Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

Christmas continues to come early on Soundtracking, as once again we have two guests for you instead of one. First up, a bit of a legend in our mind, given that he scripted both American Beauty and Six Feet Under. Alan Ball has now written and directed a little gem of a movie in the shape of Uncle Frank, which you can watch on Amazon Prime. Starting Paul Bettany and Sophia Lillas, Uncle Frank tells the story of a gay man forced to confront his past on a road trip with his niece, and has all the wit and nuance of Alan's previous stellar work. Then, perhaps even more impressively on a certain level, Edith is joined by Viggo Mortensen, who not only wrote and directed, but also starred in, and composed the score for, Falling - his first film behind the camera. A long time in the making, Falling sees Lance Henriksen play the homophobic Willis, who is forced to move in with his gay son when he starts to exhibit signs of dementia. Falling has a cinematic release, but you can also watch it at home. Head to modern

It's all about girl power on this latest episode of Soundtracking, with not one but two women at the very top of their game. First up is Sofia Coppola, returning to the podcast to discuss her new film, On The Rocks, which she both wrote and directed. Starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, it tells the story of Laura, a mum having doubts about her marriage whose charming yet cynical father, Felix, suggests her husband may be having an affair. It's streaming on Apple TV now, and sees both leads on fine, fine form.  Then Edith is joined by Alison Brie. Best known for her roles in Mad Men, Community and Glow, Alison has now directed an episode of Marvel 616. Marvel 616 is a series of 8 documentaries about everyday folk who are in some way connected to the universe of the comics. We'll let her explain further during the interview, but you can find out what it's all about for yourselves on Disney+ Enjoy!

As promised, we've another double-header for you on this latest episode of Soundtracking, as we span the globe with an Australian and an American. First up is Ben Frost - a composer of extraordinary versatility. We spent much of the time discussing his scores for the mind-bending German Netflix sci-fi / thriller / mystery / time-travel drama Dark. His work on all three seasons is available to buy right now at invada.co.uk - so get ordering online at the first opportunity. Then we bring you Radha Blank discussing The 40-Year-Old Version - a film she wrote, directed and stars in. Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, it tells the story of, you guessed it, Radha, a down-on-her luck playwright moving between the worlds of theatre and hip-hop.

It's two for the price of one on our latest episode of Soundtracking, as we bring you a superb composer and splendid writer/director. First up is our old friend Ludwig Goransson, here to talk specifically about season two of the Mandalorian - which is streaming now on Disney +, one episode at a time. Then we bring you Bassam Tariq on Mogul Mowgli, which had a theatrical release before the second lockdown, and is now available to watch on the BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema. More details are available here: https://www.mogulmowgli.co.uk/ Starring former guest on this show, Riz Ahmed, It's such a startlingly original piece of filmmaking, we really wanted to give it a little bit of love. Hence the bonus guest! Enjoy!

Our latest guest is a composer whose work you'll almost certainly know and love. As you'll hear, Steven Price took the scenic route into full blown film scoring with Attack The Block in 2011, after many years on the periphery of the business. His patience has been well rewarded - he went on to win an Oscar for Gravity, and has also worked on World's End, Baby Driver, Suicide Squad and The Aeronauts among many other things. Steven joined Edith to discuss a couple of new projects he's done for Netflix, which you can watch right now: Glen Keane's beautiful animation, Over The Moon, and David Attenborough's A Life On Our Planet. Both very different, but both extremely moving in their own way - in no small part thanks to Steven's music.

We're really thrilled to be able to bring you this latest episode of Soundtracking, as it's the first thing we've done in front of a live audience post-lockdown. As part of the London Podcast Festival, Edith was joined by the one and only Nick Frost before a small, socially distanced gathering at King's Place to discuss all manner of things, including his new Amazon show Truth Seekers, a comedy-horror about a team of paranormal investigators. We're hugely grateful to Nick for making the effort - and he was on predictably fine form. Thanks also to everyone who made the effort to be there in person or join us online. We really do appreciate it!

