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.

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.

Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.

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 like the fact that New York looks a bit backwards, toward the Old World, rather than resolutely forwards.

I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people.

I prefer a life in which we don't take ourselves too seriously.