I want people to know about all the kinds of music that I write. Some believe I just write film scores, which is not true.
The respect for a musical score must come from the director... If the director has no power and has to surrender to budgetary constraints, this is where we have the problem.
I never watch the dailies. What I usually do is have a look at the rough or final cut, and I just get something from the story. Sometimes I start composing even before the director has shot anything. The dailies don't help me at all.
My favourite type of pizza is a Napoletana: tomatoes, mozzarella, and very few anchovies. It must have a thin base.
There are some directors who actually fear the possible success of music. They fear that the audience or the critics will think the film has worked because there was a very good music score.
I dislike cats. I like horses, some monkeys, and sweet dogs that aren't too aggressive. I used to have a wonderful, big cat, and one day I came into the kitchen and it was on the table, ruining all the food we were about to eat. I was so annoyed that I took it to a friend's house in the country.
In my youth, cinemas showed two films in one day. I used to watch both of them. It may sound strange, but 'West Side Story' was the only musical I liked. I didn't like musicals, or films with songs, at all. I always thought they were not real, that the songs sounded a little bit false. But in the case of 'West Side Story,' things were different.
I often use the same harmonies as pop music because the complexity of what I do is elsewhere.
Bernard Herrmann used to write all his scores by himself. So did Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky. I don't understand why this happens in the movie industry.
De Palma is delicious! He respects music; he respects composers. For 'The Untouchables,' everything I proposed to him was fine, but then he wanted a piece that I didn't like at all, and of course we didn't have an agreement on that. It was something I didn't want to write - a triumphal piece for the police.
I like composing music, but I love being with my family.
I really like conducting my music in concerts because I'm convinced it's not just for films; it has its own life. It can live far away from the images of the movie.