We've got a proper friend of the show on this latest episode of Soundtracking, as Ben Wheatley returns for his fourth - yes, fourth - sitting.  Our first ever guest, he previously joined us to discuss High Rise, Free Fire and Happy New Year, Colin Burstead. This time round he's here to talk about his take on Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it right now on Netflix. Rebecca sees Ben reunited with composer Clint Mansell, who also provided the scores for High Rise and Colin. 

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is Melissa Parmenter. Not only has Melissa worked alongside the great Michael Winterbottom for many years as a producer, she's also a composer who scored The Killer Inside Me and Genova. In addition, she's released the Scandinavia EP and a new album, Messapica.  We talk to Melissa about her creative process, and how she balances her time between making films and TV shows like The Trip and making music.

Edith's latest guests on Soundtracking are a couple of documentary makers whose work she absolutely loves. She first met Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui following the release of their debut feature, McQueen, based on the life of British fashion designer, Lee Alexander McQueen. Now Ian and Peter have turned their attentions to paralympians with Rising Phoenix, which is streaming on Netflix now. Scored by our old friend Daniel Pemberton, Rising Phoenix plays like a superhero movie, a device that really hits the mark.  The three of them also discuss Michael Nyman, who allowed Ian and Peter to use his music for McQueen.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking first came to Edith's attention with his barnstorming lead performance in Richard Ayoade's coming-of-age drama, Submarine. Craig Roberts has since broadened his horizons and turned his attention to writing and directing - first with Just Jim and now the wonderful Eternal Beauty. Starring Sally Hawkins, Eternal Beauty tells the story of Jane, a young woman suffering from depression and schizophrenia in 80s suburbia following the trauma of being stood up at the altar. It's an audacious bit of filmmaking - dealing with the difficult subject mental illness with remarkable deftness of touch. The movie is scored by Michael Price, who has been incredibly helpful in supplying us with his music - so thank you Michael, we'll get you on soon.

Our guest on this latest episode of Soundtracking is a world-famous frontman with a genuine passion for score. SImon Neil is a guitarist and lead vocalist for Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro - whose most recent album A Celebration Of Endings went straight to the top of the UK album charts. But as you're about to hear, he really does know his stuff when it comes to movie music too. Man, do we cover a lot of ground! He also scored Jamie Adams' wee gem of a film, Balance, Not Symmetry, and hopes to do more scoring in the future.

Our guest on this latest episode of Edith's screen music podcast Soundtracking is an actor known for his roles in Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, Little Voice, Brassed Off, Star Wars and ... well, the list goes on and on and on. Ewan McGregor's latest project sees him reunited with his good friend Charley Boorman for Long Way Up. Available now on Apple TV, Long Way Up accompanies the pair as they attempt to motorcycle all the way from the bottom of Latin America to Los Angeles - on electric Harley Davidsons! It really is a wild and hilarious adventure - and Edith is absolutely loving it. The show features some brilliant tunes too, from familiar rock and pop to songs specific to the countries through which Ewan and Charlie travel. We also find out the unlikely band that he had in his headphones under his helmet ...

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a hugely entertaining composer who has worked on tens and tens of movies, TV shows and video games. Among Harry Gregson-Williams's many credits are an apprenticeship under Hans Zimmer, a long-term working relationship with the Scott brothers, the Shrek series, and an unlikely collaboration with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on Team America. The story behind how that came to pass is hilarious, by the way. His latest project is the live action animation remake of Disney's Mulan, which is based on classic Chinese folklore and tells the story of a girl disguised as a man who becomes a great warrior. And you can watch it on Disney + right now!

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a composer I've been trying to pin down for yonks - so often has his name been mentioned on the podcast. Ludwig Göransson is best known for his work with Childish Gambino, Ryan Coogler, on Disney's The Mandalorian and most recently the Christopher Nolan blockbuster TENET. And for all the wrong reasons, it's fitting that we speak to him now, given he won an Oscar for his score to Black Panther. Edith recorded this interview before we learned the tragic news about Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer last week aged just 44. But given Ludwig's connection to the film, it seemed only right we paid tribute to its star. Thus you'll also hear an extract from Episode 77, in which Marvel executive producer Nate Moore recalled a lovely story about how Chadwick was cast in the film. Then, of course, there is the usual smattering of Ludwig's music at relevant points throughout the conversation.

