In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.

Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.

There is not much irony when people are being happy on screen.

John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.

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

Conducting, I tried it once off the cuff, and quickly realized there were subtle aspects that I was missing. There is a lot more to it that I was able to grasp simply by watching conductors.

Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.