MUBI have announced their award-winning audio-documentary series MUBI Podcast returns for its third season, starting 30th March.
Every Thursday we will get new episodes for the next seven weeks. Hosted by acclaimed arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the MUBI Podcast is a documentary-style series available on all major podcast platforms and on MUBI’s digital cinema publication Notebook.
Season three, titled Needle on the Record, dives into the unifying power of movie music and tells the stories behind some of cinema’s most renowned “needle-drops” — moments where filmmakers deployed pre-existing music instead of an original score. Each episode explores an iconic needle drop that has become part of pop culture, from the 19th-century waltz that launched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey into orbit, to the ‘80s cover song that Donnie Darko sent to the top of the UK charts. This series is a six-episode mixtape for film lovers. The new season will also be accompanied by a special bonus episode featuring Lukas Dhont discussing his Oscar-nominated feature Close.
In addition to Dhont, this season’s guests include filmmaker Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko), actor Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, The Hunger Games), music supervisor Randall Poster (The Wolf of Wall Street), musicians Noel Hogan (of The Cranberries) and Paul Douglas (of Toots and the Maytals), and more.
Episode 1: 2001: A Space Odyssey (from 30th March)
Stanley Kubrick finds heavenly music on vinyl
The story of how Stanley Kubrick came to defy Hollywood convention by scoring his sci-fi epic with already-recorded classical music…against the advice of just about everybody, and to the detriment of at least two composers’ mental and physical health.
Episode 2: Donnie Darko(from 6th April)
Richard Kelly makes the ultimate ‘80s mixtape
A box office flop that left its first audiences totally confused, Richard Kelly’s cult classic Donnie Darko rose from the dead…and shot an ‘80s classic from Tears for Fears back to the top of the UK’s Pops.
Episode 3: The Harder They Come (from 13th April)
Perry Henzell’s reggae revolution
Before Bob Marley was a household name, a gritty indie crime thriller—Jamaica’s first homegrown feature—captured the revolutionary sound and feel of roots reggae, and helped it catch fire worldwide.
Special Episode: Close (from 20th April)
Lukas Dhont’s quietly powerful coming-of-age movie
Midway through the season, the podcast will drop a special episode featuring Belgian auteur Lukas Dhont discussing his Oscar-nominated Close – in which the director explores his profound depiction of youth, intimacy and masculinity… and what it has in common with Titanic.
Episode 4: Chungking Express(from 27th April)
Wong Kar Wai puts dream pop on the menu
Wong Kar Wai’s ode to Hong Kong at its mid-90s’ coolest, Chungking Express landed Cantopop star Faye Wong on the cover of TIME, and made her cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams” a favorite of Hong Kong’s first lady.
Episode 5: The Blackboard Jungle(from 4th May)
The credit sequence that changed music history
It’s the needle drop heard ‘round the world: When a pre-teen kid introduced director Richard Brooks to a tune called “Rock Around the Clock,” he didn’t realize he was about to launch the rock ’n’ roll era.
Episode 6: From Yello to Juno(from 11th May)
The music supervisors who make moviegoers Twist And Shout
The season wraps with an interview mash-up: Rico talks with three of the veteran music supervisors behind some of the most culture-defining needle drops of the last 40 years, from the unlikely indie-jam-turned-’90s-hit “Natural One” (from Kids) to Ferris Bueller’s ongoing gift to the movie-trailer and advertising industries: Yello’s “Oh Yeah.”
