Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

It's another double-header for you, with two returning guests to Soundtracking. First up, it's Bryce Dessner from the National, who composed the score and music for Cyrano with his brother, Aaron. Then it's the man who directed this latest interpretation of the classic tale, Joe Wright, who is always a joy to speak to.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is an actress, singer and dancer who dazzled us all in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story. Ariana DeBose's performance as Anita has already seen her win a Golden Globe - and she's also been nominated for an Oscar and Bafta among many other accolades. It was an absolute delight to catch up with her - Ariana really is a thoroughly sparky and likeable character.

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are actor and now writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal and composer Dickon Hinchliffe, who join us to discuss their collaboration on The Lost Daughter. Available on Netflix, The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Coleman, Dakota Johnson and Jessie Buckly, and is - among many other things - a genuinely powerful meditation on the trials and tribulations of motherhood. We absolutely love it - and can guarantee music lovers will LOVE this conversation.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a friend of the show, returning to discuss his sequel to a massive family favourite in households across the globe - not least Edith's. Garth Jennings found a winning formula with his joyous animation, Sing, and has thankfully managed to recreate it with Sing 2. In addition to an all-star cast reprising their roles from the first film, Garth also managed to persuade none other than Bono to play a reclusive rock star and allow him to rework some classic U2 songs. He shares a couple of lovely anecdotes about that too ...

We have a proper legend for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking in the shape of the great Sir Kenneth Branagh, who also happens to be one of the loveliest people you could ever wish to interview. Edith caught up with him a few months back to discuss Belfast, a coming-of-age comedy drama and beautiful ode to his hometown, which he both wrote and directed. It really is a very special movie, and we highly recommend getting to your local cinema to see it if you feel safe doing so. Apart from anything else, you'll get to hear loads of classic Van Morrison tunes - with Van also having scored the film.

Our latest guest is a composer who's perhaps best known for his work with the Coen Brothers, though he's collaborated with plenty of other great filmmakers too. Carter Burwell was something of a punk rocker before landing the gig to score Joel and Ethan's first feature, Blood Simple. He's since provided the music for virtually all of their films - including the latest, The Tragedy Of Macbeth.

Our latest episode sees the welcome return of Nicholas Britell - with us on this occasion to discuss his score for Adam McKay's Don't Look Up.  Heading up the extraordinary cast are Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astronomers attempting to warn mankind about an approaching comet that will destroy civilization.  It's fair to say the film has strongly divided opinions, but Edithfor one really enjoyed it - and Nicholas's score is great too.

Our first guests of 2022 are two brothers who've formed a formidable creative partnership since being given the opportunity to shine. Will and Arthur Sharpe have taken on directorial and compositional duties on several joint-projects, with The Electrical Life of Louis Wain their latest collaboration. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, the biopic tells the story of the eccentric artist of the title, who had a particular - and many would say peculiar - affiliation with cats ... While Will co-wrote and directed the film, Arthur provided the music, and as always you'll hear plenty of it throughout the conversation.

Edith's latest guest on Soundtracking is without doubt one of the most exciting fresh talents at work in the industry today. Julia Ducournau burst into the popular consciousness with Raw, and follows it up with the equally scintillating Titane, which won the Palme d'Or  We don't want to tell you too much about it, as it defies a fleeting summary. Suffice to say it absolutely blew us away, and we highly advise you to go and see it at your local cinema if you feel safe doing so. The film is scored by Jim Williams, who's worked extensively with our old friend Ben Wheatley, and you'll hear plenty of his music throughout the conversation.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a screenwriter who's proved extremely adept at adaptations of books, including The Men Who Stare At Goats, The Snowman, The Goldfinch and - the main reason we have him with us on this episode - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the film of which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Peter Straughan was a delight to spend a little time with as we explored the ways music informs the writing of a script. 

