Alexandre Desplat

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Alexandre Desplat
Birth name Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat
Born August 23, 1961 (1961-08-23) (age 50)
Paris, France
Occupations Composer, orchestrator, conductor
Website alexandredesplat.net

Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, and two Grammy nominations. Desplat won his first Golden Globe for The Painted Veil in 2006, his first British Academy Film Award in 2011 and his first Grammy Award in 2012 for The King's Speech. Among various projects, Desplat has worked on a variety of Hollywood films including independent and commercial successes like The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.

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[edit] Early life

Desplat was born in Paris to a French father and a Greek mother who met at the University of California, Berkeley.[1] After their marriage, they moved back to France, where Alexandre was born. Alexandre is the younger brother of Vic Desplat. At the age of five, he began playing piano. He also became proficient on trumpet and flute. He studied with Claude Ballif, Iannis Xenakis in France and Jack Hayes in the U.S. Desplat's musical interests were wide, and he was also influenced by South American and African artists and teachers, among whom were Carlinhos Brown and Ray Lema. Desplat swiftly became skilled, both as a performer and a composer.

[edit] Career

Desplat has composed extensively for French cinema, Hollywood, and incidental music for over 100 films including Lapse of Memory (1992), Family Express (1992), Regarde Les Hommes Tomber (1994), Les Péchés Mortels (1995), César-nominated Un Héros Très Discret (1996), Une Minute de Silence (1998), Sweet Revenge (1998), Le Château des Singes (1999), Home Sweet Home (2001), Reines d'un Jour (2001), the César-nominated Sur mes lèvres (2002), Rire et Châtiment (2003), Césars-Winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), The Queen (2006), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Ghost Writer (2010), Daniel Auteuil's remake of La Fille du Puisatier (2011), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).

Desplat has composed individual songs that have been sung in films by such artists as Akhenaton, Kate Beckinsale, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Valérie Lemercier, Miosotis, and Catherine Ringer. He has also written music for the theatre, including pieces performed at the Comédie Française. Desplat has conducted performances of his music played by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Desplat has also given Master Classes at La Sorbonne in Paris and the Royal College of Music in London.

In 2007, he composed the scores for Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass; Zach Helm's directorial debut Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with American composer Aaron Zigman; and the Ang Lee movie Lust, Caution. Prior to these break-out works, he contributed scores for The Luzhin Defence, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Syriana, Birth, Hostage, Casanova, The Nest and The Painted Veil, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music, and the 2006 World Soundtrack Award. He won the 2007 BMI Film Music Award, 2007 World Soundtrack Award, 2007 European Film Award, and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score for The Queen. He also won the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Film Music in The Beat that My Heart Skipped. In 2008, Desplat received his second Oscar nomination for David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Desplat received his third Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2010, both of which were won by Michael Giacchino for Up.

Recently, Desplat has composed music for Largo Winch, based on the Belgian comic; Afterwards a French-Canadian psychological thriller film directed by Gilles Bourdos in English; Anne Fontaine's Coco avant Chanel based on the life of designer Coco Chanel; Robert Guédiguian's L'Armée du Crime; Cheri, reuniting him with director Stephen Frears, whom he collaborated with on The Queen; Un Prophète reuniting with director Jacques Audiard; Julie & Julia directed by Nora Ephron; Fantastic Mr. Fox, directed by Wes Anderson and based on the novel by Roald Dahl; New Moon, directed by Chris Weitz; Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer; Tamara Drewe; The Special Relationship; and The King's Speech which earned Desplat his fourth Oscar nomination.

In early 2011, Desplat began to write the music to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. He reunited with director David Yates, who offered Desplat the opportunity to score the second part after his work on the Part 1 soundtrack "enchanted everyone in the control room".[2][3] Desplat's soundtrack sequel to the 2008 film Largo Winch was released in 2011 and was well received. Desplat's 2011 projects included The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick (which he actually recorded in early 2010), A Better Life, La Fille du Puisatier, Roman Polanski's Carnage, and George Clooney's The Ides of March.

