1.
Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.
Carter Burwell
2.
Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.
Carter Burwell
3.
I dont find myself lobbying for projects. Filmmakers almost always come to me.
Carter Burwell
4.
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.
Carter Burwell
5.
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.
Carter Burwell
6.
Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.
Carter Burwell
7.
I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.
Carter Burwell
8.
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.
Carter Burwell
9.
Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.
Carter Burwell
10.
I like business and personal life to be distinct.
Carter Burwell
11.
John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.
Carter Burwell
12.
In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.
Carter Burwell
13.
Carefully execute every instruction given to you by the director, producer, and studio. But that would be a life not worth living.
Carter Burwell
14.
When the systems we expect to help us actually hurt us, we have tragedy.
Carter Burwell
15.
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.
Carter Burwell
16.
There is not much irony when people are being happy on screen.
Carter Burwell
17.
I think being a little nuts is helpful.
Carter Burwell
18.
I don't personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
Carter Burwell
19.
I think I've only done one horror movie, Psycho III. That was a walk in the park compared to a romantic comedy.
Carter Burwell
20.
If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.
Carter Burwell
21.
Any film which views the darker side of life, which is death with a sense of humor, is very much to my taste.
Carter Burwell
22.
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.
Carter Burwell
23.
I write music to please myself. Hopefully the director's enjoying it too.
Carter Burwell
24.
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.
Carter Burwell
25.
All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.
Carter Burwell
26.
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.
Carter Burwell
27.
I don't generally find myself listening to the music of a film unless there's something awfully wrong with it.
Carter Burwell
28.
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.
Carter Burwell
29.
On Being John Malkovich and the cinema of the absurd, I do enjoy it. I wish there were more like it. The very fact that there can't be more like it is one of the reasons it's admirable.
Carter Burwell
30.
How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.
Carter Burwell
31.
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.
Carter Burwell
32.
I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people.
Carter Burwell
33.
I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.
Carter Burwell
34.
I like the fact that New York looks a bit backwards, toward the Old World, rather than resolutely forwards.
Carter Burwell
35.
Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.
Carter Burwell
36.
I prefer a life in which we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Carter Burwell
37.
I just love the sheer mess of New York.
Carter Burwell