Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

In his relatively short career, writer and director Derek Cianfrance has produced a body of work that has not only been critically lauded, but also wildly contrasting in its sonic demands. For Blue Valentine, his celebrated breakthrough feature, he collaborated with American folk-rockers Grizzly Bear, who provided him with a dreamy hybrid of source music and score. He then worked with Mike Patton of Faith No More, Mr Bungle and Fantomas on The Place Beyond The Pines, before securing the services of composer Alexandre Desplat for his latest film, The Light Between Oceans. Each project had very different musical requirements, which Derek outlines in fascinating detail here. He's a great raconteur, too - with splendid anecdotes about his lifelong obsession with Mike Patton and the sneaky way he got Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams to sing and dance for him in Blue Valentine. Expect plenty of Alexandre's score for The Light Between Oceans, Mike Patton's diverse back catalogue, Grizzly Bear and, of course, the dulcet tones of Mr Gosling!

Few filmmakers at work today can claim to have more visual flair than Nicolas Winding Refn. From his debut thriller Pusher to Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon, he has always served up a feast for the eyes. Invariably his themes are downright dark and sleazy - with tech-noir soundscapes and cinematography enhancing the mood. Whether using source music or score, the Danish director is most accomplished when it comes to sonic dressing. Nicolas has enjoyed a particularly fruitful relationship with composer Cliff Martinez. We'll hear plenty more about that during the course of the interview, as well as excepts of score from the movies on which they've collaborated. Nicolas also gives us a fascinating insight into how he deploys music to induce a profound emotional response from his cast, and also reveals what he considers to be the Holy Grail of score.

From child star to Academy Award winning director, Ron Howard has always made it his business to entertain. And entertain us he has - from A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 and Frost / Nixon to his most recent offerings - the Beatles documentary Eight Days A Week and Dan Brown thriller Inferno. But whereas Edith's previous guest Andrea Arnold prefers to accompany her films with source music, Ron is a particular fan of score, and has, accordingly, collaborated with some of the finest cinematic composers of recent times, including James Horner, Thomas Newman, John Williams and Hans Zimmer. We'll hear plenty more about the director's admiration for that venerable bunch during the course of our conversation, as well as excerpts from the work they produced for his movies. Ron also reflects on his time as an actor, and has a most amusing anecdote about Michael Jackson!

Andrea Arnold announced herself to the film world by winning an Oscar for her short film Wasp in 2005. Since then her releases Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey have all won the Jury Prize at Cannes. The latter is her latest offering - a road trip following a 'Mag Crew' as they party their way across the American Midwest selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door - listening to plenty of phat beats. Hip-hop is the sonic hearbeat of the film, with the sub-genre of Trap particularly prevalent. Originating in Atlanta in the 1990s, Trap music is dark, aggressive and lyrically challenging. We feature plenty of uncensored examples from the soundtrack during this episode. Don't forget you can check out the playlist to the show on Spotify. https://play.spotify.com/user/soundtrackingwithedithbowman Next week: Ron Howard!

In his brief directorial career, Tate Taylor has brought us three very different films requiring three very different soundscapes. First up was his Oscar-nominated Civil Rights drama The Help, set in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962. It is a deeply personal film for Tate and awash with the music of the time - including Ray Charles, Mavis Staples and Johnny Cash. It also saw him collaborate with Thomas Newman for the first time on the score. Then came the James Brown biopic Get On Up - with track after glorious track from The Godfather of Soul. Produced my Mick Jagger and again scored by Thomas, it was built around an incredible performance by Chadwick Boseman in the lead role. Now we have his take on Paula Hawkins' international bestseller The Girl On The Train – a psychological thriller featuring suitably claustrophobic sonic undertones. Danny Elfman provides those in spades, and you'll hear plenty of his score in this episode. We also get the story behind Thomas's score for The Help, and of course have the opportunity to play lots and lots of James Brown.

Thea Sharrock was brought up on The Ramones. She cut her directorial teeth in theatre, becoming the youngest ever artistic director at a British theatre when she took over at the Southwark Playhouse at the tender age of 24. She went on to direct Happy Now? at the National Theatre, before taking Equus to New York in 2008 - with Daniel Radcliffe making his Broadway debut. In 2009, she directed a production of As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2010, she directed Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis in The Misanthrope, then Benedict Cumberbatch in the Olivier-winning revival of After the Dance – before moving to TV with Tom Hiddlestone's Henry V for the BBC. This was beautifully scored by Adrian Johnston - whose work features prominently in this episode. Her debut feature film Me Before You is a romantic drama starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, with a soundtrack featuring Ed Sheeran, Max Jury, Jack Garratt and The 1975 - and a score by the legendary Craig Armstrong (Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Love Actually). Again, there's plenty of Craig's music to enjoy here.

It's a safe bet that any writer / director who borrows song titles to name his own films is something of an audiophile. Richard Linklater is unquestionably one of these. From Dazed and Confused To Boyhood and the so-called 'Before' Trilogy, the amiable Texan has forged a career making movies with a very specific sense of time and place - accompanied by soundtracks that appropriately underscore the mood he's attempting to create. His latest film continues this trend. Set in a fictional US college in 1980, Everybody Wants Some!! offers up a stonking array of contemporary tunes - from Donna Summer and Jermain Jackson to Blondie and The Sugarhill Gang. As with so much of his back catalogue, it's also very funny and beautifully observed. By his own admission he prefers source cues to score - though he’s not averse to orchestration when the situation demands - as it did, for instance, in A Scanner Darkly. But it's rock 'n' roll where his heart lies, so expect music from Steppenwolf, The Hives, The Flaming Lips and Aerosmith. You can check out the playlist in full via edithbowman.com too.

Though it’s impossible to pigeonhole the 9 feature films David Mackenzie has directed, there’s one thing they have in common: his obvious passion for music. Having enlisted Scottish band The Pastels to provide the soundtrack for his debut The Last Great Wilderness, he’s since collaborated with luminaries such as David Byrne and Max Richter. Indie label Domino Records provided all the songs for Hallam Foe, while David’s romantic comedy You Instead was shot over 5 crazy days at the T In The Park festival in Scotland. His latest film Hell Or High Water continues this fine musical tradition - scored as it is by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. So expect to be taken on a musical journey, with tracks from Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, Franz Ferdinand and The Bill Wells Trio among many others.

Actor, writer and now director of Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortensen, Matt Ross takes Edith on a musical journey encompassing bagpipes, German experimentalism and Bulgarian folk – not to mention Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Guns N Roses. To hear all the music from the show in full, check out our spotify playlist - https://play.spotify.com/user/soundtrackingwithedithbowman and please subscribe to the show on itunes. You can find out what else Edith is up to at www.edithbowman.com and follow her on twitter @edibow

In the latest episode of Soundtracking, writer, actor, director and all-round good guy Jon Favreau joins Edith to discuss how he uses music in his films. From the big-band beats of Swingers to the Latin and R&B infused rhythms of Chef, Jon has always displayed a knack for using sound to perfectly compliment his visuals. This is no bad thing in the context of his remake of The Jungle Book, what with its formidable musical legacy. As well as George Bruns' majestic score, it also features a series of unforgettable showstoppers by longtime Disney collaborators the Sherman brothers. Good job he had Bill Murray and Christopher Walken to help out! Expect tracks from artists as diverse as AC/DC, Buddy Holly, The Chips, Roberto Roena and Louis Prima.