Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

Despite being a thoroughly humble and unassuming sort, Joe Wright has led quite the life. From drinking in the pub as a youngster with Kathy Burke to creating live visuals for The Chemical Brothers, he's long held ties to key players in British culture. Not that he's become a director of great repute on anything other than merit - as evidenced by his latest movie, Darkest Hour. Telling the story of Winston Churchill's early days as Prime Minister during World War II, Darkest Hour revolves around an extraordinary central performance from Gary Oldman, which has already landed him a Golden Globe. But the brilliance of this film is about so much more than that - thanks in no small part to Joe's all-encompassing vision.  Darkest Hour is up for a whopping nine awards at the EE BAFTAs. As well as Gary's inevitable nomination, these include Best Film and, appropriately enough for our purposes, Best Music for Dario Marianelli.  On Joe's instruction, Dario's score was inspired by the modernist movement of the 50s and 60s, and specifically a more recent work called Hammers by contemporary German composer Nils Frahm.

In a very special bumper edition of Soundtracking, Edith is joined by all five of the nominees for the EE BAFTA Rising Star award. They are, in no particular order, Daniel Kaluuya, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Tessa Thompson and Josh O'Connor. As well as getting to know about them as actors and individuals, we'll also be interspersing score and source music from their films in the usual way, and finding out about their diverse sonic tastes. Accordingly, you'll hear music by Giggs, Frank Ocean, Keaton Henson, Alt-J, Psychedelic Furs, Sufjan Stevens, Talking Heads, Korn, Max Richter and many more. This award is voted for by the public, so head to ee.co.uk/bafta to get involved.

With his first two films In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, Martin McDonagh made the transition from world famous playwright to high-class filmmaker seem deceptively straightforward. Such a shift is anything but, of course. But he continues the trend with his latest offering - the jet black comedy drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missourti. Hotly tipped for success this coming awards season, it tells the story of a woman in the eponymous town who lays down a challenge to local police to take greater action over the unsolved murder of her daughter. Among its many delights are barnstorming central performances from Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. Three Billboards is scored by Carter Burwell, who has collaborated on all three of his feature films. Their partnership is a dream come true for Martin, who fell in love with his work on the Coen brothers' Blood Simple as a teenager ...

We are very excited here at Soundtracking that we have teamed up with EE, the headline sponsor of the EE British Academy Film Awards, to create a series of special podcasts over the next few months. In that time, we will explore the minds and experiences of BAFTA talent and we start the partnership this week with past EE Rising Star Award winner, Will Poulter. For one so young, Will has already built up a mighty impressive CV. Having made his breakthrough in Son Of Rambow back in 2007, the 24-year-old has since had significant roles in Maze Runner, We're The Millers, War Machine and The Revenant. His most recent outing was in Detroit, in which he plays a racist and sadistic police officer involved in a shocking case of brutality during the city's 1967 race riots. It's a performance of stunning depth and maturity - and one that may yet see him nominated for an Oscar. All of these films are interesting from a musical perspective too - from the 80s Rambow soundtrack to Cave / Ellis vehicle War Machine and The Revenant, which was score by Ryuicho Sakomoto, Alva Noto and Bryce Dessner from The National. We'll also hear music from The Cure, Ben E King, Tracy Chapman and Toto.

It's hard to think of a more iconic set of musical themes than those so thrillingly imagined by John Williams for Star Wars: A New Hope. 40 years on and that score still sounds as exhilarating as ever. Much then to discuss with Rian Johnson, the man who has written and directed the latest installment of the space opera, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Up until this point, Rian has employed the services of his cousin Nathan to score his movies. And as we'll hear, he's done a fine job, from the DIY noir of Brick to the rich orchestration in The Brothers Bloom and layered synths of Looper. But when it came to the Star Wars: Last Jedi it could only be John, who delivered a suite retaining all the classic themes that we so associate with the saga while having very much its own identity ...

