Quotes By Carter Burwell

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.

Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.

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

I like business and personal life to be distinct.

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

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.

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

If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.

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.

Hopefully each film can be given a musical voice of its own, which is not to say that the instrumentation is always unique, but that the relationship between the sound and the image is unique.

Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.

Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.

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.

I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.

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.

I prefer a life in which we don't take ourselves too seriously.

How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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