Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

We very much like welcoming musicians to Soundtracking, so we were incredibly excited to learn about a documentary on the life of superstar Sri Lankan / British rapper M.I.A. - not least because Edith has been a huge fan since her days at BBC Radio 1. Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. was directed by her longtime friend Steve Loveridge, and follows 22 years in her life - including her rise to fame and her persp...

The latest episode of Soundtracking finds us out and about once more, this time at the British Film Institute on London's South Bank. And it's a truly stellar cast. Director Lenny Abrahamson, composer Stephen Rennicks, editor Nathan Nugent and producer Gail Egan joined Edith in front of an audience to discuss the music of their latest film, The Little Stranger. Based on the novel of the same name...

Our latest edition of Soundtracking features British writer / director Bart Layton. Bart won widespread critical acclaim for his debut The Imposter, a documentary about the case of the French conman Frédéric Bourdin, who impersonated a Texas boy who disappeared at the age of 13 in 1994.  His new film is also inspired by an extraordinary true story about a group of ordinary everyday guys who plan t...

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a composer who cut his teeth as a founder member of Tindersticks, with whom he wrote orchestral arrangements, recorded numerous albums and toured worldwide. Dickon Hinchliffe then turned his hand to scoring films when French director Claire Denis asked the band to write the music for her film Nénette et Boni. Dickon hasn't looked back since, providing the sonic...

Our latest guest may be German, but he's clearly something of an Anglophile, having made a Bond film, the Peter Pan inspired Finding Neverland, and now a new take on the British cultural institution that is Winnie The Pooh. Perhaps most importantly, Marc Forster is a total audiophile too!  Marc's Christopher Robin is a delightful live-action addition to the Disney franchise, with Ewan McGregor in...

Providing a sequel for one of the highest grossing and most loved live-action musicals of all-time is a terrifying challenge by any reckoning, so we think you might be surprised how humble and down to earth the man that was charged with doing so is. Ol Parker wrote and directed Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and has done a fine job too. As well as managing an all-star cast including Pierce Brosnan,...

Our latest guest is another of those 'annoying' multi-talented sorts, who's written, directed and produced a whole host of movies to widespread acclaim. Sacha Gervasi's first film was The Big Tease, which he co-wrote with Craig Ferguson. He went on to pen The Terminal, made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. That's some feat. He also directed the brilliant rockumentar...

And so to episode 101 of Soundtracking, the weekly podcast about screen music. And we're delighted to say the person who joins us for the first step of our journey towards 200 is the multi-talented Paddy Considine. As well as starring in a wide variety of critical & commercial successes, Paddy wrote and directed the award-winning Tyrannosaur, and also fronts his own band, Riding The Low.   Now...

Back in 2016, we had the idea of making a podcast dedicated to screen music. We had no clue whether we'd get the guests, whether they'd have anything to say, whether it'd get repetitive - or even whether you'd listen. Roll forward 2 years, and here we are at Soundtracking celebrating our 100th episode. It's a milestone we're incredibly proud to have reached, and to mark the occasion we've compiled...

It's a slightly different edition of Soundtracking this week, as we bring you another of our live events, this time recorded at the Moët Summer House weekend in London in June. Edith's guest was the brilliant playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan, whose work includes movies Iron Lady and Shame and TV dramas The Hour, River and The Split.  We're bringing this one to you in two parts, because as we...

It's a very special episode of Soundtracking for Edith this week, as we welcome first-time director Drew Pearce to the show. Edith and Drew have known each other for nearly 20 years, during which time he's co-written Iron Man 3 and provided the story for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation His debut feature as a director is Hotel Artemis, which is set in the near future and tells the story of a nurse...

Not for the first time on this show we're joined by Pixar royalty, which is, frankly, a joy. Following Edith's chat about Coco with Lee Unkrich & Darla Anderson back in episode 75, we're delighted to welcome writer, director, animator, voice-actor & double Oscar winner Brad Bird - who has just served up another masterclass in movie-making with Incredibles 2. Like Coco, Incredibles 2 is sco...

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...

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 a...

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 edithbowm...

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...

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 sp...

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...

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 str...

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...

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 fro...

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 Le...

It's been a while since we had any acting talent on the show, so it gives us great pleasure to welcome the wonderful John Simm to Soundtracking. John has appeared in many great productions on stage and screen. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Life on Mars as Sam Tyler and Doctor Who as The Master, with recent appearances in Collateral on the BBC and Trauma on ITV. His films include Wonder...

It's another very special Soundtracking this week as we take you to the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, where director Alex Garland and his composers Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury came together for a Q&A following an exclusive screening of Annihilation. As you may know, the film hasn't had a cinematic release outside the US. You can, however, watch Annihilation on Netflix, and it's well worth y...

This week's episode has been a long-time coming. We reckon Edith spoke to director Todd Haynes just before Christmas - after his latest film Wonderstruck received a 3 minute standing ovation at last year's Cannes film festival - and we've been desperate to share our chat ever since. Well, the moment has come, as Wonderstruck finally gets an official UK release - though you may already have been lu...