If, as a composer, you're attempting to update extremely popular scores, how do you know if you've got it right?

I think it's an instinctive thing. You have to be very strong at self-editing to be able to step away from it and look at it critically. What you might feel is right may not necessarily be good for the movie. With something like "Shaft" and Bond, people are going to hold your work up against something that has proved to be a defining moment in film music history, so it's something I don't want to do that often.

What other projects do you have lined up?

It's the usual collection of unusual things. On the movie front, there's a very laid back British one that I may be doing at the end of November. But until then, I'm writing songs with other people, making some records, and producing. I'm also putting together a greatest hits of film music album that will span from "Young Americans" to "Shaft".

Any live performances planned?

I think we'd like to do a concert in February. We have a great collection from "Young Americans", "Stargate", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Shaft", and "Independence Day". They're all really big movies with big music. I think of it as the end of the first chapter and it's not a bad collection to have. So we're trying to find a way of doing it. We want to give the audience the music but with a bit of an edge.

Read about how David Arnold wrote the theme tune for "Shaft" and what inspired him to make "Shaken And Stirred"