Marco Beltrami

I started out coming from more of a concert music background. It just turns out that 20th-century music techniques lend themselves to scary movies and horror movies.

Snowpiercer' is a little bit more experimental, I think, and crafted for a slightly different audience. 'The Giver' is more about teen angst.

I sort of enjoy being able to hear what other composers are doing and how they might score something differently than me. I enjoy that part.

One of the major aspects of film composing is that it's not so much a musical thing as it is communicating your ideas with the director, who often does not come from a musical background.

I like the scene in the first 'Scream' movie where Sidney gets up, and dusk is falling, and she's looking out at the hills of Santa Rosa, there where it was filmed, and that's where you sort of hear her theme being played out. I always liked that moment because, to me, it became more than just a horror movie.

I think the only thing that I really haven't done much in, and I haven't felt too attracted to, is romantic comedies.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

I think of each movie as a puzzle. The fun is in solving the puzzle: finding a musical identity for the picture, however that can be summed up.

There's this whole other element of film scoring, which is the social and psychological side of how you're dealing with people... And that is not always in sync with what's right for the picture.

I usually start from the most general to the more specific. I'll get an emotional overview for the film as a whole, trying to pinpoint what the musical identity is and come up with thematic ideas - any ideas that identify as succinctly as possible what the film is.

The Homesman' is my third collaboration with Tommy Lee Jones as director, and each time, I am aware of how fortunate I am.

To me, music is music, and it's not limited by the medium; it just encompasses everything.