David Bowie has written the title track for Sky Atlantic’s new John Hurt and Samantha Morton drama The Last Panthers – his first original music for a film or TV show for 20 years.
Bowie, who released his first studio album for a decade, The Next Day, two years ago, recorded a new song for the diamond heist drama after a “meeting of minds” with the series director, Johan Renck.
Renck said: “I was looking for one of the icons of my youth to write the music for the title sequence, but was presented with a God.”
Renck, who has directed series including Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead as well as music videos by Madonna, Beyonce, Lana Del Ray and New Order, added: “His first response was precise, engaged and curious.
“The piece of music he laid before us embodied every aspect of our characters and the series itself – dark, brooding, beautiful and sentimental (in the best possible incarnation of this word).
“All along, the man inspired and intrigued me and as the process passed, I was overwhelmed with his generosity. I still can’t fathom what actually happened.”
A six-part drama, The Last Panthers is a co-production between Sky and French broadcaster Canal+ and will air in November.
It opens with a daring diamond heist before delving into the “dark heart of Europe where a shadowy alliance of gangsters and ‘banksters’ now rule,” said Sky.
Zai Bennett, director of Sky Atlantic, said: “To have David Bowie, one of the greatest music legends of today, write music that features in The Last Panthers is hugely exciting. It’s an incredibly ambitious and multi-layered drama and we’re looking forward to offering it to our customers across Europe.”
Also starring double Cesar-winning French actor Tahar Rahim, who starred in A Prophet, and Goran Bogdan from Crotia, the Sky Atlantic drama is produced by the French production company behind The Returned, Haut et Court TV, and the UK producer of Channel 4’s This Is England, Warp Films.
It was filmed in London, Marseilles, Belgrade and Montenegro. Following the lead of another Sky Atlantic drama Fortitude, which aired across Europe earlier this year, it will be broadcast across Europe on Sky’s network in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria.
