Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

Epic is a word oft-applied to cinema, but rarely can it have been more appropriately used than to describe the work of Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens. For along with writing partner Fran Walsh, it is they that brought us both the Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit trilogies, not to mention King Kong. Their latest project is the equally ambitious Mortal Engines, which they wrote and produced. Based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines is based on the mind-boggling premise that cities of the future have been mounted on wheels and motorised in order that they can hunt and prey upon each other. The film's score is provided by Tom Holkenborg, also known as Junkie XL, a previous guest on this show. There's plenty of his work to enjoy in this episode, as well of that of Howard Shore, who worked on The Lord Of The Rings & Hobbit movies.

In recent weeks, we've been asking for suggestions for your favourite example of guitar-playing in film with a view to winning a Fender from their new Player Series range. As you might imagine, we've been inundated - receiving shouts for everything from Morricone to The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World. For this bonus episode, we invited composer Daniel Pemberton and music supervisor Kle Savidge to judge the winning entries. Hopefully, you'll appreciate the magnificent trio of cues & scores which came out of the hat. Thanks to Fender for providing guitars from their Player Series range to our competition winners.

It's with a slightly heavy heart that we welcome you to our latest episode, given that the film we're discussing is almost certainly the great Robert Redford's last. That film is The Old Man And The Gun, and the writer / director behind it is David Lowery. David first appeared on the show in August 2017, where we covered A Ghost Story, Pete's Dragon and Ain't Them Bodies Saints among many other things. So here the focus is very much on his latest project. Based on a true story, it stars Robert as gentleman bank robber Forest Tucker, Sissy Spacek as the woman he falls for, and Casey Affleck as the rookie cop pursuing him. To a person, the acting is electrifying. Tom Waits also has a role, which gives us an excuse to play one of our favourite tracks of his, What's He Building?. You'll also hear music by Jackson C. Frank, The Kinks, Scott Walker and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. The score, meanwhile, is provided by Daniel Hart, who is David's regular collaborator. At Daniel's suggestion, the pair settled on jazz for the sonic backdrop - and we give you a taster of that too.

If you want a masterclass in how to score an action movie, you've come to the right place. Because in this episode, director Christopher McQuarrie and composer Lorne Balfe talk us through their stellar work on the genuinely brilliant Mission Impossible: Fallout. As you'll hear, Chris and Lorne are, quite simply, tremendous company. We cover a lot of ground too - from the intricacies of scoring a chase sequence to reworking one of the most famous themes ever. Indeed, one of the obvious challenges faced by Lorne was how to marry Lalo Schifrin's iconic work on the TV series with Christopher's requirements for his very contemporary take on the franchise. Our opening cue Kashmir is an example of how he did it - featuring as it does Lorne's interpretation of Lalo's classic 'Plot' & 'Mission' themes. There's also plenty more of the score to enjoy and some great anecdotes about cinematic folklore. Be warned, while there are no major spoilers, Chris and Lorne do go into the narrative in some detail, so you might wish to wait to listen if you prefer to watch films 'blind'.

Over 100 episodes have passed since writer / director David Mackenzie first joined us on Soundtracking. On that occasion, we talked about his critically acclaimed thriller, Hell Or High Water, and much of his back catalogue. He returns to discuss Outlaw King, a passion project about Robert The Bruce which is available to watch now on Netflix. As well as a score by Tony Doogan (on which David is credited), Outlaw King features plenty of traditional Celtic and ecclesiastical music - which was sourced by music supervisor Jim Sutherland. You'll hear plenty of both throughout this episode. We should point out that if you don't know the story of Robert The Bruce, David goes into it at length during this conversation, which obviously provides much of the narrative content for his movie.

Our latest episode of Soundtracking comes off the back of a very special day Edith spent at Abbey Road Studios in London as the score for JK Rowling's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Gindelwald was being recorded. She was there as the guest of director David Yates and producer David Heyman, both of whom join us this week to discuss what she heard and saw - and how James Newton Howard's stunning compositions compliment the action on screen. It's their second appearance each, having been on by themselves before, so do check out both those episodes once you're done with this one.

Our latest episode of Soundtracking in association with the White Company marks the first appearance for a man Edith has long admired. Steve McQueen is a British writer, director and producer. who had critical big-screen success with Hunger and Shame before scooping an Academy Award for 12 Years A Slave. His latest project is the ensemble heist thriller Widows. Based on the 1983 ITV series of the same name, The plot follows a group of women who attempt a heist in order to pay back a crime boss after their ne'er-do-well husbands are killed on a botched job. It's scored by Hans Zimmer, and also features a sumptuous Nina Simone track and brand new material by Sade, which is always cause for celebration. We also discuss David Bowie, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Gould and much more besides.

Our latest episode of Soundtracking in association with The White Company sees a return for a third time of two of our faves. Writer / director Ben Wheatley's made his debut on our very first show, while composer Clint Mansell walked us through his back catalogue in our 52nd outing - including his magnificent work on Ben's adaptation of the JG Ballard novel, High Rise.   Ben then returned to talk about the jazz-funk score for Free Fire, with Clint joining Duncan Jones in Los Angeles to discuss Duncan's future-noir thriller, Mute. That conversation was an awful lot of fun - and well worth checking out if you haven't already.  Now, at last, we've managed to get Ben and Clint in the same room to tell all about their latest collaboration, Happy New Year, Colin Burstead.  Very loosely based on the Shakespeare play, Coriolanus, it tells the story of Colin, who hires a lavish country manor for his extended family to celebrate New Year. But as we all know, family gatherings over the festive season rarely pass without one or two cataclysmic moments, and Colin's wee party is no exception ... 

It's another Soundtracking Live this week - this time recorded a month or so back at Festival No 6 in the weird and wonderful village of Portmerion, north Wales. Our guest that day was a novelist, playwright and occasional director of shorts, who well and truly thrust himself into the pop cultural consciousness with Trainspotting, and Danny Boyle's subsequent film adaptation of the same name. We are, of course, talking about Irvine Welsh. Irvine was on fine form - discussing everything from his unlikely love of musicals and rom coms to the directors and composers who've inspired him as both a writer and a great fan of cinema. It all seemed to go down well with a packed audience, which made a very long round-trip more than worthwhile. Expect music from from Oliver, Boogie Nights, Pulp Fiction and more ...

Our latest episode of Soundtracking sees a return for the supremely entertaining writer, director and producer Sacha Gervasi, who joined us a couple of months back to discuss his career to date. We held some of that interview back to coincide with the realease of his latest movie, My Dinner with Hervé. Starring Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan, My Dinner With Hervé recounts the later days of actor Hervé Villechaize, best known for his roles in smash TV show Fantasy Island and The Man With The Golden Gun, in which he played Nick Nack. As you'll hear, it's a deeply personal endeavour for Sacha, who, almost by chance, got to know Hervé well shortly before he commited suicide. Given My Dinner With Hervé was 25 years in the making, Sacha talks at length about his own relationship with Herve and why he felt he owed it to him to get project off the ground. We think it's a tale worth telling. So, before we get to the music, we're going to share this incredible backstory with you, interspersed with extracts from composer David Norland's score.