The five greatest movie soundtracks of all time, according to Daniel Radcliffe
We know quite a lot about Daniel Radcliffe, most of it wizard-related, admittedly, but that’s because he shot to fame as Harry Potter and not because he holds any kind of private magical abilities as far as we’re aware.
We also know that he’s made a lot of movies since his days at Hogwarts came to an end all the way back in (gulp) 2011; some good, some bad, some involving guns surgically attached to his hands and some involving being a flatulent corpse used as a kind of boat.
But although he has done plenty of musical work, in fact he has won a Tony award for his work on the 2024 show Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway, not many people are aware of quite what a music aficionado Radcliffe is, and you only have to watch his performance of Blackalicious’ ‘Alphabet Aerobics’ some years back on Jimmy Fallon’s chat show to realise that.
He is also, of course, a fan of movies, and of when the two mediums combine to greatest effect, on a film soundtrack, and so here, as told to Shortlist, are his five favourite examples of music and movies deliciously coming together.
Daniel Radcliffe on cinema’s five greatest soundtracks:
‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ (Michel Gondry, 2004)
This mind-bending, beautifully inventive and timeless movie featuring Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey has gone down as one of the modern era’s finest films. Aside from an original score by LA musician Jon Brion, it also features songs from ELO, Beck and The Polyphonic Spree.
Radcliffe said, “It’s largely instrumental, but it’s beautiful, and I still listen to it. It’s also a great movie, but then it’s hard to enjoy a great soundtrack without also enjoying the film”.
‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (Wes Anderson, 2001)
Rather like Radcliffe’s previous choice, the soundtrack for this Wes Anderson comedy is a mix of an original score and several bands’ music, this time more traditional acts like Van Morrison, Paul Simon and The Rolling Stones alongside Elliot Smith and Nick Drake.
Radcliffe explained, “It introduced me to a lot of music that I wouldn’t have known (otherwise); Wes Anderson is always good for that”.
‘Little Miss Sunshine’ (Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, 2006)
A mixture of indie rock and folk music provided the backdrop to this gentle road movie that won an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ and featured a cast including Steve Carell, Toni Collette, and Paul Dano.
Radcliffe is a big fan, saying, “One of my favourite films, the soundtrack is by Mychael Danna and DeVotchKa, and the music seamlessly goes into one another; there’s two very distinct sounds on the soundtrack of a composer and a band, and they blend together beautifully.”
‘Trainspotting’ (Danny Boyle, 1996)
One of the defining films of the 1990s, Danny Boyle’s adaptation of the Irvine Welsh book, packed full of drugs, music and sex, produced a soundtrack that was possibly even more ubiquitous than the movie itself; absolutely everyone owned a copy of it on CD.
Radcliffe has listened to it religiously, saying, “It’s obviously an amazing soundtrack, which, among other songs, introduced me to ‘Lust for Life’ by Iggy Pop, and ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld and ‘Mile End’ by Pulp; that’s a pretty consistently amazing soundtrack.”
‘The Filth and the Fury’ (Julien Temple, 2000)
While more of a documentary than a movie, Julien Temple’s turn-of-the-century retelling of the Sex Pistols’ story and the punk scene in general in the 1970s is very highly rated and features a soundtrack stuffed with hits from the time.
Says Radcliffe, “I was into punk before I watched that film, but I think after you watch [it] you realise what an incredible, thrilling, exciting time that must have been, to be involved with those musicians and that whole scene. It was really important, and I think you can make a valid argument that they [Sex Pistols] have been just as influential as the rock and roll movement of the ‘60s.”
