FEATURE:
We Know All Her Lines So Well…
The Impact of Kate Bush on Directors
__________
IT is perhaps not surprising…
IN THIS PHOTO: Greta Gerwig/PHOTO CREDIT: Norman Jean Roy
that Kate Bush, as a visual and imaginative songwriter, would have an impact on the film world. Apart from directors who have used her music in their films to those who are inspired by her music and work that into their films, it is hard to tell exactly how far and wide her influence spreads. Kate Bush herself has been influenced by films. Building these cinematic and original songs that go beyond the ordinary, that has been reflected when it comes to filmmakers through the years. I was interested reading an article from Far Out Magazine, where they look back at a 2015 interview where Greta Gerwig mentioned Kate Bush. A particular song that she was moved by and affected her:
“In a 2015 interview, the director gushed over the song ‘Hounds of Love’, taken from Bush’s 1985 album of the same name, and said: “I find her lyrics mysterious and evocative – almost like poetry – and there is a real spaciousness to her music that feels cinematic to me. But specifically with this song, ‘Hounds of Love’, I had really been obsessed with it for a long time.”
Reflecting on the tune’s theatricality, Gerwig explained how it bore relevance to her own work, continuing: “I did a play last summer – it was called The Village Bike – and in the play a women is taken over by irrepressible, destructive lust and there was something about this song that really tapped into that for me.” But on the whole, the filmmaker also felt that Bush’s songbook is permeated with an element that lends itself so easily to the screen.
She added: “I’m a person who lives with very vivid emotions that feel like they often can only be expressed in heightened states of either music or poetry or films or theatre, and I think that she makes the kind of music that feels like she is always at a ten, emotionally. That level of just sheer emotion and excitement, and it taps me into probably the reason why I make art.”
While Bush is no stranger to her music having inspired a litany of other pop and rock stars who have followed in her ethereal wake, the palpable influence it also has on Gerwig in the filmic realm speaks to its transcendental quality across the breadths of creative output in the world, branching across forms to cast her spell in every possible corner of the world.
There’s no denying that for Gerwig, whenever the cameras start rolling, music is still never far from her mind. It is the pace and depth and heartbeat of every movie and, in many ways, her filmmaking would be nothing without it. With the electric current of Bush’s back catalogue spurring Gerwig on to new heights, there’s really no telling where the end point is – because in everything she has ever done, the singer has never known the meaning of a boundary”.
Greta Gerwig is perhaps my favourite filmmaker. Even though she has not brought a Kate Bush song to her films yet, reading what she had to say about Kate Bush is so interesting. Rather than a song being used to heighten a scene or create this viral moment, there is an essence or emotional aspect to the music that Greta Gerwig channels. As a director and writer, Kate Bush’s music has pushed her to new levels. I can see one of Bush’s songs appearing in a Gerwig film soon. However, what Far Out Magazine say about the transcendent impact of Kate Bush’s music. It is clear that Gerwig is not the only acclaimed director who acknowledges the importance of Kate Bush. Bush herself cites an admires directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Nicolas Roeg, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola and Francois Truffaut. When we think of Kate Bush, we look at her influence among musicians. It is clear that authors and actors are as influenced by Kate Bush as artists. The difference is that we can hear and feel something different through music. Perhaps a more direct link to Kate Bush, Greta Gerwig is not alone in commending Kate Bush. The emotions and energy she puts into her music. The sheer scale of her brilliance and imagination. Many songs that are short films or epic scenes. Much more compelling that ordinary and commercial Pop songs, I would be fascinated to compile a list of modern films that definitely have some of Kate Bush’s D.N.A. running through them. From films in Horror through to smaller independent productions and big-budget epics, one can look at various scenes and moments and draw that to Kate Bush. Directors such as Taika Waititi have been mentioned when it comes to Kate Bush and having similar styles and storytelling aspects – or are simply fans of her music.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Not much has been written about the way Kate Bush has impacted cinema. From record-setting directors like Greta Gerwig to those rising or less well-known, I would love to see more filmmakers coming out and expressing their love of Kate Bush and how her music has guided them. We can understand how various films and directors have affected Kate Bush. Nothing really the other way around. Though you can feel and see her essence and genius making their way through various genres and decades of cinema. The dramatic way Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was used in Stranger Things in 2022 is a contemporary example of how Bush’s music came alive and defined not only a scene but went deeper. It wasn’t just a case of a song being used because it was recognisable. The lyrics and meaning of that track playing a wider role. Among those projects that have yet to be realised, it would be fascinated and overdue to see not only directors and filmmakers but actors talking about Kate Bush and how her music has challenged and changed them. There are going to be so many examples in contemporary and classic cinema. Think about the way Bush’s music continues to reach new generations. Artists coming up who name-check Kate Bush. Authors and writers sharing their love of Kate Bush. Thinking about some of the brilliant films I have seen this past few years, I can see Kate Bush on the screen. In these scenes. It speaks to her ongoing and multi-dimensional influence. How the way she works and writes resonates with a range of filmmakers. I would love to hear testimony and feedback from filmmakers who bring a bit of Kate Bush…
INTO their work.