Carter Burwell
Carter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwellis an American composer of film scores. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored 15 of their films. Burwell has scored three of Todd Haynes' films, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score for Haynes' Carol. Other notable films scores include the Spike Jonze films Being John Malkovich, Adaptationand Where the Wild Things Are, David O. Russell's Three Kings, Olive Kitteridge, and Anomalisa...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth18 November 1955
CountryUnited States of America
There is not much irony when people are being happy on screen.
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.
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.
All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.
I think being a little nuts is helpful.
How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.
I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.
I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.
I don't personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
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.
I prefer a life in which we don't take ourselves too seriously.
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.
When the systems we expect to help us actually hurt us, we have tragedy.
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.