Harry Potter, Nick Cave and Me

By Andrew Douglas

From working as a receptionist and dump truck driver, film music supervisor Matt Biffa is now responsible for one of the most talked about scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One.

Over the weekend of 19th-21st November 2010, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 grossed £18.32m at the UK box office, the biggest ever three-day opening in the UK since Quantum of Solace took £15.38m in 2008, and the biggest three-day opening for a Harry Potter film since Goblet of Fire’s £14.93m in November 2005.

In perhaps the darkest chapter of the Potter series, a magical moment in a magical final penultimate comes in a scene written specially for it: a scene where Harry and Hermione share a dance in complete seclusion, in a tent, out in the wilderness. Soundtracked by an obscure yet beautiful Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song, O Children playing on a crackly radio, the scene has become one of the most talked about scenes of the series so far.

Q: Which other songs were on your shortlist to Yates and what were your reasons for pitching them?

A: "If I may I’d like to keep the songs secret, but here are some of the other artists that I pitched: Elliott Smith, Gram Parsons, Scott Walker, Mark Lanegan, Ryan Adams, Oasis, Otis Redding, James Carr, Carina Round, Spiritualized, Radiohead, Beck, Fleet Foxes, The Carpenters, Sia, Paul Weller, Tim Buckley, Blur, The Faces, The Verve, Mew, Elbow, Cherry Ghost, PJ Harvey, Pink Floyd, Flaming Lips, Guillemots, The Gutter Twins, Massive Attack, Silversun Pickups, Blind Faith, Mercury Rev, Anthony & the Johnsons, Air, Athlete.

"I had early demos of Florence & the Machine. Nick Drake was in there. Oh, and Queens of the Stone Age. There were hundreds of songs…all of them were emotional, poignant, and moving in some way. It probably wasn’t very good for me – you know, my life was falling apart, and I was listening to all these massively sad songs."