Our latest guest on Soundtracking needs no introduction, other than to say we are absolutely over-the-moon to welcome Steven Spielberg to the podcast to discuss his jaw-dropping adaptation of West Side Story. We'd have loved to have got a few more minutes with him, if we're honest, but anyone who follows us on social media will know there's potentially some exciting news on that front ... And Edith did manage to tease out a few of his favourite scores, how he met John Williams, and the process behind the score for Jaws among many other things.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is an Italian filmmaker Edith absolutely adores, who's brought us 20th century classics The Consequences Of Love and The Great Beauty among his many offerings. His latest movie is also his most personal, the semi-autobiographical The Hand Of God, which you can watch on Netflix from December 15th and is in selected cinemas now. He's an absolute hoot - enjoy.

Edith's latest guest on Soundtracking is another giant of film music composition, who she was lucky enough to catch up with at Abbey Road Studios as he was recording his work on the latest Fantastic Beasts movie. James Newton Howard has scored well over 100 films across all genres, including The Fugitive, Pretty Woman, The Sixth Sense, Prince Of Tides, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, My Best Friend's Wedding and a couple of Nolan's Batmans for good measure. We could listen to him - and his music - all day.

Who doesn't watch their own films? Well, our latest guest for one - a hugely versatile actor and musician most presently to be seen as Paolo in Ridley Scott's House Of Gucci. Jared Leto first gained recognition in My So Called Life, went on to form 30 Seconds To Mars with his brother, Shannon, and has also landed numerous notable cinematic roles, including The Joker in Suicide Squad and Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049. He absolutely loves scores too - and you'll find out which ones in particular during the conversation.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a very dear friend of Edith's who we're delighted to say has done an absolutely superb job with his feature film debut. The friend in question is writer / director Reggie Yates, and the film is Pirates. Starring Elliot Edusah, Jordan Peters and Reda Elazouar, Pirates tells the story of 3 young friends trying to get into a club night on New Year's Eve in 1999. It's worth watching for the garage music alone, though there's plenty more to enjoy besides.

Our latest guest on soundtracking is the actor, songwriter, playwright, producer, rapper and now feature film director, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Not fair, really, is it?! Lin-Manuel is perhaps most well known for writing the script, music and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been a global phenomenon since its Broadway premiere in 2015. He's since done all manner of wonderful things, including the songs for Moana. At the moment, you can hear his music in Disney's Encanto and see his directorial Tick Tick Boom on Netflix, about the life of composer Jonathan Larson (who brought us Rent)

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are two friends who've come together to create something quite unlike anything I've ever seen. The Nowhere Inn sees Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark - aka St Vincent - play themselves in what appears to be a documentary about St Vincent's life as a musician. However, the film is entirely scripted, and in fact transforms into what one critic describes as a Lynchian nightmare smeared in lipstick.  Annie also scored the movie, and we have to say it's an absolutely wonderful compilation of tunes - which more than stands alone as an album.

Our latest guest in this bumper run on Soundtracking is the Chilean director, Pablo Larraín, who's brought us many gems including Tony Manero and Jackie. Pablo's latest film is Spencer, which tells the story of Princess Diana's decision to end her marriage to Charles. Kristen Stewart is brilliant in the lead role, and gets able support from Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins and Sean Harris. And as if that weren't enough to whet your whistle, Spencer is scored by Jonny Greenwood

Our latest guest on Soundtracking returns to the podcast to discuss a very different film than the one she spoke about previously. Chloe Zhao quite rightly landed critical acclaim and awards aplenty for Nomadland at the start of the year - and now ends it by co-writing and directing Eternals for Marvel Studios. Starring Gemma Chan, Barry Keoghan, Kit Harrington, Selma Hayek and Angelina Jolie to name but a few, Eternals tells the story of alien immortals who have been sent to earth to protect the human race from their evil counterparts, The Deviants.

Our latest guest has undoubtedly had more mentions on this podcast than anyone else by quite some distance - and now we finally have him in person. Hans Zimmer has scored in excess of 150 films and been instrumental in developing the careers of numerous composers, including Lorne Balfe and Harry Gregson-Williams. He's worked with just about everyone who's anyone in the film business, and joins us today to discuss his two latest blockbusters, Dune and No Time To Die.