Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

Since last joining us on Soundtracking, it’s fair to say Damien Chazelle has done alright for himself - becoming the youngest ever winner in the Best Director category at the Oscars for La La Land. His latest offering is First Man. Starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, the narrative explores the years leading up to and including the 1969 Apollo 11 Mission to the moon, with the focus very much on the emotional challenges faced by Neil Armstrong and his family. It's another giant leap for Damien, who seems pathologically incapable of making a bad movie. We discussed Whiplash and La La Land at length during our first conversation, so the focus is very much on how he and composer Justin Hurwitz went about creating a soundscape to transcend earth and space for this project.

As if it weren't enough writing, producing, directing and starring in a movie, you'd surely have the right to feel pretty smug if said movie got rave reviews across the board too. Well, that's exactly what's happened with Bradley Cooper and A Star Is Born - though he was anything but smug when he joined Edith to discuss his achievements in our latest episode of Soundtracking. If anything, one gets the impression he's genuinely stunned and humbled by how well his work has been received. A remake of the 1937 film of the same name, it stars Bradly and Stefani Germanotta (better known as Lady Gaga), and follows a hard-drinking musician who discovers and falls in love with a young singer. It marks the third remake of the 1937 original, which was adapted into a 1954 musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason and then remade as a 1976 rock musical with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. And, just as Lady G proves to quite the actor, so it turns out Bradley has a really rather unexpectedly brilliant

We very much like welcoming musicians to Soundtracking, so we were incredibly excited to learn about a documentary on the life of superstar Sri Lankan / British rapper M.I.A. - not least because Edith has been a huge fan since her days at BBC Radio 1. Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. was directed by her longtime friend Steve Loveridge, and follows 22 years in her life - including her rise to fame and her perspective on the controversies sparked over her music, public appearances and political activism. It has been incredibly well-received, and won a special jury award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Obviously, you'll hear plenty of M.I.A.'s work throughout the conversation, and also find out about some her musical and cinematic influences.

The latest episode of Soundtracking finds us out and about once more, this time at the British Film Institute on London's South Bank. And it's a truly stellar cast. Director Lenny Abrahamson, composer Stephen Rennicks, editor Nathan Nugent and producer Gail Egan joined Edith in front of an audience to discuss the music of their latest film, The Little Stranger. Based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Waters, the plot follows a doctor who visits an old house his mother used to work at, only to discover it may hold a dark secret. As you'll hear, there's a bit more talking and a bit less music than we usually serve up, but what the gang has to say makes for essential listening if you have even the the remotest interest in film-making. Now one of the reasons it was such a joy speaking to Lenny, Stephen, Nathan and Gail is that they brought along all sorts of exclusive clips to share with us, including alternative beginnings and rough cuts from The Little Stranger. Obviously you won't be able to s

Our latest edition of Soundtracking features British writer / director Bart Layton. Bart won widespread critical acclaim for his debut The Imposter, a documentary about the case of the French conman Frédéric Bourdin, who impersonated a Texas boy who disappeared at the age of 13 in 1994.  His new film is also inspired by an extraordinary true story about a group of ordinary everyday guys who plan to steal the most expensive book in America. Unlike The Imposter, though, it's predominantly a work of 'based on real events' fiction, with great performances by all of the actors in the central roles.   It also features a banging soundtrack and excellent score by Anne Nikitin.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a composer who cut his teeth as a founder member of Tindersticks, with whom he wrote orchestral arrangements, recorded numerous albums and toured worldwide. Dickon Hinchliffe then turned his hand to scoring films when French director Claire Denis asked the band to write the music for her film Nénette et Boni. Dickon hasn't looked back since, providing the sonic backdrop to films as diverse as Winter's Bone, Project Nim and Leave No Trace. His latest project is Idris Elba's directorial debut, Yardie, which required compositions that complimented not only the narrative but also the fabulous soundtrack.

Our latest guest may be German, but he's clearly something of an Anglophile, having made a Bond film, the Peter Pan inspired Finding Neverland, and now a new take on the British cultural institution that is Winnie The Pooh. Perhaps most importantly, Marc Forster is a total audiophile too!  Marc's Christopher Robin is a delightful live-action addition to the Disney franchise, with Ewan McGregor in the leading role and Jim Cummings, Toby Jones and Sophie Okonedo among those providing the animal voices.  It also features 3 original tunes by Richard Sherman, the legendary Disney songwriter. Christopher Robin is dedicated to composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who had already started scoring the film when he passed away so unexpectedly at the age of 48. So, at the eleventh hour, Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli stepped in. You'll hear plenty of their exceptional work throughout the conversation, as well as tracks by Spoon, Muse, Chris Cornell, Wreckless Eric and more.

