Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

When you’ve made 5 movies that average over 90 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s fair to say you’re doing something right in the eyes of the discerning film fan.Writer / director Jeff Nichols has done just that. From his debut Shotgun Stories to Take Shelter, Mud and Midnight Special, he’s proved himself to be a master craftsmen, capable of breathing life into an incredibly diverse range of subjects.His latest offering Loving is no exception. Starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, it tells the true story of the landmark US court case Loving versus Virginia, which challenged the state laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage.As with all my guests, music is a central feature of Jeff’s work. From the scores provided by his go-to composer David Wingo to the considered placement of pop favourites from his youth, he has more than met the contrasting sonic demands presented by the narratives he’s brought us.

From the very opening sequence of Danny Boyle's debut Shallow Grave - in which the viewer zooms through the streets of Edinburgh to the dark pounding beats of Leftfield - it was clear we were dealing with a filmmaker of great visual flair who understood a thing or two about music too. As if proof were needed, he followed Shallow Grave with Trainspotting and that set of songs - which rank it alongside the likes of Pulp FIction and Lock, Stock ... as one of the defining pop soundtracks of the 1990's. Two decades on and Danny is still blazing a trail. Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and Spud back - alongside Iggy, Blondie, and one or two artists for the 'T2' generation. In the case of Danny, there's simply too much ground to cover in one show. So, for the time being at least, we focus on his various collaborations with John Murphy, AR Rahman and Rick Smith and Karl Hyde from Underworld - who, of course, had a big musical hand to play in both Trainspotting films ...

As double-bills go on a show such as this, it’s hard to imagine a more relevant combo than the director and composer of La La Land - the film that’s causing quite the song and dance the world over. In our previous episode we had the pleasure of talking to director Damien Chazelle about his musical masterpiece; this time round, it’s all about his composer and great friend, Justin Hurwitz.If you’re new to the show, the format is simple. Each week, Edith speaks to key figures from the world of cinema about the music in their work, with relevant examples of the cues we discuss woven into the discussion.So it is you'll be hearing extracts from Justin’s compositions for Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench, Whiplash and La La Land, all of which he scored for Damien.The pair met in their Freshman year at Harvard, forming a band called Chester French who went on to have considerable success after they went their own way to make movies. But Chester French’s loss has been our gain, with Whiplash and La La Land in particular earning near-universal acclaim – not to mention awards and nominations aplenty …

If you've had the pleasure of watching Damien Chazelle's breakthrough feature Whiplash, you'll know it's a hard act it is to follow. But follow it he has with La La Land, an utterly beguiling 21st century musical set in the city of angels. Having just landed 7 Golden Globes - including Best Screenplay and actress and actor awards for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - it's now been nominated for 11 Baftas. In the case of both Whiplash and La La Land, the music is provided by Damien's old college roommate Justin Hurwitz, who I'm delighted to say joins me next week. You’ll hear plenty of examples from both scores, as well as a spot of West Side Story and Singing In The Rain.

Edith's guest this week is fast establishing a reputation as a filmmaker of wit, originality and imaginative flair. In his short career as a writer / director, John Michael McDonagh has brought us 3 features, all of which have been characterised by taut narrative, black comedy and whip-crack dialogue.First up was The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, which is officially the most financially successful Irish independent movie of all time. Then came Calvary, a darkly humorous drama about a priest tormented by his community.Now he’s crossed the Atlantic with War On Everyone, another twisted comedy in which Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña play a pair of tearaway New Mexico cops.John’s heartfelt passion for music is reflected in the wide variety of artists he’s used in his work. During the course of our conversation, you’ll hear tunes from The Clash, The Fun Loving Criminals, REM, M.O.P and John Denver, among many, many others.We’ll also discuss his collaborations on score with Calexico, Patrick Cassidy and Lorne Balfe.

