Cliff Martinez Quotations

There's nothing worse than a director that keeps changing their mind. Because, unlike the directors I work with, I'm not decisive at all.

I'm not in a position in my career where I turn things down. I'm very easy. So the projects often dictate the direction you will go in. I welcome things that challenge me.

I like challenges and I definitely would like to be more of a chameleon.

I think there is quite a continuity over my 25 years of doing music, and I'm always trying to break away from it.

It's very important that you never depend on money to fulfill your creative vision. If you do that, you're doomed to fail.

The way that I make films is that I sit down and I think, "How much money could I get with less consequences?" And that's how I start. I'd rather have less money and total autonomy than more money and start having to answer to things, because then I'm not being true and the money men are not being true.

When you've finished the film and everybody's already made back all their money, everybody just leaves you alone and I'm very happy. That's what it has to be like.

If you want to survive in the film industry, it's not about fighting for your visions because that's a given. It's thinking about how much is your vision going to cost, and then, what are the consequences, because you may have $100 million, but the reality is that $100 million needs to make $500 million to be a success.

Censorship has kind of disappeared in a way because everything is accessible online.

I don't like to write any music to a script. Experience has taught me that's generally a waste of time.