Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

Our latest guests on soundtracking must be pinching themselves, after the film they worked on together land a staggering 9 oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Score All Quiet On The Western front was adapted and directed by Edward Berger and scored by friend of the show Volker Bertelmann - and the recognition they're receiving is richly deserved. We're thrilled to welcome them to the podcast to talk so revealingly about their work.

The big names just keep on coming to Soundtracking - and today we're over the moon to be joined by Guillermo Del Toro and Alexandre Desplat to discuss their wonderful collaboration on Guillermo's take on Pinocchio, which is streaming now on Netflix. Set against the backdrop of the emergence of Facism in Italy, this is a bittersweet tale of the challenges of the father-son relationship which has a deeply personal feel to it - and certainly got Edith and her 9-year-old talking about the many profound themes it raises. As you'd expect, Alexandre's score is magnificent, and there's plenty of that sprinkled throughout the conversation too.

It's our 350th birthday, and what a way to celebrate it - with another bonus episode in the company of the legend that is James Cameron. James was on sparkling form as he joined Edith to discuss the music of Avatar: The Way Of Water and the 25th anniversary re-release of Titanic. There's also a bit of a news line in here too, regarding plans for the subsequent films ...

Fresh off the back of its huge success at the Golden Globes - and multiple BAFTA nominations - we're delighted to welcome The Banshees Of Inisherin composer Carter Burwell back to Soundtracking. Little did we know when we recorded this interview at the end of last year that the film would win best picture in a musical or comedy AND best screenplay for Martin McDonagh, as well as a best actor gong for Colin Farrell. Carter was pipped in the Best Score category by our last guest on Soundtracking, Justin Hurwitz, but that takes nothing away from the excellence of his work on the project

We have a bonus episode for you today, as two friends of the podcast return (separately, we should say) to discuss their work together on the extraordinary Babylon. Director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz have worked their magic once again, bringing to life a tale of decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess in 1920s Hollywood. What we do is share the interview with Justin first, as that goes into great detail about the music; then we'll get an overview from Damien about the score and the movie as a whole.

We've got an incredible run of guests coming up with you over the next fortnight - so much so that we'll be doing a couple of bonus episodes. But what a treat we have to kick off with today. Cate Blanchett is magnificent in Todd Field's new film, Tár, which charts the downfall of the eponymous composer and conductor, Lydia Tar. We won't say too much more about it, except for the fact that Cate has real musical chops, and puts her heart an soul into her incredible performance, and that it is scored by the wonderful Hildur Guonadottir

This might be a first for Soundtracking, but if it isn't, it certainly doesn't happen very often. For in speaking to Bones And All script writer David Kajganich, we've now completed the triumvirate of director Luca Guadagnino and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. David is so insightful about the process, and also how music is fundamentally important to it. It's a fascinating listen. We're also giving away a pair of tickets to a screening of The Fabelmans in this episode - so have a listen to find out how to win!

Having chatted to Daniel Craig on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, we're delighted to share Edith's conversation with Rian Johnson, the writer and director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Rian is a great lover of music, and we'll hear about his thinking when it came to the sound of this film - both in terms of the needle drops and the score, which was provided by his cousin, Nathan Johnson.

Now, Christmas week is just about to get a whole lot cooler, as we welcome Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to Soundtracking for a second time Edith LOVES talking to this dynamic duo about film music, and the good news is we have two of their scores to unpack: the first being for Luca Guadagnino's Bones And All and the second for Sam Mendes' Empire Of Light.

If you harbour ambitions to write film scripts, you must listen to this - a very welcome return to the podcast to Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who joins us discuss her truly excellent Netflix vehicle, The Good Nurse. Starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse tells the story of Amy Loughren, a night nurse who suspects that her co-worker is the serial killer Charles Cullen.  Perhaps more importantly for our purposes, Krysty offers a truly fascinating insight into the creative workings of the screenwriter. Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Bonus episodes of Soundtracking abound this festive season with so many great film offerings out there - one of which is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery So it is that we welcome Daniel Craig to the podcast to discuss his relationship with music and his role as the returning master detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson's smart comedic mystery - soon to be showing on Netflix We don't want to say too much about the plot, but suffice to say it has all the humour, twists and turns of the first film, with an incredible ensemble cast including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.

