As opposed to being on the Internet, there's something really nice about reading a book or talking to authors.

I try to communicate with the musicians the way I communicate with the filmmakers. I'm not going to say to them, can we be a little bit more presto here. Hang on, this should be a bit more exciting, or I try to explain the scene to them, or I try to explain the context the notes are supposed to live in.

What are you going to do when you are not saving the world.

You have to remain flexible, and you must be your own critic at all times.

I have all these computers and keyboards and synthesizers, and I rattle away. For instance, with The Lion King I wrote over four hours worth of tunes, and they were really pretty -but totally meaningless. So in the end I came up with material I liked. We worked on The Lion King for four years, but I wasn't toying until the last three-and-a-half weeks properly. On Crimson Tide, on the other hand, I just went in and within seconds I knew what I wanted.

I have to give credit to Giorgio Moroder ; among the first to make us realize the importance of music in film.

Why get up in the morning unless you’re going to have an adventure?