Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

It's another double header for you on this week's Soundtracking, with a director and one of his leading ladies joining me to discuss their spin on one of Disney's most iconic villains. Craig Gillespie and Emma Stone have, quite simply, created a fabulous Cruella De Vil. Effectively a prequel to the original animated classic, Cruella also stars Emma Thompson and Mark Strong among many other fine actors, and tells the story of Estella Miller, a fashion designer making her way in 1970s punk London who eventually becomes the titular baddie. As well as featuring over 50 songs, the film is scored by our dear friend Nicholas Britell, who complimented the deluge of needle drops with what he told us was his first rock-driven score.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a composer returning for a second visit, having scored pretty much every blockbuster to hit our screens in recent weeks. The work of Tom Holkenborg - or Junkie XL, if you prefer - can currently be heard in the epic Snyder Cut of Justice League, Godzilla vs Kong, and the riotous Netflix Zombie heist flick Army Of The Dead, which hadn't been released at time of recording. He was on BRILLIANT form - so we hope you enjoy the chat and, of course, his music as much as we do.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is one our our faves - a supremely talented composer and all-round top fella, returning to the podcast for a third time. As ever, Nicholas Britell's services are in high demand - and he's been keeping pretty busy during the pandemic and beyond Not only has he scored Barry Jenkins's new Amazon Prime series, The Underground Railroad, but he's also penned the music for Cruella and the forthcoming season 3 of Succession among other things. As always, you'll hear plenty of Nicholas's music sprinkled throughout, illustrating the discussion.

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are writer / director Julie Taymor and her partner both romantically and creatively, the composer Elliot Goldenthal. Julia and Elliot joined Edith to discuss The Glorias, a remarkable film about the life of journalist and political activist, Gloria Steinem, with different actors playing her in the various phases of her life. It's a device that allows Julie all manner of scope for narrative fun and games, and elicits fine performances from leading ladies Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. They also reflect upon Elliot's Oscar-winning score for Frida, which Julie directed.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a rare thing in this business: a female composer. Huzzah! Amelia Warner is relatively new to the game, but is definitely making waves, having provided the scores for Mary Shelley and the brilliant BBC short, Leading Lady Parts.  Her latest offering is Wild Mountain Thyme. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, Wild Mountain Thyme is a comedic family drama set in Ireland starring Amelia's husband Jamie Dornan, Emily Blunt and Mad Men's Jon Hamm. Her score beautifully combines sweeping orchestration and traditional Irish music tropes, and you'll hear plenty of it throughout the course of the interview.

Our guests on this latest episode of Soundtracking are successful musicians in their own right who - not for the first time - have teamed up to deliver a stunning movie score. Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann first worked together on Garth Edwards's Lion. They've since brought us the music to The Old Guard, The Art Of Racing In The Rain, A Christmas Carol and, most recently, Francis Lee's Ammonite - which is available digitally but will also have a selected cinema release in the UK from 17th May.  They are properly lovely fellas, and exceedingly talented to boot. Enjoy!

Our guests on this week's Soundtracking are a couple of ladies eyeing success at the Academy Awards on Sunday evening. Emerald Fennell and Carey Mulligan have combined to great effect on the former's directorial debut, Promising Young Woman, which she also wrote. Nominated for 5 Oscars - including best picture, director and actor - Promising Young Woman tells the story of Cassie, a med school dropout seeking to avenge the death of her best friend, who was a victim of rape.  By turns extremely funny, dark, and provocative, it also has a banging soundtrack and a fine score by Anthony Willis.

We've cheated a bit this week - as one of our guests doesn't really talk about music at all. But given her film Nomadland has just won a sackful of BAFTAs and is nominated for six Oscars too, we thought we'd cut Chloe Zhao a little slack. To be honest, Edith just wanted to share the interview with you, so much does she love the film - which stars Frances McDormand as a woman who becomes 'houseless' and travels America following the death of her husband. We're also joined by Kevin Macdonald to discuss his new movie, The Mauritanian. Starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahman and Benedict Cumberbatch, The Mauritanian is based on the 2015 memoir Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was held for fourteen years without charge in Guantanamo. It's scored by relative newcomer, Tom Hodge, and you'll hear examples of his music throughout the conversation.

We don't just have one guest for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking - or even two. No, it's a 'three-for' this week, as we explore the wonder that is Sound of Metal. Nominated for six Oscars and four BAFTAs, including shouts from both for the extraordinary Riz Ahmed as best actor, Sound of Metal tells the story of a drummer, Ruben, who is going deaf - with all the emotional trauma that entails. And Riz is one of our three guests, alongside director and co-writer, Darius Marder, who's in the hunt for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, among other accolades. We'll hear separately from Darius's brother, Abe, who not only co-wrote the script, but also had the tricky job of articulating Ruben's descent into silence sonically as a composer on the movie. We also have to thank Abe for furnishing us with his yet-to-be-released music from the film, and Matthew at Nonesuch Records, who gave us the all clear to use it. Sound of Metal is available to watch on Amazon Prime from 12th April, and is coming to cinemas on 17th May.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is composer Emile Mosseri, who has deservedly been Oscar nominated for his score to the quite beautiful Minari. Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari tells the semi-autobiographical story of South Korean immigrants trying to make a new life in rural America during the 1980s. It's available to watch as of today via the Altitude Film website - so you can find out for yourself why it's earned six - yes six - Academy Award nominations.