Tastemaker: composer Danny Elfman likes it deliciously dark

There's a dream that returns to Danny Elfman at regular intervals. Not a nightmare, exactly, but it still comes pretty close.

The scenario sees the composer sitting in his studio working away, but no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much time and effort Elfman feels he is putting in, he just can't get the job finished. It just goes on, and on, and on.

"I get stuck in a loop and I can't get off," says Elfman. "I think I am working but I can't get anything done. I still have to finish, I still have to get it done. So I do have a work dream but it is just not productive - it is torture."

It's a dream that perhaps reflects more about the 60-year-old American's work ethic than anything - that and the force that drives a fear of failure.

Over more than four decades in the entertainment industry, Elfman has charted a course through eight years spent in musical theatre, before fronting the successful American New Wave band Oingo Boingo for the next 17. Towards the end of that last gig, Elfman started composing soundtracks and over 28 years he has contributed to more than 85 films, along the way being nominated for an Oscar four times (for his work on Good Will Hunting, Men in Black, Big Fish and Milk) while picking up awards including a Grammy ( Batman), and an Emmy (the Desperate Housewives theme).

He has also forged a strong personal and professional relationship with director Tim Burton, and found the time for a stream of side projects such as penning the theme for The Simpsons (which won Elfman another Emmy for "outstanding achievement in main title theme music").