Belle And Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch On Making 'God Help The Girl'

While Belle and Sebastian lead singer and songwriter Stuart Murdoch was working on the group's acclaimed 2006 album The Life Pursuit, he was also in the beginning stages of another entirely separate project -- which would eventually become his new movie musical God Help The Girl. Or, at least, the two projects were almost entirely separate. 

"When I was writing the group of songs for God Help The Girl, we were preparing to record The Life Pursuit," Murdoch says in a conversation with Soundcheck guest host Kristen Meinzer. "There wasn't much crossover -- I kept the two sets of songs apart. But I just felt that one song, 'Dress Up In You' -- it felt like if I sang that song, even though it's a female perspective, it would be a valid song. It felt right for the Belle and Sebastian album. But it was always meant to be a God Help the Girl song." 

Although the song did in fact become part of The Life Pursuit, it also appears at the very end of Murdoch's new musical film, which focuses on a young Australian girl named Eve who forms a band with two friends while recovering from an eating disorder.

It’s a coming of age story based in Glasgow -- the Scottish city that Belle and Sebastian calls home as well. Meinzer, co-host of The Takeaway’s Movie Date podcast, sits down with Stuart Murdoch to talk about his foray into the world of film.

Interview Highlights

Stuart Murdoch, on developing Eve, the main character at the center of his film God Help The Girl: 

She did appear as a genuine character. I couldn't get rid of her. It felt like a muse sitting on my shoulder, and she was feeding me songs. And eventually I felt that I had to start writing dialogue as well, when the other two characters came along. 

On the musicals -- pop and traditional -- that inspired him: 

I like that you make a distinction between a pop musical and what I would think of as an 'old school' musical. I think this veers slightly more towards a pop musical. I think I like pop musicals more, although there are certain ones like Sound Of Music or My Fair Lady that kind of rise above -- I think they're terrific. But certainly this is more like The Commitments or Grease or one of those guys. Even the original Fame from 1980. These kind of musical movies. 

On the challenge of writing musicals: 

It's a tricky business, when your character turns to the camera and sings, and everybody has to suspend belief for a second. The songs have got to be terrific. You've got to keep the story moving as well.... It just seemed to me when I was younger, watching those musicals, and they started to sing, sometimes your heart would sink, and I was like, 'Oh no, they're going to sing again. Get on with the story! Whatever happened to the funny stuff?'