Academy award-winning composer Rachel Portman OBE talks Chocolat, The Cider House Rules and Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist.
Interviewed by BBC Radio 3 ‘Sound of Cinema’ host Matthew Sweet, Rachel Portman gives us the opportunity to hear about the craft of composing for the screen as well as looking back at her extraordinary career in film and television.
Born in West Sussex, Rachel began composing at the age of 14 and read music at the University of Oxford where she became interested in writing music for student films and theatre productions. She gained her drama experience writing music for BBC and Channel 4 films, including ‘Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,’ Mike Leigh’s, ‘Four Days In July’ and Jim Henson’s ‘Storyteller’ series.
Rachel won an Academy Award for her score for ‘Emma’ and received Academy nominations for ‘Chocolat’ and ‘The Cider House Rules’. In September 2015, she received an Emmy Award for the score of HBO’s ‘Bessie’. Rachel has just begun working on the next Lone Scherfig feature ‘Their Finest Hour and a Half’ starring Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin.
Contributors:
Rachel Portman
Matthew Sweet
Producer:
Steph Perrin, Felt Music
