Danny Elfman Quotes

There's so much happenstance, so many accidents - stumbling into something and finding it interesting and living with it over time and building on it. It's okay to work from doubt. You need to be willing to not know.

I just like to experiment.

I'm just trying to experiment with a lot of different stuff and see what comes out of it.

I would like the work to be non-work. This means that it would find its way beyond my preconceptions...It is the unknown quantity from which and where I want to go. As a thing, an object, it accedes to its non-logical self. It is something, it is nothing.

Do as many ideas as possible. The right idea will pick you.

The way I go about making a movie... even the ones that are interview-driven, I go into them not knowing what's going to happen, and feeling my way through.

Creative exploration [is] impossible, without (humble) acknowledgement of the unknown.

I am always trying to do something new and different. The first step is curiosity, questions. You pay attention to what fascinates you. If you can't shake it, there is something there.

I really try to plot in a fearless fashion. I try not to care about not knowing the answer before I get there; I just jump in first and see what happens.

It's not just exciting to build things but to explore new fields and to recognize what comes with that is a lot of uncertainty.

It's my approach as a filmmaker always to go in, not with a thesis or preconceived notion, but with curiosity and questions and inquiry. So in some way, I'm always surprised. I'm always finding paths of engagement.

Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab.

All sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.

Along the way, a lot of filmmakers get rid of things that are messy or don't fit in some ways. To me, I want to work with serendipity and things we happened upon. That's our job, that's what the form demands.

Let's just start and see what happens.

If one does not expect the unexpected, one will not find it out, since it is not to be searched out, and difficut to compass.

It's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching and rarely discovered--so many locks not enough keys.

I'll play it first and figure out what it's called later.

I write from the place of inquiry. The first draft is a discovery period to see what I know and what I don't know. My task is simply to follow the words. There are surprises along the way. I just have to get it down. Call it the sculptor's clay.

When you start a new project, no matter if it's a movie like Enigma or an album like Goddess, you are always learning something. While I search, I find something new.

At a time when experimentation expresses itself in all forms of life, search becomes the only valid expression of the spirit.

It's important to take bad pictures. It's the bad ones that have to do with what you've never done before. They can make you recognize something you hadn't seen in a way that will make you recognize it when you see it again.

I do think that there is an innocence to people who are searching for things. It's a beautiful thing when you leave yourself vulnerable to discover anything and everything.

I found that the camera was a comforting companion. It opened up new worlds, and gave me access to people's most intimate moments. I discovered the privilege of seeing life in all its complexity, the thrill of learning something new every day. When I was behind a camera, it was the only place in the world I wanted to be.

In fact, the only way to remain creative over time--to not be undone by our expertise--is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't fully understand.