Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

Our guest this week is an Oscar winning Scottish director, equally at home in the realms of fact and fiction. Kevin Macdonald won his academy award for One Day in September, but has also won widespread critical acclaim for films such as Marley, The Last King Of Scotland, How I Live Now and State Of Play. He's collaborated with some tremendous composers along the way, including Jon Hopkins and Alex Heffes - of which more later.  But we begin with his latest project Whitney, a gut-wrenching documentary about the ill-fated singer, featuring candid interviews with those closest to her, as well as plenty of her music.  We also hope it provides aspiring filmmakers with a fascinating insight into his processes.

We know we bang on about it here on Soundracking, but it really is hard to get women on the programme, such is the male dominance of the industry. But every now and again, our efforts succeed, in this case with the suprememly talented writer/ director, Clio Barnard.Clio's latest film is Dark River. Starring Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, and Sean Bean, it tells the story of a woman who returns home after a 15 year absence in order to claim the tenancy of her father's farm.Boasting a new song by PJ Harvey, Dark River is scored by Harry Escott, who has worked with Clio on all three of her features, starting with her debut Arbor.We should say that this episode features a MAJOR SPOILER relating to her second movie, The Selfish Giant.

It's been a year that's seen one or two massive cinematic events, but you can always count on dinosaurs to make a few very loud noises too.Already the 7th highest grossing film of 2018, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the work of Spanish director JA Bayona, who returns to Soundtracking for a second sitting. You can, of course, listen to our previous conversation with Signor Bayona via edithbowman.com. Scored by Michael Giacchino, Fallen Kingdom is part adventure story, part haunted house thriller, with the two elements posing very different challenges for both director & composer. Then, of course, there was John Williams' classic Jurassic Park theme to consider. For reasons we'll discover, JA and Michael deployed it sparingly, though it does feature in familiar form at the very end of the film ...

You can't describe yourself as a podcast about film music without talking to the occasional composer. And we've be joined by a fair few of the best - from Clint Mansell, Justin Hurwitz and Nicholas Brittell to Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and Philip Selway.Without exception, each has cast the projects they've been involved with in a new light and given us exclusive insights into the subtleties of their craft.So we're delighted to finally bring you Daniel Pemberton, in a piece recorded a few months back in his London studio.Daniel is hot property right now. Having worked with Ridley Scott, Guy Ritchie, Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin, he's now provided the score for Ocean's 8, which is out around the globe already but in the UK on Monday 18th June. We'll hear examples of his compositions for all these world-class directors throughout the conversation, as well as some cracking stories.

As if we needed an excuse to invite Ron Howard back to Soundtracking, the fact he's directed the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise is a pretty good one. Solo: A Stars Wars Story speaks for itself, telling the backstory of one of cinema's most lovable rogues. And as with all the movies, music plays an integral part - as central to the experience as the narrative, characterisation and special effects. In this instance, John Powell provided a score which takes things in a new sonic direction. Nevertheless, he had the blessing of John Williams, who also composed a brand new theme for Han ...

We all know Hugh Grant, from his floppy haired romantic performances, dad dancing down the stairs at No 10 Downing Street and most recently high kicking his was in pink prison Lycra in Paddington 2.  There is much more than meets the eye with Hugh, particularly when it comes to music and specifically in projects he’s involved in as a producer. He very clearly appreciates and understands the power of music, both for him as an actor but also in how it should be carefully crafted into a film.Currently starring in the BBC Drama A Very English Scandal as the British Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, who in 1979 was accused of the attempted murder of his gay ex-lover. It is directed by the award winning Stephen Frears and written by the fabulous Russell T Davis who brought on board his regular collaborator, composer Murray Gold. In this episode you will hear Murrays work for the show along with some familiar pieces of music from Hughs back catalogue. Not least the memorable work done by Badly Drawn Boy for About A Boy.

Our latest guest is a giant of British comedy, whose unerring originality, wit and satirical brilliance have long since earned him global recognition.Armando Iannucci's CV is enviable, with credits including The Day Today, Alan Partridge, The Thick Of It, In The Loop and Veep (for which he won two Emmys).His latest project is The Death Of Stalin, a so-called comedy of terrors about the power struggles which followed the passing of the eponymous dictator in 1953. The film is available on home entertainment formats now, and we strongly recommend you check it out if you haven't already.Musically, The Death Of Stalin allowed Armando to indulge his passion for classical music, with the likes of Shostakovich providing sonic inspiration for Christopher Willis's excellent score.You'll hear plenty of extracts from that, as well as the actual recording of a Mozart piano concerto that may very well have been a matter of life and death.

Our latest episode of Soundtracking is a celebration of all things 007, following an event recorded at the London Film Museum with David Arnold and Don Black. The pair have Bond in their blood. Don has provided lyrics for some of the most memorable title tunes, while David has scored 5 of the movies - including The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale. You'll hear plenty of examples of their work, alongside that of the great John Barry, whose themes and score is so inextricably linked to the success of the franchise.  We should say that due to circumstances beyond our control, the sound is pretty poor in places, so many apologies for that. But the music, of course, is of the very highest quality ... 

In what is surely one of the biggest cinematic events of all time, let alone the year, Avengers: Infinity War hit screens around the globe last week, breaking records galore and garnering widespread critical acclaim to boot.So it's with great excitement that we welcome the directors Anthony and Joe Russo to Soundtracking.Boasting a stellar ensemble cast, Infinity War sees numerous characters from the Marvel Universe join forces to prevent intergalactic despot Thanos from destroying, well, everything. Don't worry, though, there are no further spoilers here, not least because Edith was only allowed to see 20 minutes of the film at the time of recording the interview. What we do have for you is Anthony and Joe talking about Alan Silvestri's score, their love of needle-drop, Henry Jackman's work on Captain America, the genius that is Mark Mothersbaugh, David Schwartz's screwball approach to the music in Arrested Development and reflections upon Community, which saw the brothers collaborate with Ludwig Göransson. 

Without wishing to sound sycophantic, it's hard to imagine a more humble talent that Garth Jennings. During this episode, he and Edith discuss many of his extraordinary creative endeavours - though on hearing the conversation you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd had next to nothing to do with any of them at all.  Don't be fooled.  Having founded production company Hammer & Tongs with Dominic Leung and Nick Goldsmith in 1993, Garth has been instrumental in a string of iconic music videos and also written and directed Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Son of Rambow and most recently Sing.  Oh yes, he's penned a children's book too.  Expect music from composer Joby Talbot, Blur, Fatboy Slim, Betty Wright and more.