We don't just speak to directors, composers and producers on this show; actors are welcome too. And in Cillian Murphy, we not only have a man at the top of his game but also a genuine enthusiast for the sonic arts. Cillian has shone in a hugely diverse range of films, from blockbusters Dunkirk and The Dark Knight trilogy to indie flicks Disco Pigs and Breakfast on Pluto. He can currently be seen in BBC gangster epic Peaky Blinders, back for a fourth season having garnered an enormous fan-base and widespread critical acclaim. If you haven't seen Peaky, one has to wonder what you've been doing with your time. In a nutshell, Cillian stars as Tommy, the leader of the eponymous gang who are fighting for underworld supremacy in post World War I Birmingham. Among the show's many delights is the use of contemporary music as a counterpoise to the narrative, from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (whose track Martha's Dream is playing now) to PJ Harvey, Savages, David Bowie and The White Stripes. You'll hear examples of all of these artists throughout the conversation - starting with Mr Cave and his Red Right Hand - a track that has become synonymous with the show ...

We've already spoken to one legendary British producer on this show in the shape of Stephen Woolley. Now it's the turn of David Heyman. Like Stephen, David's CV is enviable. As well as producing all the of Harry Potter films and spin-off Fantastic Beasts, he's also the man behind The Light Between Oceans, Testament Of Youth and Gravity among many, many other celebrated movies. And as we'll discover, music very much falls under his remit. The list of composers David has worked with is mighty impressive, from John Williams and James Newton Howard to Steven Price, Max Richter and Dario Marianelli, who scored his latest project, the delightful Paddington 2. Perhaps surprisingly, David loves hip-hop, which informed his first movie as a producer, Juice, the 1992 thriller starring late rapper Tupac Shakur. And given that we kick off by playing tracks and a clip from the film, we should warn you that there's inevitably a fair bit of choice language in this episode ...

For the first time in 66 episodes, disaster struck as Edith's original interview with Val and Jon was corrupted. Thankfully, this delightful wife & husband team agreed to do it all over again 24 hours later and boy are we glad they did - so fantastic was their company on both occasions. Val and Jon cut their teeth making music videos, working with the likes of Jane's Addiction, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Smashing Pumpkins. They moved into feature films with the wonderful Little Miss Sunshine, which was scored by Davotchka and Mychael Danna and showcased tunes by Sufjan Stevens and Rick James. Their latest offering is Battle Of The Sexes. Starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrell, the plot is loosely based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. As well as including tracks from Elton John, Tommy James & The Shondells and a Sarah Bareilles original - the movie is scored by our old friend Nicholas Britell. You'll hear examples of all of these artists during the conversation.

For a small nation, Scotland doesn't half punch hard when it comes to the arts. And like previous guest David Mackenzie, Paul McGuigan is a fine example of a Scottish director doing great things on a global stage. From gritty British crime drama Gangster No 1 to whip-smart Hollywood thriller Lucky Number Slevin, he's proved most versatile - also working on a string of TV hits such as Sherlock. Paul's latest film is Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Based on the memoir by Peter Turner, it tells the story of his relationship with screen goddess Gloria Grahame while she was living in the city. Scored by Paul's friend J Ralph, it also features tracks by Elton John, A Taste Of Honey, Jose Feliciano and and an original composition from the one and only Elvis Costello. You will, of course, hear examples of all of these artists throughout the conversation - as well as David Ruskin's delightful love them for The Bad & The Beautiful, for which Gloria won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1952.

Though still a relative newcomer to the cinematic mainstream, Yorgos Lanthimos has already proved himself to be a filmmaker of wild originality and imagination. Following his breakthrough feature Dogtooth, which tells the story of children completely cut off from the outside world by their parents, he brought us The Lobster, a surreal tale about people who are turned into animals if they fail to find love. His latest offering is psychological revenge thriller, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer. Starring Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, it follows a family forced into making a torturous decision having seemingly been cursed. Unsettling, unpredictable and gripping, it landed the best screenplay award at this year's Cannes. Though Yorgos hasn't worked with a composer on any of his films to date, the classical pieces he uses in The Lobster and Deer often serve a similar purpose. While the former features the work of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Strauss and Britten, the latter has a much more experimental palate - full of agitated strings and alarming tonal shifts. You'll hear plenty examples of this throughout the course of the conversation, as well as tracks by Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue and Radiohead (for whom Yorgos directed a short video).