Very excited about our latest guest on Soundtracking - the Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu  Alejandro's latest offering is Bardo: False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths - a semi-autobiographical tale that follows a journalist & documentarian who returns to his native country of Mexico and begins having an existential crisis in the form of dreamlike visions. As well as co-writing and directing the film, Alejandro also collaborated with friend of the pod Bryce Dessner on the score

There are so many cracking releases at the moment, we getting as much out to you as we can in something of a festive giveaway. We dropped Michael Giacchino earlier in the week, and now we bring you Frances O'Connor and Abel Korzeniowski, who joined me to discuss Emily. Frances wrote and directed the film, while Abel provided the score. It's a fictionalised version of the life of Emily Bronte, and concentrates on her romantic relationship with the curate William Weightman - there is no evidence that such a relationship ever occurred.

We are dropping two episodes of Soundtracking for you today - the first being with composer and director, Michael Giacchino Michael performed both duties for Marvel Studio's Werewolf By Night, which is a sly modern take on the classic monster movies of yesteryear. That's right. Directed. And scored. What a total dude. One of our favourite ever guests! And that hoodie ...

It's always lovely talking to actors on Soundtracking to get their perspective on music, and we have one for you in our latest episode in the shape of Violent Night star, David Harbour. Violent Night sees David star as a Father Christmas who is anything but the traditional image of cheery, rosy-cheeked, white bearded old man.  David also discusses the distinctive sound of Stranger Things, and his fondness for Counting Crows, which is something of an embarrassment to him when he's hanging out with his cool East Village pals.

Last time we had our latest guest on the podcast was when he was kind enough to join Edith for a Soundtracking Live at the BFI on London's South Bank. That was more of a career retrospective; this time, Tim Burton is here to talk about Wednesday, his first foray into making a television series. As is so often the case with Tim's work, Wednesday is scored by the great Danny Elfman, ably supported by Chris Bacon. There are also a couple of delicious needle-drops up for discussion.

It's a welcome return to Soundtracking for Luca Guadagnino, a writer and director who always talks so eloquently and revealingly about the music in his films.  His latest project is Bones And All. The ensemble cast features Timonthee Chalamet, Taylor Russell and Mark Rylance in what is part horror, part romantic road movie and part period drama. Bones and All is scored by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor - or A & T as Luca describes them - who will themselves be joining us soon.

Thrilled to have another director / composer combo on Soundtracking this week in the shape of Sebastian Lelio and Matthew Herbert, who have joined forces on the Chilean writer/director's latest film, The Wonder. Starring Florence Pugh, it follows an English nurse sent to an Irish village in the 1860s to observe a young girl who is seemingly able to survive without eating. It's an amazing experience, narratively, visually and sonically, so we highly recommnend you dive in.

It's one of those episodes of Soundtracking which we love so much, in which Edith gets to pick the brains of an up-and-coming filmmaker who's just beginning their journey in the industry. Charlotte Wells's debut feature Aftersun is an absolutely beautiful piece of work, telling the story of Sophie as she reflects upon a holiday with her then young father they took together 20 years earlier. As well as containing countless fantastic needle drops, Aftersun is also expertly scored by Oliver Coates, who very kindly furnished us with cues from his as yet unreleased score. Cheers, Oliver!

Bonus episode time with Ryan Coogler, director of the new Black Panther film, Wakanda Forever. The film's release is obviously hugely bittersweet for all involved with the sad passing of Chadwick Boseman - but, boy, have Ryan and the exceptional cast done his memory proud. Here he discusses Chadwick's legacy and the tonal influence his death has had on narrative, as well as the excellent soundtrack and Ludwig Goransson's score.