Soundtracking With Edith Bowman

We have a composer for you today who has been on our wish-list for a very long time. Benjamin Wallfisch has built up strong relationships in the industry, perhaps most notably with our old friend Hans Zimmer, with whom he has collaborated on several projects including Blade Runner 2049. Benjamin's latest outing is on Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives, which tells the miraculous true story of the boys and the football coach who were rescued from a Thai cave having been trapped by flooding.

We're such a fan of the movies of our latest guest on Soundtracking, the wonderful Jordan Peele. Following the critical and commercial success of Get Out and Us, Jordan goes fully widescreen with his sci-fi epic Nope, which sees ranch-owning siblings Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer try to capture footage of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. We shall say no more than that ... As with Jordan's previous two movies, Nope is scored by Michael Abels, and we share plenty of his music from the film too.

Our latest guests on soundtracking are partners in both a personal and creative sense, whose latest collaboration sees them bring us the utterly wild Bullet Train. Husband and wife team of director David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick have a lot of fun with a great cast to tell the story of a motley crew of rogues, who all mysteriously find themselves on the same Japanese train. We're not gonna lie, the results are bonkers - in a very entertaining way. As well as featuring an array of truly brilliant needle drops, Bullet Train is very deftly scored by Dominic Lewis.

Something a little different for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking, as Edith speaks to Baillie Walsh. Baillie is the director of the extraordinary virtual concert, ABBA Voyage, though to call it a virtual concert really doesn't begin to describe quite how spectacular it is. Made in conjunction with the band, it features incredible life sized avatars - or ABBAtars - a mind-blowing light show and sensational live band, and is a full-blown assault on the senses in the best possible way.  As a show, it also raises questions about the future of gigs - and how big tours can be more sustainable.

We love the episodes of Soundtracking where we speak to both the director of the film and their composer, which is exactly what we're doing today Charlotte Colbert and Clint Mansell have combined to great effect on She Will, Charlotte's unsettling little gem of a movie in which an ageing film star heads to retreat in the Scottish countryside and encounters mysterious forces emerging from the land ... 

Not one, not two, but three utterly joyous guests for you on this week's episode of Soundtracking, all of whom are interpreting the work of a couple of very different types of genius. First, we bring you Barney Douglas and Felix White, who have formed a doubles pairing extraordinaire on McEnroe, a documentary which Barney directed and Felix scored about the legendary tennis champ. It's Wimbledon meets Michael Mann's Heat, and they've absolutely aced it. Then we have a first-time movie director who's been wowing theatre audiences for years - the delightful Carrie Cracknell - on her Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. 

We have such a treat for you this week, as the genius that is - and we don't throw that word around lightly - Taika Waititi returns to Soundtracking to discuss Thor: Love & Thunder.  Expect music from Guns 'n' Roses, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Michael Giacchino and, um, The Muppets, as duetted by Edith and Taika.

So thrilled to be welcoming Natalie Holt back to Soundtracking - a composer who's doing great things, most recently in providing the score for Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney +. Here she tells Edith about adding to the legendary musical landscape of the franchise, and meeting the man who's behind much of it, her idol John Williams.

Our guest this week is visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, who Edith has been a huge fan of for many years. He always takes you on a journey with his storytelling, both visually and through the maverick nature of the way he uses music and sound. You might have even heard last week's guest, Lykke Li, referencing his Romeo & Juliet as a really seminal film for her.  His latest film is the glorious, colourful and immersive Elvis, his interpretation of the life of the one and Elvis Presley - The King - who is played perfectly by Austin Butler.

Our latest guests on Soundtracking have combined to great effect on an audiovisual album that specifically set out to challenge the conventions of the traditional music video. Lykke Li enlisted the services of experimental filmmaker Theo Lindquist to shoot a series of one minute loops, which accompany the songs on her latest album EYEYE. The results are utterly hypnotic, beautiful and moving - as you can see for yourself online.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is the man responsible for one of the blockbusting cinematic events of the summer. Colin Trevorrow has played a part in the last 3 Jurassic movies - World, Fallen Kingdom and now World Dominion, which he co-wrote and directed.  The film is scored by friend of the show Michael Giacchino - and you'll hear plenty of his work throughout.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is someone we've been trying to get on for a very long time.  Anne Dudley made her name in Art Of Noise, and has since gone on to score numerous films, including The Full Monty, for which she won an Oscar. She's also collaborated with some of the biggest names in pop music, from Tina Turner and Elton John to George Michael and Liza Minelli. We also discuss her latest solo album, Crossing The Bar.

Now, as you're probably aware, Top Gun: Maverick has hit cinemas, a full 36 years after Mav, Goose, Iceman and co. first took to the skies. And to mark the occasion, we're rather giddy and excited to welcome director Joe Kosinski and the legend that is Jerry Bruckheimer to the podcast to discuss the iconic music of the original and how they retained the spirit of said music in the sequel. Suffice to say, they got a little help on that front from our old friends, Hans Zimmer & Lorne Balfe ...

Our latest guests on soundtracking are not only composers, but also brothers, who between them have built up an extraordinary body of work for both film and television. Indeed, it's on the small screen that Harry and Rupert Gregson-Williams have joined forces for only the second time, on Julian Fellowes' New York high society drama, The Gilded Age. We'll talk about that and several of the other projects they've been involved with, including Catch-22 for George Clooney.

We have an actor for you this week, who we think is about to go stratospheric. Jack Lowden should be the next James Bond, in Edith's opinion, but in the meantime you can watch him in Dunkirk, England Is Mine, Fighting With My Family, Slow Horses, and, as of this week, Benediction.  He loves his music and also spins a great yarn - all of which makes for a very entertaining listen.

Something slightly different for you this week, as we reflect on a new documentary about the life of Ennio Morricone in the company of three admirers. The film is called Ennio, and features contributions from the man himself and the likes of Quentin Tarantino, John Williams, Clint Eastwood and Hans Zimmer, as well as one of of my guests today - director of The Mission, Roland Joffé Alongside Roland are composer, Matthew Herbert, and music supervisor, Lucy Bright, in what's a really fascinating discussion

Our latest guest on soundtracking is a musician, artist, cultural icon and film, TV and video game composer - who's been plying his trade for 50-odd years. Among Mark Mothersbaugh's many credits are Rugrats, Thor Ragnarok, Lego movies and several Wes Anderson films - though you'd be reading this for about half an hour if we were to list every single one of the projects he's been involved with.  Rest assure, we cover as much ground as we can!

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a writer / director who made an extremely promising start to his career with acclaimed horrors The Witch and The Lighthouse - both of which Edith loves. Robert Eggers has followed these up with The Northman, a visceral Viking epic based on the Scandinavian legend of Amleth. The film is scored by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough, and you'll hear plenty of their work and more music sprinkled throughout the conversation.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a man whose father, Alfred, blazed a trail for film scoring in Hollywood, while his brother, Thomas, has been nominated for 15 Oscars. Oh yes, and his cousin happens to be called Randy, which, when your surname is Newman, means you come from quite the musical dynasty ... David Newman is also a hugely respected composer, who joined Edith to discuss his work as an adapter and arranger on Steven Spielberg's glorious remake of West Side Story.

For the second week in a row, we welcome a female composer to Soundtracking, which is a delight, given the underrepresentation of women in the industry. Anne Nikitin's star is very much on the rise, after she made her big breakthrough working with Bart Layton on The Imposter and American Animals. She has several exciting projects on the go, including the prequel to Dangerous Liaisons.