Carter Burwell

“Even if I went off to some other career, I hope I would still be doing Coen films.”

“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.”

“Carefully execute every instruction given to you by the director, producer, and studio. But that would be a life not worth living.”

“I don't personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.”

“The jarring change going from an urban environment to an extremely remote natural environment is extremely inspiring. It's constantly stimulating, it's like a slap in the face.”

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

“Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.”

“I don't find myself lobbying for projects. Filmmakers almost always come to me.”

“Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.”

“I just love the sheer mess of New York.”

“I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.”

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

“I like business and personal life to be distinct.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“Most films I work on, the people making the film are constantly second-guessing the executives of the studio, the producer, and the audience. It is very hard to accomplish anything in that situation.”

“I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.”

“I would like to do a science fiction film some day. Star Wars seems really to have destroyed the genre, which at one time offered great musical opportunities.”

“How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.”