We love a good actor on this podcast, and we have a seriously good one for you in our latest episode in the shape of Tim Roth. Tim's credits are too numerous to list, but he can currently be seen in the thoroughly gripping pulp crime drama Tin Star on Sky.  He's also worked with Quentin Tarantino on several occasions, and had the honour of meeting Ennio Morricone too.  Edith takes a deep dive into his career and the music that's featured in it along the way.

You may not know Glen Ballard, but you do know Glen Ballard. For Glen is a songwriter, lyricist and producer who's worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Anastacia and Alanis Morissette - with whom he co-wrote Jagged Little Pill to great critical acclaim and commercial success.  His latest project sees him team up with Damian Chazelle (among others) for The Eddy, which centres on a jazz club in contemporary Paris. Not only was the Netflix series Glen's brainchild, but he also wrote all of the songs for it with composer and pianist, Randy Kerber. As well as playing plenty of music from the show, Edith also drops a couple of classics from his illustrious career.

We have a proper legend for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking in the shape of virtuoso trumpeter and composer, Terence Blanchard. A well-established jazz musician in his own right, Terence was given a break scoring Jungle Fever by Spike Lee, for whom he's subsequently become the 'go-to' guy. Malcolm X and The BlacKkKlansman are just a couple of the movies they've joined forces on. Their latest collaboration is Da 5 Bloods, which you can watch now on Netflix. He's also just provided the music for HBO's Perry Mason - with the score for that available via our good friends at Water Tower Music. As ever, we'll sprinkle plenty of Terence's music throughout the conversation, so sit back and enjoy.

One of the things that helped Edith and her family no end during lockdown was having access to the entire Pixar back catalogue through Disney Plus. She and her two boys watched virtually all of the movies and shorts again for the umpteenth time, so it was a real joy for us to welcome to the animator, writer and director Dan Scanlon to Soundtracking. Dan joined Pixar in 2001, and worked on Cars and Toy Story 3 as a story artist before directing Monsters University. His latest work was the deeply personal suburban fantasy, Onward. Based on his own experience of losing his father, Onward tells the story of two elf brothers who go in search of an artefact that will temporarily bring their deceased dad back to life. It's both visually and emotionally beautiful, and if you haven't seen it already, watch it now! The film is scored by Mychael and Jeff Danna, and we'll hear plenty of their work throughout the conversation, as well as that of Pixar stalwarts Randy Newman and Michael Giacchino.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is an award-winning playwright and theatre director, now turning her hand to cinema. Jessica Swale's first play Blue Stockings premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013. She went on to win an Olivier Award for Nell Gwynn in 2016, a comedy initially starring Gugu Mabatha-Raw - and then Gemma Arterton when it transferred to the West End. Fittingly, both women take leading roles in Jessica's debut feature, Summerland. Spanning half a century, Summerland tells the story of Alice, a reclusive writer who is forced to take on a young evacuee called Frank during World War II, totally against her wishes.  It's a genuinely moving tale, complimented beautifully by Volker Bertelmann's music - aka Hauschka. Speaking of which, we'd like to say a huge thanks to Jess Barry at Lionsgate - and indeed the filmmakers - for providing us with his score, given that it's yet to be commercially released.

We are eternally grateful to our latest guest on Soundtracking - who ended up speaking to Edith twice for the podcast following a computer malfunction. But that's the kind of guy Rob Delaney is. Best known for bringing us the multi-award winning Catastrophe with Sharon Horgan, Rob is an actor, comedian and writer of formidable talent - who's appeared in a whole host of films including Bombshell, Deadpool 2 and the forthcoming Home Alone reboot. Rob's also a huge music lover, which is why our good friends at Invada Records invited him to put together one of their celebrity playlists.  We also discuss his love of the music in Alex Garland's Devs and The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, among many other things.