Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

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.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, renowned for his groundbreaking work on Hamilton, shares his journey through the music of Encanto, Tick Tick Boom, and more. He dives into the creative process behind writing for animated films and the cultural significance of his songs. The conversation touches on how personal narratives enrich storytelling and the collaborative nature of filmmaking. Miranda also reflects on the emotional connections formed through music and the challenges of honoring original visions while injecting personal flair.

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.

Our latest guests on this bumper run on Soundtracking are Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who have formed a fine screenwriting partnership on Edgar's latest film, Last Night In Soho. We're not going to tell you what it's about, as it really is one of those movies that benefits from seeing with next-to-no prior knowledge. What we will tell you is that it stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp and the late Dame Diana Rigg in her final performance, has a fabulous 60s soundtrack, and is scored by our old friend Steven Price.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a composer we've been trying to pin down since day one of the podcast, back in 2016. Alexandre Desplat is a true giant of the film scoring business, having been nominated for numerous Oscars and winning one for his work on Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel and one for the The Shape Of Water. And if you were in any doubt as to his credentials, he's worked with the likes of - in no particular order - George Clooney, Stephen Frears, Greta Gerwig, David Fincher, Terrence Mallick, Nora Ephron, Roman Polanski and Ben Affleck. But it's to discuss his latest collaboration with Wes that Alexandre joins us today - the typically idiosyncratic The French Dispatch. As always, his music beautifully compliments the quirky visuals, humour and narrative presented to us by everyone's favourite offbeat director.

We're really excited about our latest episode of Soundtracking, seeing as it does the return of Denis Villeneuve. The French-Canadian director joins Edith to discuss his adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic Dune - which boasts a stellar cast including Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin and many, many more. Dune is scored by Hans Zimmer, who we're thrilled to announce is going to be a guest on the podcast in the next couple of weeks too. Happy days!