Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

We're bringing you another Soundtracking Live this week, recorded at London's BFI shortly before Christmas with the one and only Tim Burton.  We had an absolutely cracking night in front of a full house, chatting about his longtime partnership with Danny Elfman and playing clips from Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorands, Batman Returns, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and The Nightmare Before Christmas. As such, you'll need to use your imagination a wee bit in this episode - but the scenes we went for are so memorable and iconic, it shouldn't prove too problematic.  Besides, they are of course all beautifully scored - so if nothing else you can enjoy Danny's work.

Edith's guest on this week's Soundtracking is a writer, actor and director behind a trio of films we hugely admire. Marielle Heller first came to our attention with her razopr-sharp comedy-drama, Diary Of A Teenage Girl. She followed that up with Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which won a slew of awards and saw Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant nominated for Oscars. Now Marielle brings us A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, a drama inspired by Fred Rogers, a beloved American children's entertainer, musician & puppeteer - played in the film by Tom Hanks. Fred is most famous for the show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood - so it seemed only fitting, given that we're a film music podcast, that we began with Mr Hanks's version of Mr Rogers' theme ...

Our latest guest on Soundtracking could not be more suited to a podcast about film music, what with him being so knowledgable and passionate about both artistic forms. Kevin Smith burst onto the indie scene with his 1994 lo-fi slacker classic Clerks, which he shot for around $28,000 only to see it receive widespread critical acclaim and gross $3 million. It also introduced the world to Jay and Silent Bob, who have featured in many of his subsequent movies - getting their latest outing in Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. It's riotous good fun, whether you're familiar with their history or not. A prolific podcaster himself, Kevin is bloody cracking company, with stories to tell about the music in pretty much all of his work, including a corker about Fleetwood Mac.  One of our faves, ever!

It's been a very good week for Soundtracking, with our little film music podcast nominated for two gongs at the UK's premier audio industry awards, the ARIAs. And who better to celebrate with than one of the biggest names in the music business, Bruce Springsteen. Bruce joined Edith following the premier of Western Stars, the film he co-directed with his long-time collaborator, Thom Zimny, who also took to the stage.  Western Stars is a cinematic interpretation of his album of the same name, and features live performances in his barn, interviews, home video footage and Bruce's meditations. 

It's been a jolly good week for our latest guest on Soundtracking, whose new film 1917 has just landed him a couple of gongs for best film and director at the Golden Globes and several BAFTA nominations. We are, of course, talking about Sam Mendes, who joined Edith for a chat at London's Imperial War Museum towards the end of last year. In case you don't know, 1917 tells the story of two soldiers in World War I charged with delivering a critical message to fellow troops, and is based on an firsthand account told to Sam by his grandfather.  Remarkably, the action is shot to appear like one continuous two-hour take. The fact that he pulls it off in such convincing fashion is thanks in no small part to the efforts of legendary cinematographer, Roger Deakins. The score, meanwhile, is provided by Thomas Newman, who also worked with Sam on American Beauty and his Bond films.

Happy New Year one and all, and welcome to the very first episode of Edith's film music podcast Soundtracking of 2020. Here's to the next decade of cinema and song! To celebrate, we've got not one but two guests for you, with two very different coming-of-age tales about young friendship and rebellion. Both, however, have tremendous warmth at their very core. First up is writer, director and actor Taika Waititi, who's new film Jojo Rabbit tells the story of a boy obsessed by Nazism who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic. Oh yes, and whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler ... Then we speak to Brian Welsh about his wonderful celebration of 90s dance culture Beats, which stars Christian Ortega and Lorn McDonald as two pals gearing up for their first outdoor rave. As you'd expect, the soundtrack is an absolute banger.

Our guest on the very last episode of Soundtracking of the decade is Greta Gerwig, returning to the show to discuss her second outing as a writer/director, Little Women. It's the eighth film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic 1868 novel and boasts a staggering cast - including Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet and Meryl Streep.  The score, meanwhile, is provided by Alexandre Desplat - and we will of course sprinkle plenty of his music throughout the conversation.

We have a treat for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking, what with it being Christmas and all, with not one guest but three! First up is the delightful Bryce Dessner of The National, who has scored the Netflix film The Two Popes, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce as the eponymous pontiffs, Benedict and Francis. As usual, you'll hear plenty of Bryce's music during the course of the conversation. Then there's something for all you Avengers fans with a very entertaining turn from Infinity War and Endgame writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Now, if we're honest, we don't talk about music at length - but they're such good fun we wanted to share the interview with you anyway.

Our guest on this week's Soundtracking is a writer/director we've long admired, from his Oscar nominated The Squid And The Whale to Frances Ha and Mistress America.  Now Noah Baumbach brings us Marriage Story, a hugely acclaimed tale of a couple (played by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) going through a horrible divorce. Available to watch now on Netflix, Marriage Story is scored by none other than Randy Newman - and there's of course plenty of his music to enjoy in this episode.

We're very excited about our latest episode of Soundtracking, which sees Edith joined by a supremely gifted actor, Edward Norton. Well, we say actor, but he's a little bit more than that, having written, produced and directed his latest project, the neo-noir Motherless Brooklyn. Based on a novel by Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn tells the story of Lionel Essrog, a private investigator with Tourette's syndrome trying to solve the murder of his mentor. The film serves up a sonic feast - from our Daniel Pemberton's wonky jazz-infused score to an original song by Thom Yorke featuring Flea and a considerable contribution from virtuoso horn player, Wynton Marsalis. We should say it also contains spoilers - but for Chinatown rather than Edward's own film!