Quotes By Carter Burwell

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

John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.

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

The flow of Guiness into the studio was inspirational as well as nutritive.

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

I just love the sheer mess of New York.

A carefree quality is a whole aspect of life that I will never understand. I don't think I have ever been carefree and can't see the pleasure of it.

In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.

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

I think being a little nuts is helpful.

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.

I write music to please myself. Hopefully the director's enjoying it too.

I think I've only done one horror movie, Psycho III. That was a walk in the park compared to a romantic comedy.

Los Angeles is an industry town, and it has great facilities and personnel. The disadvantage is that everyone there seems to talk about the same subject matter.

I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people.

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.

Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.

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

If someone suddenly lost their director the day before shooting and wanted me to step in, I'd be willing to. But I'd do brain surgery the same way. I'm always up for something new.

All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.

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

I'm one of those people who is actually inspired by a deadline. I might not sleep for many days on end, it may not be good for my health, but it definitely helps.

Performing written music, even when I've written it, is not very interesting to me.

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.

When the systems we expect to help us actually hurt us, we have tragedy.

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

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.

New Yorkers may think they're on some cutting edge, but that's not especially true. It is, however, the most exciting heterogeneous mess of a town I've ever seen.

If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.