Director Paul McGuigan On The Music In His Work

Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

Edith Bowman

Music, Tv & Film, Arts

4.6 • 754 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2017

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For a small nation, Scotland doesn't half punch hard when it comes to the arts. And like previous guest David Mackenzie, Paul McGuigan is a fine example of a Scottish director doing great things on a global stage. From gritty British crime drama Gangster No 1 to whip-smart Hollywood thriller Lucky Number Slevin, he's proved most versatile - also working on a string of TV hits such as Sherlock.

Paul's latest film is Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Based on the memoir by Peter Turner, it tells the story of his relationship with screen goddess Gloria Grahame while she was living in the city. Scored by Paul's friend J Ralph, it also features tracks by Elton John, A Taste Of Honey, Jose Feliciano and and an original composition from the one and only Elvis Costello. You will, of course, hear examples of all of these artists throughout the conversation - as well as David Ruskin's delightful love them for The Bad & The Beautiful, for which Gloria won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1952.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For a small nation, we don't have punch above our weight when it comes to the arts, even if I do say so myself.
0:13.0	And like previous guest David McKenzie, Paul McGuigan is a fine example of what Scotland has to offer.
0:20.0	From British crime drama, Gangston Number to whipsmart Hollywood thriller, Lucky Number
0:25.7	Sleven.
0:26.3	He's proved most versatile, also working on a string of TV hits such as Sherlock.
0:47.9	I'm Edith Bowman and you're listening to Soundtracking, the weekly podcast about film music with some of the industry's most celebrated exponents.
0:56.0	Paul's latest film is The Fantastic Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool. Based on the memoir of Pete Turner, it tells the story of his relationship with
1:00.0	screen goddess Gloria Graham while she was living in the city.
1:04.0	The score is provided by Paul's friend Jay Ralph, who has very kindly sent us some examples from it, given that it's not
1:11.8	yet commercially available.
1:13.9	The film also features tracks by Elton John, A Taste of Honey, Jose Feliciano, and an original
1:19.8	composition from the one and only Elvis Costello.
1:23.7	And since the story is all about Gloria, it seems like the perfect opportunity to play David Ruskin's wonderful theme from The Bad and the Beautiful, for which she won the best supporting actress Oscar in 1952. Paul welcome to soundtracking.
2:05.1	Congratulations on film stars Don't Die in Liverpool.
2:08.2	It's beautiful.
2:09.3	What a gorgeous film.
2:10.6	Oh, thank you so much.
2:11.7	Really, really stunning.
2:14.0	And it's really nice to kind of feel like I'm on a bit of a journey with it
2:17.5	because I was lucky enough to chat to your lead an actress Annette Benning about it several
2:22.4	months ago and she was just gushing about the experience of this film and how important
2:26.8	and lovely she thought the story was to tell it's funny the first time I ever met and then we went
	...

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