Edith's first guest of 2017 is Juan Antonio Bayona - or JA for short - which we hope you'll agree seems a most excellent way to start the New Year. Since 2007, the Spanish director has made three critically acclaimed movies - all of which have had, in very different ways, children at the centre of the narrative.First came his superior horror flick The Orphanage, followed by The Impossible, which is about a family caught up in the 2004 tsunami and was inspired by true events. Now he brings us A Monster Calls. Based on the award winning fantasy novel by Patrick Ness, it tells the story of a boy who comes to terms with the terminal illness of his mother with the help of a humanoid tree. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Lewis MacDougall and Liam Neeson, and is an incredibly powerful cinematic experience.As with all JA's films, A Monster Calls is scored by Fernando Velazquez, while his foray into television with Penny Dreadful saw him collaborate with Polish composer, Abel Korzeniowski. You can expect plenty of extracts from both musicians' work, as well as pieces from George Delarue and Elmer Bernstein among others.

In days gone by, it might have been considered a backward step to go from adapting Shakespeare to adapting a video game. Not anymore – with this week’s guest Justin Kurzel having done just that.Following his hugely well-received take on Macbeth, the Australian director has now turned his attention to Assassin’s Creed - a movie based on the video game franchise that has sold well over 100 million copies worldwide. Both projects are scored by his brother Jed, and both star one of the actors of the moment, Michael Fassbender.In the 21st Century, our brief here on Soundtracking applies as much to games as it does to film. Not only is the Assassin’s Creed series fully scored by the likes of Jesper Kyd and Winifred Phillips, but one of the trailers features a cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World by New Zealand vocal sensation, Lorde. They’re more than just hackathons, too - with big ideas about morality, science, history and fate driving the narrative.Plenty, then, for Justin to draw inspiration from when transforming the games into a cinematic experience …

In cinematic terms, it may very well just be the greatest story ever told. With its ground-breaking special effects, unforgettable cast of characters and universal themes, the original Star Wars trilogy has inspired and delighted film goers ever since A New Hope blew everyone away in 1977. Among those to have felt its force is Gareth Edwards - the man charged with directing the latest addition to the franchise, Rogue One.And it goes without saying that music is central to the impact of George Lucas’s masterpiece – as are the iconic sound effects. John Williams’s score is one of the most famous ever written, while we all mimicked the noise of a Tie-Fighter or lightsaber when we played with the toys as kids. Gareth was only too aware of this sonic legacy, and reveals how he and composer Michael Giacchino acknowledged it in Rogue One.We’ll also explore his collaborations with Jon Hopkins and Alexandre Desplat on Monsters and Godzilla respectively, with plenty of examples from both scores woven into the conversation.

Having earned an Oscar nomination for his short film Cashback in 2004, British director Sean Ellis has since caught the eye with a stylistic approach that is urgent, visceral, and intense. With the help of composers Guy Farley and Robin Foster, he's delivered soundscapes to match.Following its run at the Oscar, Sean developed Cashback into a full-length feature before bringing us Anglo-French horror The Broken, both of which were scored by Guy. Then came the Philippine-set crime drama Metro Manila, which won numerous awards. His latest project is Anthropoid, which tells the true story of an unlikely assassination attempt on Hitler's second in command Reinhard Heydric - the so-called Butcher of PragueFor these two most recent ventures, Sean predominantly collaborated with Robin, who we must thank profusely for his assistance in putting this episode together. Apart from anything else, we'd have struggled to identify the specific Bartok violin sonata that features in a key scene in Anthropoid without him! Interestingly, though, that sonata is one of the few cues in the film that's relevant to 1940s Prague, with Sean and Robin instead settling on a dark electronic score to evoke the all-pervasive atmosphere of paranoia that came with the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia ...

You have to go a long way to find someone who doesn't like Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and the gang - or Alice of Wonderland fame, for that matter. With this in mind, it's a great pleasure to welcome James Bobin into the Soundtracking family. Not only has James directed two Muppet movies and steered Alice on a recent outing through the Looking Glass, he's played a very significant hand in a couple more pop-cultural institutions too.For having helped Sasha Baron Cohen create Ali G, Borat and Bruno, he then teamed up with Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie to bring the wonderful musical comedy Flight Of The Conchords to our screens. Indeed, Bret subsequently lent his expertise to both of James' Muppet movies. We'll be playing plenty of tunes from these films throughout the course of the conversation, as well as some classic Conchords. We also have the joys of hearing excerpts of Danny Elfman’s majestic score for Alice Through The Looking Glass - and a Strauss polka that was all the rage in the 1870s.