don’t personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
On Being John Malkovich and the cinema of the absurd, I do enjoy it. I wish there were more like it. The very fact that there can’t be more like it is one of the reasons it’s admirable.
I prefer a life in which we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
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.
All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.
When the systems we expect to help us actually hurt us, we have tragedy.
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.
Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.