David Newman

I think there has never ever been a career like John Williams'. That whole 'Jaws' phenomenon - there's nobody that knows how to use music like Spielberg, and John is just the perfect analog to Spielberg.

I'll probably always write film scores. It's the one place where a composer has almost unlimited resources at his beck and call. When music you have written works well in a film, nothing can beat it.

I had no interest or intention of ever writing music. I was a professional violinist in my 20s. I was obsessed with conducting, and I was conducting as much as I could, and I was studying as much as I could. I went to USC; I got an undergrad degree in violin and a master's degree in conducting.

I'm not very interested in pops concerts. I'm interested in special events.

The Spirit is a kind of postmodern loner hero. He comes from nowhere; he has no real relationship to anything.

We had a normal childhood. I played baseball, and we played violin in orchestras three times a week. I learned more from that than anything else.

There's a thing about film composing and conducting in my family.

People who go to concerts hear Beethoven's symphonies hundreds of times, but 'Star Trek' is recorded, so it's not played all the time.