Quotes

For some strange reason I don't know, ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to write film music. That may seem silly, but it's true. My mother used to let me stay up at night and watch movies, and I was late for school just about every time. I did get to watch a lot of the late movies on television, though, so I guess they just built up. Psycho (1960), Spartacus (1960), all those things -- you can't help but be impressed by the music.

[on music scores as a way of telling a story] Essentially, that's one of the things I try to do. My music tends to be narrative. I want to tell the story with the music. Not that I want to put "ki, ki, ki" in every picture I do, but I try to find either an instrumental color or a particular melodic motif that is very short. Rather than laying out a big long stretch of a theme, sometimes just two notes -- if you can use them properly -- can say everything you need to say, and connect the storytelling. That's Herrmannesque.

Anybody doing music for films that tells you they're not aware of what Bernard Herrmann did, or how he wrote, or what he sounds like, is lying off the top of their head. Of course I know what Herrmann sounds like, so believe me, I know when I'm in a Herrmannesque mode. You can't help it sometimes, but one of the reasons is because, damn it, he was right! There are probably a lot of composers who don't imitate Bernard Herrmann, and they're not writing anymore. They're selling insurance in Tacoma.

When you really get into it [composing a film score], it comes to the point where you're sleeping, eating, showering and doing everything with a picture, constantly thinking about what kinds of sounds to use. It takes up all your time.