Each culture might lend its own dialect, but above all that is the language of music itself, and it doesn't care about politics or boundaries.

Each culture might lend its own dialect, but above all that is the language of music itself, and it doesn't care about politics or boundaries.

I prefer live musicians whenever possible. And I tailor the ensemble to what is appropriate for the film and the score I'm writing.

When I'm writing a score, I'm constantly looking for ways to improve on it, even when I think it's working well. I don't give up on things, and am always trying to make incremental improvements, which means I never finish writing a score early!

For as long as I can remember, I've been passionate about music. I can't recall a time when I didn't have music playing in my head.

It was a natural thing for me to go become a musician, and then to start writing music. I don't even really remember making a decision to go into music, it was just there for me, always. If I weren't making a living at it, I'd still be writing music.

One of the earliest memories I have of feeling the power of film music was watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. That was a really clear epiphany for me, when I realized that each film has its own music, and that there was someone out there who wrote this very specific music for just this one film.