Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

In his brief directorial career, Tate Taylor has brought us three very different films requiring three very different soundscapes. First up was his Oscar-nominated Civil Rights drama The Help, set in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962. It is a deeply personal film for Tate and awash with the music of the time - including Ray Charles, Mavis Staples and Johnny Cash. It also saw him collaborate with Thomas Newman for the first time on the score. Then came the James Brown biopic Get On Up - with track after glorious track from The Godfather of Soul. Produced my Mick Jagger and again scored by Thomas, it was built around an incredible performance by Chadwick Boseman in the lead role. Now we have his take on Paula Hawkins' international bestseller The Girl On The Train – a psychological thriller featuring suitably claustrophobic sonic undertones. Danny Elfman provides those in spades, and you'll hear plenty of his score in this episode. We also get the story behind Thomas's score for The Help,

Thea Sharrock was brought up on The Ramones. She cut her directorial teeth in theatre, becoming the youngest ever artistic director at a British theatre when she took over at the Southwark Playhouse at the tender age of 24. She went on to direct Happy Now? at the National Theatre, before taking Equus to New York in 2008 - with Daniel Radcliffe making his Broadway debut. In 2009, she directed a production of As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2010, she directed Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis in The Misanthrope, then Benedict Cumberbatch in the Olivier-winning revival of After the Dance – before moving to TV with Tom Hiddlestone's Henry V for the BBC. This was beautifully scored by Adrian Johnston - whose work features prominently in this episode. Her debut feature film Me Before You is a romantic drama starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, with a soundtrack featuring Ed Sheeran, Max Jury, Jack Garratt and The 1975 - and a score by the legendary Craig Armstrong (Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Lo

It's a safe bet that any writer / director who borrows song titles to name his own films is something of an audiophile. Richard Linklater is unquestionably one of these. From Dazed and Confused To Boyhood and the so-called 'Before' Trilogy, the amiable Texan has forged a career making movies with a very specific sense of time and place - accompanied by soundtracks that appropriately underscore the mood he's attempting to create. His latest film continues this trend. Set in a fictional US college in 1980, Everybody Wants Some!! offers up a stonking array of contemporary tunes - from Donna Summer and Jermain Jackson to Blondie and The Sugarhill Gang. As with so much of his back catalogue, it's also very funny and beautifully observed. By his own admission he prefers source cues to score - though he’s not averse to orchestration when the situation demands - as it did, for instance, in A Scanner Darkly. But it's rock 'n' roll where his heart lies, so expect music from Steppenwolf, The Hives, The Flaming Lip

Though it’s impossible to pigeonhole the 9 feature films David Mackenzie has directed, there’s one thing they have in common: his obvious passion for music. Having enlisted Scottish band The Pastels to provide the soundtrack for his debut The Last Great Wilderness, he’s since collaborated with luminaries such as David Byrne and Max Richter. Indie label Domino Records provided all the songs for Hallam Foe, while David’s romantic comedy You Instead was shot over 5 crazy days at the T In The Park festival in Scotland. His latest film Hell Or High Water continues this fine musical tradition - scored as it is by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. So expect to be taken on a musical journey, with tracks from Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, Franz Ferdinand and The Bill Wells Trio among many others.

Actor, writer and now director of Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortensen, Matt Ross takes Edith on a musical journey encompassing bagpipes, German experimentalism and Bulgarian folk – not to mention Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Guns N Roses. To hear all the music from the show in full, check out our spotify playlist - https://play.spotify.com/user/soundtrackingwithedithbowman and please subscribe to the show on itunes. You can find out what else Edith is up to at www.edithbowman.com and follow her on twitter @edibow

In the latest episode of Soundtracking, writer, actor, director and all-round good guy Jon Favreau joins Edith to discuss how he uses music in his films. From the big-band beats of Swingers to the Latin and R&B infused rhythms of Chef, Jon has always displayed a knack for using sound to perfectly compliment his visuals. This is no bad thing in the context of his remake of The Jungle Book, what with its formidable musical legacy. As well as George Bruns' majestic score, it also features a series of unforgettable showstoppers by longtime Disney collaborators the Sherman brothers. Good job he had Bill Murray and Christopher Walken to help out! Expect tracks from artists as diverse as AC/DC, Buddy Holly, The Chips, Roberto Roena and Louis Prima.

On the release of his latest film War Dogs, writer and director Todd Phillips discusses the use of music in his movies, which reflects his love of everything from Black Flag to Billy Joel, Pink Floyd to Gram Parsons.

Todd Solondz won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for his debut feature Welcome To The Dollhouse. He followed it up with Happiness, which explored themes including rape, paedophilia, murder and suicide. Upon the release of his latest venture, the dark comedy Wiener Dog, Todd talks to Edith about musical collaborations with Nina Persson and Devendra Banhart, plus his love of Mary Poppins, The Carnival of the Animals and Barry Manilow. To hear all the music from the show in full, check out our spotify playlist - https://open.spotify.com/user/1175379738/playlist/1FCSL0ZsctbasEza3kyeMb and please subscribe to the show on itunes. You can find out what else Edith is up to at www.edithbowman.com and follow her on twitter @edibow Next week, Todd Phillips - the man behind the Hangover trilogy, whose new film War Dogs is based on the extraordinary true story of two highly unlikely arms dealers.

Edith chats to US film director David Ayer about the incredible range of music in his movies...from Fury and Training Day, up to his latest release, the hugely anticipated Suicide Squad. To hear all the music from the show in full, check out our spotify playlist - and please subscribe to the show on itunes. You can find out what else Edith is up to at www.edithbowman.com and follow her on twitter @edibow Next week: the man behind Happiness and Wiener Dog, Todd Solondz

For our inaugural episode, Edith chats to British film director Ben Wheatley about the way he uses music in his movies. Ben made his name co-writing and directing the indie horror Kill List, before cementing his reputation with Sightseers and A Field In England. He has now taken on the considerable challenge of realising the dystopian visions of novelist JG Ballard in High Rise … Edith finds out about Ben's broad music tastes, which are reflected in his work – from his love of German experimentalists to the more pop-driven sounds Soft Cell and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. To hear all the music from the show in full, check out our spotify playlist - and please subscribe to the show on itunes. You can find out what else Edith is up to at www.edithbowman.com and follow her on twitter @edibow Next week: David Ayer, the man behind Training Day and Fury, whose latest project is a big-budget adaptation of the cult comic Suicide Squad.