Ramin Djawadi

“We knew we wanted to have our own tone for the show. And then the big instrument that actually we came up with was the cello. It has a big range. It can play really low. It can play high. And it has a dark sound, and 'Game Of Thrones' is obviously - it's a dark show, and the cello became the featured instrument.”

“When you know you have great support from the studio, that's a great feeling, and when it's the creative support, that's great.”

“I used to love American Westerns, growing up in Germany.”

“Find your own style, whatever it is. Whatever is inside you, bring that out. I think that's when you have something unique.”

“I don't listen to film music at all. I don't want to be influenced.”

“I myself am a huge Radiohead fan.”

“I always have a hard time describing myself.”

“Many times, the way I write my themes or melodies is that I hear it, and then I sing into my phone or something, or I'll scribble down on a piece of paper.”

“With 'Iron Man,' I have to give Jon Favreau great credit for the score because he always said, from the beginning, 'Tony Stark is a rock n' roll guy.'”

“I wanted to play in bands and get signed by a record label and tour the world and stuff, but that never really worked out.”

“What's amazing about 'Game of Thrones' is that it's set in a fantasy world; it's a fantasy story. So I always say that with the score, we're open to do whatever we want.”

“I always try to pick projects by: Is this something that excites me? What are the people like to work with? Obviously you spend a lot of time in a room together with them, so I always try to find projects that hopefully have great people attached.”

“What I like about the piano is that it's a beautiful hybrid instrument in the sense that it can sound very warm but also very cold.”

“What I love about film music is the variety. On one movie, you might be asked to do a completely electronic score, and then another might ask you to do orchestral only.”

“I collect many ethnic instruments, and as a guitarist, I'm usually able to play any sort of instrument - as long as it has strings. That's why I like to experiment with different sounds.”

“A lot of people have said, 'Do a Westworld tour!' I definitely have ideas, because we could do a whole concert from just the first season. The player piano plays such a huge role in that one, so it's a must-have as a centerpiece.”

“I always like to tweak things and push things forward.”

“I began making music at the age of four. According to my mother, once I just sat down at the piano and played back a tune by ear. My parents were watching and said to each other, 'Maybe we should give him music lessons.'”

“I can almost see the music. It comes in the form of colors - colors jump out at me, and that translates into notes. They come fully formed: the orchestration parts, not just the melodies. Even though they're not always the right ones to use, the initial idea comes like that.”

“I think it's great to see that there is such a connection to film music and the way people react or connect to a character or scene.”