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

I think being a little nuts is helpful.
Carter Burwell

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

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

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

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

If not bliss, ignorance can at least be fun.
Carter Burwell

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

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

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

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

Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.
Carter Burwell

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

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.
Carter Burwell

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

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.
Carter Burwell

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

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

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

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