Desplat started 2012 with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and will continue with scores for The Spider's House, the Florent Emilio Siri-directed biopic Cloclo, and Dreamworks Animation's Rise of the Guardians.

[edit] Filmography (English Language)

[edit] Filmography (selected – other language(s))

  • Une autre femme [France (original title)]
  • Tous les chagrins se ressemblent (2002) [French (original title)]
  • Paroles d'étoiles (2002) [French (original title)]
  • Rire et châtiment [France (original title)]
  • Les baisers des autres (2003) [French (original title)]
  • Le pacte du silence (2003) [French (original title)]
  • Virus au paradis (2003) [French (original title)]
  • Eager Bodies (2003) [Les corps impatients – France (original title)]
  • Les beaux jours (2003) [French (original title)]
  • A Sight for Sore Eyes (2003) [Inquiétudes – France (original title)]
  • Le pays des enfants perdus (2004) [French (original title)]
  • L'enquête Corse (2004) [French (original title)]
  • À boire (2004)[French (original title)]
  • Tu vas rire, mais je te quitte (2005) [French (original title)]
  • The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) [De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté – France (original title)]
  • Une aventure (2005)
  • Lies & Alibis (2006) [The Alibi – Netherlands (original title)]
  • The Valet (2006) [La doublure – France (original title)]
  • Quand j'étais chanteur (2006) [French (original title)]
  • Michou d'Auber (2007) [French (original title)]
  • Ségo et Sarko sont dans un bateau... (2007) [French (original title)]
  • L'Ennemi Intime (2007) – French (original title)
  • Lust, Caution (2007) Se, jie – Chinese (original title)
  • Largo Winch (2008)
  • Coco Before Chanel (2009) [Coco avant Chanel – France (original title)]
  • A Prophet (2009) [Un prophète – France (original title)]
  • The Army of Crime (2009) [L'armée du crime – France (original title)]
  • La Fille du Puisatier (2011)
  • Largo Winch 2 (2011)
  • Cloclo (2012)

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] César Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
1997 A Self-Made Hero Best Music Written for a Film Nominated
2002 Sur mes lèvres Best Music Written for a Film Nominated
2006 The Beat That My Heart Skipped Best Music Written for a Film Won
2008 L'ennemi intime Best Music Written for a Film Nominated
2010 A Prophet Best Music Written for a Film Nominated
2011 The Ghost Writer Best Music Written for a Film Won

[edit] Academy Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
2007 The Queen Best Original Score Nominated
2009 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Best Original Score Nominated
2010 Fantastic Mr. Fox Best Original Score Nominated
2011 The King's Speech Best Original Score Nominated

[edit] Golden Globes

Year Nominated work Award Result
2004 Girl with a Pearl Earring (film) Best Original Score Nominated
2006 Syriana (film) Best Original Score Nominated
2007 The Painted Veil Best Original Score Won
2009 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film) Best Original Score Nominated
2011 The King's Speech Best Original Score Nominated

[edit] BAFTA

Year Nominated work Award Result
2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring (film) Best Music Nominated
2006 The Queen (film) Best Music Nominated
2009 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film) Best Music Nominated
2010 Fantastic Mr. Fox (film) Best Music Nominated
2011 The King's Speech Best Music Won

[edit] Awards

[edit] Nominations

[edit] References

  1. ^ Burlingame, Jon (7 January 2007). "Thinking in Colors and Textures, Then Writing in Music". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/movies/07burl.html. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  2. ^ Herrera, Monica; Lipshutz, Jason; Mapes, Jillian (25 January 2011). "Reznor, Rahman, Zimmer & More React to Their Oscar Nominations". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/news/reznor-rahman-zimmer-more-react-to-their-1005011812.story. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  3. ^ David Yates: Desplat "enchanted"[dead link]

[edit] External links
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