Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.
I love the opportunity to do lots of different kinds of projects - independent films and big studio epics as well. I'd love to be able to do a mixture.
I didn't need to write historical epics, no, or science fiction, though I read a lot of science fiction as a kid and rather liked it. But I didn't have the mentality.
My wife, Lisa, and I both grew up on wuxia - Chinese historical romances. They're kind of analogous to Western epics. They're based on history, just like 'the Iliad' and 'the Odyssey' are based on history, but they're romanticized, and a lot of fantasy elements have been added.
The first epics were intended for recitation; the literary epic is meant to be read.
I am not against songs in films. We come from an oral tradition of storytelling. I have grown up listening to epics in oral rendition and oral rendition always had music.
When you're making this kind of music, you don't need a producer. If you're making pop albums or trying to write hit singles, then yeah, but if you're writing 20-minute prog epics, as long as you know how to make it sound good, and you have a good mixer, that's all you need.
I've done all these historical epics and chivalrous roles, but there's an odder, quirkier side to me that nobody knows about.
Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. We define entire epics of humanity by the technology they use.
One of my pet peeves about biblical epics was that the characters' costumes always looked like they're just out of the dry cleaners.
