Composers are in some ways the last frontier of musician that gets a paycheck for their musical services.

I know so few people who actually give music their undivided attention, so I've been trying to just park myself on the couch between the speakers and listen.

When you've finished the film and everybody's already made back all their money, everybody just leaves you alone and I'm very happy. That's what it has to be like.

The way that I make films is that I sit down and I think, "How much money could I get with less consequences?" And that's how I start. I'd rather have less money and total autonomy than more money and start having to answer to things, because then I'm not being true and the money men are not being true.

I don't like to write any music to a script. Experience has taught me that's generally a waste of time.

Composing demands a degree of isolation.

I was in the Chilli Peppers at the time and I asked myself, would I be able to wear a sock on my genitals at the age of forty and they proved me wrong because I guess they're still doing it.