Thom Yorke on Rai Movies

Asked about working with directors, Thom Yorke separates two things that get confused. In front of a camera he has no confidence at all, even with people he trusts completely, because he does not believe it is what he is for and has to hand himself over entirely, which he finds hard. Scoring is a different kind of freedom, and one he enjoys.

Music works in a film, he says, when it rubs against what is on screen rather than moving with it. His example is Being There, where Peter Sellers steps outside for the first time in his life to music full of energy and swagger, and the man on top of it registers nothing at all. He finds that contrast powerful.

What he cannot stand is the opposite habit, scoring an explosion on screen with an explosion. The bang is already large, he argues, and another one underneath only makes it sound smaller.