Radiohead lend “Reckoner” to the film of Choke

Radiohead's part in Choke, the film of Chuck Palahniuk's novel, is one song, “Reckoner” from In Rainbows, which plays over the closing credits and is track four of 14 on the soundtrack listed today. That settles a claim Palahniuk made on BBC 6 Music on Tuesday, that the band had scored the film.

Palahniuk told Shaun Keaveny he had written Choke with Pablo Honey, and “Creep” in particular, playing over and over, and that the director, Clark Gregg, knew it. Gregg, he said, had asked Radiohead for a song for the very end of the film, over the final credits. Apparently Radiohead liked the movie so much, they've written the score, most of the ambient music throughout it². Asked how that made him feel, he said he had quit believing in his own life, which was just too incredible to be believable anymore².

The band's camp answered on Wednesday. A spokesman said nobody in the Radiohead organisation knew of any original, incidental or ambient music written for Choke, and that their only contribution is the existing track from In Rainbows; Clash found the band puzzled by the reports. The score is by Nathan Larson.

The soundtrack is a download only, due on 23 September, three days before the film opens in the US; British cinemas get it in November. Gregg wrote and directed the film, which stars Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston. He picked the songs from his favourites, and “Reckoner” sits beside the Buzzcocks, Death Cab for Cutie and My Morning Jacket.