Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

It's been one of the TV events of the year, and we're delighted to be celebrating its success with two of the composers who worked on it. Based on the 2013 video game, The Last Of Us tells the story of Ellie and Joel as they navigate a post-apocalyptic world in which a mass fungal outbreak has caused humanity to collapse, with the infected turned into bloodthirsty Zombie-like creatures. The game was scored by Gustavo Santaolalla, who returns to work alongside David Fleming on the HBO show - which you can watch on Sky and Now TV. 

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is the actor and director, Diego Luna. Diego is, of course, the star of Andor, which you can watch now on Disney +. If you haven't seen  season one yet, you need to change that right now so you're ready for season 2, which is currently in production. Hurrah! Here Diego discusses Nicholas Britell's score, the brilliance of showrunner Tony Gilroy, and why he believes his has been so popular with audiences and critics.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is the very lovely, very charming and very brilliant actor, John Boyega. John can currently be seen in Breaking on home entertainment formats - a heist drama based on true events in which a financially stricken veteran threatens to blow up a bank unless he receives a payment he is owed from his time in the Marines. Such a treat to have him along, we hope you enjoy.

It's a welcome return to Soundtracking to Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves to discuss their work together on John Wick: Chapter 4. The pair have clearly had huge amounts of fun making this - and all - the John Wick films, and their passion for and dedication to building Wick-World is plain for all to see on screen. It's a great chat, which we very much hope you enjoy!

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is the super-smart, super-likeable and super-exciting young talent, Raine Allen-Miller - whose directorial debut feature Rye Lane brims with charm, wit, energy and panache. Set in Peckham and Brixton, it tells the story of Yas and Dom - two twenty-somethings who meet in the wake of their respective breakups and bond over the course of an exceedingly eventful day. Rye Lane is scored by the wonderful producer and composer Kwes - and we must say a big thanks to everyone at Warp Records for providing us with his as yet unreleased cues. Website: edithbowman.com Email: info@edithbowman.com Social Handle: @SoundtrackingUK

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is composer Rachel Portman. Rachel has just released an album of her film music re-versioned and performed by her called Beyond The Screen - Film Works On Piano, and it is a very lovely thing indeed.  The other reason we wanted to put out the interview this week is that Rachel was the first ever woman to collect an Oscar for composing - for Emma, back in 1996. Congratulations to all this year's winners!

358 episodes in, and the man who kicked it all off for Soundtracking returns for a third time. Jon Favreau was the very first guest Edith recorded for the podcast - for which we're forever grateful - and here he is again to discuss The Mandalorian, the brilliant show he created for Disney +. Season 3 is streaming weekly now.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is Peyton Reed, director of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. The third instalment of the series, it follows our eponymous heroes as they explore the magnificently realised Quantum realm, encountering all kinds of fantastical creature on the way As with the previous two films, Quantumania is scored by Christophe Beck

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang, who come together under the banner of Son Lux. And under that banner, they provided the music for Daniels Kwan and Scheinert's mind-bending multiverse romp, Everything Everywhere All At Once. The score had to mirror the complexity of the narrative without confusing matters further. No mean feat, but one they manage to pull off with some considerable panache. 

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is Ben Caron a director who cut his teeth on TV shows such as The Crown and Andor, and has now directed his first film for Apple TV. It's called Sharper, and it is a twisty-turny tale where nothing is quite as it seems, which stars Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan and John Lythgow, and is scored by our old friend Clint Mansell.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is writer and director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, who's latest film The Woman King has deservedly been nominated for a ton of awards. Set in 1823, The Woman King tells the story of the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit that defended the West African kingdom of Dahomey from the 17th to 19th Centuries. The film is scored by former guest on this show, Terence Blanchard. 

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is someone we've been wanting to get on for a long time - not least because of his collaborations with friend of the show, Clint Mansell. Darren Aronofsky is a truly original and radical filmmaker, whose latest movie The Whale has seen Brendan Fraser receive widespread acclaim as a reclusive English teacher who is eating himself to death. The Whale is beautifully scored by Rob Simonsen - who has served up a haunting take on the nautical themes that underpin the movie.

Our latest guests on soundtracking must be pinching themselves, after the film they worked on together land a staggering 9 oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Score All Quiet On The Western front was adapted and directed by Edward Berger and scored by friend of the show Volker Bertelmann - and the recognition they're receiving is richly deserved. We're thrilled to welcome them to the podcast to talk so revealingly about their work.

The big names just keep on coming to Soundtracking - and today we're over the moon to be joined by Guillermo Del Toro and Alexandre Desplat to discuss their wonderful collaboration on Guillermo's take on Pinocchio, which is streaming now on Netflix. Set against the backdrop of the emergence of Facism in Italy, this is a bittersweet tale of the challenges of the father-son relationship which has a deeply personal feel to it - and certainly got Edith and her 9-year-old talking about the many profound themes it raises. As you'd expect, Alexandre's score is magnificent, and there's plenty of that sprinkled throughout the conversation too.

It's our 350th birthday, and what a way to celebrate it - with another bonus episode in the company of the legend that is James Cameron. James was on sparkling form as he joined Edith to discuss the music of Avatar: The Way Of Water and the 25th anniversary re-release of Titanic. There's also a bit of a news line in here too, regarding plans for the subsequent films ...

Fresh off the back of its huge success at the Golden Globes - and multiple BAFTA nominations - we're delighted to welcome The Banshees Of Inisherin composer Carter Burwell back to Soundtracking. Little did we know when we recorded this interview at the end of last year that the film would win best picture in a musical or comedy AND best screenplay for Martin McDonagh, as well as a best actor gong for Colin Farrell. Carter was pipped in the Best Score category by our last guest on Soundtracking, Justin Hurwitz, but that takes nothing away from the excellence of his work on the project

We have a bonus episode for you today, as two friends of the podcast return (separately, we should say) to discuss their work together on the extraordinary Babylon. Director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz have worked their magic once again, bringing to life a tale of decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess in 1920s Hollywood. What we do is share the interview with Justin first, as that goes into great detail about the music; then we'll get an overview from Damien about the score and the movie as a whole.

We've got an incredible run of guests coming up with you over the next fortnight - so much so that we'll be doing a couple of bonus episodes. But what a treat we have to kick off with today. Cate Blanchett is magnificent in Todd Field's new film, Tár, which charts the downfall of the eponymous composer and conductor, Lydia Tar. We won't say too much more about it, except for the fact that Cate has real musical chops, and puts her heart an soul into her incredible performance, and that it is scored by the wonderful Hildur Guonadottir

This might be a first for Soundtracking, but if it isn't, it certainly doesn't happen very often. For in speaking to Bones And All script writer David Kajganich, we've now completed the triumvirate of director Luca Guadagnino and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. David is so insightful about the process, and also how music is fundamentally important to it. It's a fascinating listen. We're also giving away a pair of tickets to a screening of The Fabelmans in this episode - so have a listen to find out how to win!

Having chatted to Daniel Craig on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, we're delighted to share Edith's conversation with Rian Johnson, the writer and director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Rian is a great lover of music, and we'll hear about his thinking when it came to the sound of this film - both in terms of the needle drops and the score, which was provided by his cousin, Nathan Johnson.