Episode 73: Joe Wright On The Music Of Darkest Hour, Nils Frahm, Max Richter & David Bowie

Despite being a thoroughly humble and unassuming sort, Joe Wright has led quite the life. From drinking in the pub as a youngster with Kathy Burke to creating live visuals for The Chemical Brothers, he's long held ties to key players in British culture. Not that he's become a director of great repute on anything other than merit - as evidenced by his latest movie, Darkest Hour.

Telling the story of Winston Churchill's early days as Prime Minister during World War II, Darkest Hour revolves around an extraordinary central performance from Gary Oldman, which has already landed him a Golden Globe. But the brilliance of this film is about so much more than that - thanks in no small part to Joe's all-encompassing vision. 

Darkest Hour is up for a whopping nine awards at the EE BAFTAs. As well as Gary's inevitable nomination, these include Best Film and, appropriately enough for our purposes, Best Music for Dario Marianelli. 

On Joe's instruction, Dario's score was inspired by the modernist movement of the 50s and 60s, and specifically a more recent work called Hammers by contemporary German composer Nils Frahm.