Providing a sequel for one of the highest grossing and most loved live-action musicals of all-time is a terrifying challenge by any reckoning, so we think you might be surprised how humble and down to earth the man that was charged with doing so is. Ol Parker wrote and directed Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and has done a fine job too. As well as managing an all-star cast including Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Cher, he also had the not insignificant problem of melding all those iconic songs with the wonderful Anne Dudley's score. Thankfully, Benny and Bjorn from ABBA were on hand to help …  The reason we're coming to you a little later than normal is because Anne and Mamma Mia music supervisor Becky Bentham have been moving heaven and earth to provide us with exclusive cues from the film. So as well as plenty of sing-along classics, you'll be hearing Anne's score too.

Our latest guest is another of those 'annoying' multi-talented sorts, who's written, directed and produced a whole host of movies to widespread acclaim. Sacha Gervasi's first film was The Big Tease, which he co-wrote with Craig Ferguson. He went on to pen The Terminal, made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. That's some feat. He also directed the brilliant rockumentary Anvil, which tells the deeply personal story of a heavy metal band who've been plugging away for 30 years. And it's with Anvil that we began. If you're unfamiliar with their work, it's pure Spinal Tap, only real …

And so to episode 101 of Soundtracking, the weekly podcast about screen music. And we're delighted to say the person who joins us for the first step of our journey towards 200 is the multi-talented Paddy Considine. As well as starring in a wide variety of critical & commercial successes, Paddy wrote and directed the award-winning Tyrannosaur, and also fronts his own band, Riding The Low.   Now he brings us Journeyman. Scored by Harry Escott and featuring music by Nick Cave and Guided By Voices, Journeyman tells the story of a boxer who survives a coma following a brutal fight - with devastating consequences for both himself and his loved ones.   It really is an incredibly powerful and moving drama - with knockout performances by Paddy and Jodie Whittaker in the lead roles. Not that the process of bringing it the screen was easy - as you'll hear during the course of a remarkably candid conversation.  

Back in 2016, we had the idea of making a podcast dedicated to screen music. We had no clue whether we'd get the guests, whether they'd have anything to say, whether it'd get repetitive - or even whether you'd listen. Roll forward 2 years, and here we are at Soundtracking celebrating our 100th episode. It's a milestone we're incredibly proud to have reached, and to mark the occasion we've compiled a selection of our favourite moments from our first hundred episodes. The diversity of what you'll hear shows what infinite variety there is to the fine art of film and teleivision music - which is exactly why you won't be getting rid of us just yet. Among those featured in this Who's Who of showbusiness are Jon Favreau, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ron Howard, Edgar Wright, Danny Boyle, Sofia Coppola, Justin Hurwitz, Greta Gerwig, Duncan Jones and Clint Mansell. Enjoy!

It's a slightly different edition of Soundtracking this week, as we bring you another of our live events, this time recorded at the Moët Summer House weekend in London in June. Edith's guest was the brilliant playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan, whose work includes movies Iron Lady and Shame and TV dramas The Hour, River and The Split.  We're bringing this one to you in two parts, because as well as talking about music, we also spoke at length about her craft. And while it doesn't quite fit with our usual brief, we thought we should share what Abi had to say about that too, as she provides great insights into the process of writing for the screen.

It's a very special episode of Soundtracking for Edith this week, as we welcome first-time director Drew Pearce to the show. Edith and Drew have known each other for nearly 20 years, during which time he's co-written Iron Man 3 and provided the story for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation His debut feature as a director is Hotel Artemis, which is set in the near future and tells the story of a nurse who runs a hospital for criminals. Despite being new to the directing game, Drew has assembled a quite incredible cast - headed up by Jodie Foster in her first major acting role for 5 years. Jeff Goldblum, Sofia Boutella and Sterling K Brown are among those providing support. He also managed to persuade composer Cliff Martinez to score the movie, and we get plenty of insights into how the great man operates.

