Quite how Bertolucci brought these three diverse individuals together to work on The Last Emperor is a mystery, but through some strange alchemy it all works the soundtrack is a theme-filled exploration of the sounds and musical traditions of Imperial China, filtered through some very contemporary sensibilities. Cong Su, meanwhile, was a complete unknown, an expert on Chinese classical music who split his time as a composer and musicology teacher between Beijing and Germany, but had never written for film prior to this. Byrne was the unconventional and eccentric front man of the post-punk rock band Talking Heads, who had enjoyed a fair amount of chart success with songs such as “Once in a Lifetime” in 1981, “Burning Down the House” in 1983, and “Road to Nowhere” in 1985, but had shown no indication that he was capable of writing a serious orchestral score for a prestigious drama film. Lawrence, in which he also appeared in the main supporting role opposite David Bowie. Sakamoto was an acclaimed pop musician in his native Japan, and had scored his first films three or four years previously, but was most known internationally as a result of his 1983 score for the film Merry Christmas Mr. The score for The Last Emperor was by as unlikely a trio of composers as you could possibly imagine: Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su. It was the overwhelming critical success of 1987, and went on to win nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a slew of technical awards for Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Costume Design, and Score. It’s an enormous, visually spectacular masterpiece that balances great pageantry and opulence with the very personal story of a man trying to navigate his life as a figurehead and monarch, and how he balances that with his private life and his political and social importance. It is set within a framing story wherein the adult Pu Yi – a political prisoner of communist leader Mao Zedong – looks back on his life, beginning with his ascent to the throne aged just three in 1908, and continuing through his early life growing up in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and the subsequent political upheaval that led to his overthrow, exile, and eventual imprisonment. A lavish historical epic directed by the great Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci and starring John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O’Toole, the film tells the life story of Pu Yi, the last monarch of the Chinese Qing dynasty prior to the republican revolution in 1911.