Mike Figgis

I started using film as part of live theatre performance - what used to be called performance art - and I became intrigued by film.

The world is an infinitely fascinating, tragic and humorous place.

There's nothing I've done which I'm ashamed of or I thought was actually bad.

One of the things I love about cinema is the range.

I've spent my life hearing people trying to apologize for music.

The power of sound to put an audience in a certain psychological state is vastly undervalued. And the more you know about music and harmony, the more you can do with that.

It's difficult working with very rich actors, because inevitably they become a little spoilt, and the managers and agents tend to control things more than is healthy.

There's a sadness to the human condition that I think music is good for. It gives a counterpoint to the visual beauty, and adds depth to pictures that they wouldn't have if the music wasn't there.

You make sure that there's a structure that's interesting for them to play on top of, then do temp versions and try it on the film. By the time the players come to the recording session, I've found what works. So I'm not wasting their time.

I've held onto little musical sketches that I thought could be useful, and the more time that I spend doing them for each film, then the more I have to draw on.

Films take up so much time, and with theatre, you do have to plan a period of time that you can be free.

Each film is different. Time Code was very quick - a matter of months. Miss Julie has been on my shelf as a script for some seven or eight years. But then the shooting process was very quick - 16 days.