Not for the first time on this show we're joined by Pixar royalty, which is, frankly, a joy. Following Edith's chat about Coco with Lee Unkrich & Darla Anderson back in episode 75, we're delighted to welcome writer, director, animator, voice-actor & double Oscar winner Brad Bird - who has just served up another masterclass in movie-making with Incredibles 2. Like Coco, Incredibles 2 is scored by Michael Giacchino, who also worked with Brad on the first film. We also talk about Iron Giant, find out about his introduction to Disney, and discover some of his favourite scores.

Our guest this week is an Oscar winning Scottish director, equally at home in the realms of fact and fiction. Kevin Macdonald won his academy award for One Day in September, but has also won widespread critical acclaim for films such as Marley, The Last King Of Scotland, How I Live Now and State Of Play. He's collaborated with some tremendous composers along the way, including Jon Hopkins and Alex Heffes - of which more later.  But we begin with his latest project Whitney, a gut-wrenching documentary about the ill-fated singer, featuring candid interviews with those closest to her, as well as plenty of her music.  We also hope it provides aspiring filmmakers with a fascinating insight into his processes.

We know we bang on about it here on Soundracking, but it really is hard to get women on the programme, such is the male dominance of the industry. But every now and again, our efforts succeed, in this case with the suprememly talented writer/ director, Clio Barnard. Clio's latest film is Dark River. Starring Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, and Sean Bean, it tells the story of a woman who returns home after a 15 year absence in order to claim the tenancy of her father's farm. Boasting a new song by PJ Harvey, Dark River is scored by Harry Escott, who has worked with Clio on all three of her features, starting with her debut Arbor. We should say that this episode features a MAJOR SPOILER relating to her second movie, The Selfish Giant.

It's been a year that's seen one or two massive cinematic events, but you can always count on dinosaurs to make a few very loud noises too. Already the 7th highest grossing film of 2018, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the work of Spanish director JA Bayona, who returns to Soundtracking for a second sitting. You can, of course, listen to our previous conversation with Signor Bayona via edithbowman.com.  Scored by Michael Giacchino, Fallen Kingdom is part adventure story, part haunted house thriller, with the two elements posing very different challenges for both director & composer. Then, of course, there was John Williams' classic Jurassic Park theme to consider. For reasons we'll discover, JA and Michael deployed it sparingly, though it does feature in familiar form at the very end of the film ...

You can't describe yourself as a podcast about film music without talking to the occasional composer. And we've be joined by a fair few of the best - from Clint Mansell, Justin Hurwitz and Nicholas Brittell to Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and Philip Selway. Without exception, each has cast the projects they've been involved with in a new light and given us exclusive insights into the subtleties of their craft. So we're delighted to finally bring you Daniel Pemberton, in a piece recorded a few months back in his London studio. Daniel is hot property right now. Having worked with Ridley Scott, Guy Ritchie, Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin, he's now provided the score for Ocean's 8, which is out around the globe already but in the UK on Monday 18th June. We'll hear examples of his compositions for all these world-class directors throughout the conversation, as well as some cracking stories.

As if we needed an excuse to invite Ron Howard back to Soundtracking, the fact he's directed the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise is a pretty good one. Solo: A Stars Wars Story speaks for itself, telling the backstory of one of cinema's most lovable rogues. And as with all the movies, music plays an integral part - as central to the experience as the narrative, characterisation and special effects. In this instance, John Powell provided a score which takes things in a new sonic direction. Nevertheless, he had the blessing of John Williams, who also composed a brand new theme for Han ...

We all know Hugh Grant, from his floppy haired romantic performances, dad dancing down the stairs at No 10 Downing Street and most recently high kicking his was in pink prison Lycra in Paddington 2.   There is much more than meets the eye with Hugh, particularly when it comes to music and specifically in projects he’s involved in as a producer. He very clearly appreciates and understands the power of music, both for him as an actor but also in how it should be carefully crafted into a film. Currently starring in the BBC Drama A Very English Scandal as the British Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, who in 1979 was accused of the attempted murder of his gay ex-lover. It is directed by the award winning Stephen Frears and written by the fabulous Russell T Davis who brought on board his regular collaborator, composer Murray Gold. In this episode you will hear Murrays work for the show along with some familiar pieces of music from Hughs back catalogue. Not least the memorable work done by Badly Drawn Boy for