For as long as I can remember, I've been passionate about music. I can't recall a time when I didn't have music playing in my head.

I'm also always thinking about the score as a recording, as opposed to a performance that can be recreated in a live environment. Some of what I write could of course be played in a concert hall, but for the needs of a film I don't consider that.

Each culture might lend its own dialect, but above all that is the language of music itself, and it doesn't care about politics or boundaries.

One of the earliest memories I have of feeling the power of film music was watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. That was a really clear epiphany for me, when I realized that each film has its own music, and that there was someone out there who wrote this very specific music for just this one film.

In a recording, your ear believes and accepts the trumpets as part of the ensemble, but you can't do that in a concert hall.

I prefer live musicians whenever possible. And I tailor the ensemble to what is appropriate for the film and the score I'm writing.