If you want to get to know somebody you don't ask other people: 'How is she?' You talk to the person herself. And then you don't ask about facts like 'date of birth' or 'profession of parents.' but you talk about essential questions and themes in life.
The fantastic thing about 'Jasper Jones' is that although it's set in 1969, the themes are still so topical. We're still struggling with racism and sexism and domestic violence and abuse.
Typically, the theme of my albums, if there is a theme, is, 'How does it feel?' And that always leads to love songs. It just does.
The pull of history has been a strong theme in my life as a novelist.
I think the theme of the album probably was just that it was our first record.
Shakespeare is all big themes, like the most amazing love, or the most scary war.
Film scores are often based on short themes, and it helps if you've got some way of developing these themes and making them sometimes last 4 minutes and sometimes last 40 seconds. One ends up doing it subconsciously.
I always think it's important to choose your initial theme very carefully because you're going to be married to it for a long time. You might have to generate an hour's worth of music from a very short, little piece of theme.
My theme song is always: 'Pay attention to your viewer. Follow them.'
We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of 'how do we find our authentic selves?' And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?
