How did you get your first break in movies?

I was hired to do dances, just dances, for "The Ten Commandments", and the head of the music department asked [Cecil B] DeMille if he would consider me to do the score. DeMille said, "Do you think he could be another Wagner?" [laughs], which is very characteristic of DeMille, and the head of the music department said, "I don't know anything about that, but I think he might be able to do the score for this film."

Your use of jazz in "The Man with the Golden Arm" was a radical move...

I think the use of jazz was integral to the film - it was about a man who wanted to be a jazz drummer! But what it did was open the door to the idea that it's OK to score a film with pop music.

How did you approach working on "The Magnificent Seven"?

The "Magnificent Seven" was a very splashy, very big western. The film without music was actually a bit on the slow side. The function of the music was to be like a jockey that gets a horse and goes for the whip.

"Gangs of New York" will be your fifth collaboration with Martin Scorsese...

It is a very special film. The first feeling you get when you look at the film - and I can't even explain why this is - but when you look at the film, you get the feeling that you have never seen anything like this before.

"Gangs of New York" is due to be released in UK cinemas on Friday 10th January 2003.