Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ dɛspla];[1] born 23 August 1961)[2] is a French film composer and conductor. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career spanning over four decades, including, two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three César Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Grammy Awards. Desplat was made an Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite and a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres both in 2016.
Alexandre Desplat | |
|---|---|
 Desplat in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat |
| Born | 23 August 1961 Paris, France |
| Genres | Film score, contemporary classical, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, orchestrator, conductor |
| Instruments | Piano, trumpet, flute |
| Spouse | Dominique Lemmonier |
| Website | Alexandredesplat.net |
Desplat has received two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017). He also received nominations for his work on The Queen (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Argo (2012), Philomena (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018), and Little Women (2019).
Desplat has composed scores for a wide range of films, including low-budget independent productions and large-scale blockbusters, such as The Golden Compass (2007), Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2008), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) & Part 2 (2011), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Godzilla (2014), Unbroken (2014), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), The Midnight Sky (2020), The French Dispatch (2021), and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022). He has collaborated with several directors such as Wes Anderson, Chris Weitz, George Clooney, and Roman Polanski.
Early life
editAlexandre Desplat was born in Paris.[3] His father, Jacques Desplat, was a Frenchman originally from Sarlat-la-Canéda.[4] His mother, Katie Ladopoulou, is a Greek poet originally from Athens.[5] Desplat's parents had met in the United States while they were both students at the University of California, Berkeley. They married in San Francisco and returned to France, settling in Paris.[3] Alexandre has two older sisters, Marie-Christine (also known as Kiki) and Rosalinda.[4]
Desplat began playing the piano at the age of five.[3] He later picked up the trumpet, before switching to flute at nine.[3][6] Desplat's musical interests were wide, ranging from French composers such as Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, to jazz and world music.[7] He developed an early appreciation for film music, courtesy of the movie soundtracks his parents brought back from the United States. He began collecting Bernard Herrmann's Hitchcock soundtracks as a teen and eventually decided to pursue a career as a film composer after hearing John Williams's Star Wars score in 1977.[8] Other early sources of Desplat's inspiration include the music of Maurice Jarre, Nino Rota and Georges Delerue.[7]
Desplat studied at the Royal College of Music and the Conservatoire de Paris under Claude Ballif. During this period, he also took a summer course under Iannis Xenakis.[9] Desplat also studied under Jack Hayes in Los Angeles.[2]
When recording the music for his first film, he met violinist Dominique Lemonnier, who became his favorite soloist and artistic director. They later married.[7][10]
Desplat has worked on many films since the 1990s. His big Hollywood break came in 2003 with the soundtrack for the film Girl with a Pearl Earring, a drama set in 17th-century Delft exploring a fictional muse of Vermeer.[7][11]
Career
editDesplat 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), Reines d'un Jour (2001), the César-nominated Sur mes lèvres (2002), Rire et Châtiment (2003), Syriana (2005), the César-winner 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) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).
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 Golden Compass; Zach Helm's BAFTA nominated 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 and The Nest.
For The Painted Veil, 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 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.
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[12] 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 Ghost Writer; Tamara Drewe; The Special Relationship; and The King's Speech which earned Desplat his fourth Oscar nomination.[13]
In early 2011, Desplat began to write the music to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which would earn him a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.[14] He reunited with director David Yates, who offered Desplat the opportunity to score the second part after his work on the Part 1 soundtrack in 2010 "enchanted everyone in the control room".[15][16] 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,[17] La Fille du Puisatier, Roman Polanski's Carnage, George Clooney's Ides of March, and the logo for the French film company StudioCanal.
Desplat started 2012 with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the Florent Emilio Siri-directed biopic Cloclo, and DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians. His other scores of 2013 included Rust and Bone, Zero Dark Thirty, and Argo, the latter of which earned him Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.
In June 2013, Desplat's first Concerto for Flute & Orchestra premiered in France with flautist Jean Ferrandis and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire conducted by John Axelrod. His Trois Etudes for piano originally written for pianist Lang Lang had its U.S. premiere in October 2013 played by pianist Gloria Cheng. He received a sixth Oscar nomination for his score to Philomena, which marked his fourth collaboration with director Stephen Frears.
On 23 June 2014, it was announced that Desplat would head the jury at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.[18] He wrote five major scores during 2014, with The Grand Budapest Hotel winning him his first Academy Award.[19] His score for The Imitation Game was also nominated, and his win therefore marked the first time a composer had won against another of their own scores since John Williams won for Star Wars (beating Close Encounters of the Third Kind) in 1978, and only the seventh time overall (Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Miklos Rozsa and Johnny Green are the only other composers to achieve this).
On 16 March 2015, It was announced that Desplat would be composing the first anthology film of the new Disney Star Wars films, called Rogue One.[20] In September 2016, he stepped down due to reshoots of the film, and was then replaced by Michael Giacchino.[21]
In 2018, he won his second Academy Award for The Shape of Water and premiered a new work for solo flute played by Emmanuel Pahud.
Personal life
editDesplat is married to violinist Dominique "Solre" Lemmonier.[10] They have two daughters, Antonia and Ninon.[22] Desplat has studios both in Los Angeles and Paris and makes his home in the latter city.[10]
Filmography
editFilms
editTelevision series
edit| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Marseille | Florent-Emilio Siri Thomas Gilou Laïla Marrakchi |
TV series |
| 2016 | Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | Various | TV series; "Hero Theme", "Dark Theme" with Tim Davies |
| 2024 | The Regime | Stephen Frears Jessica Hobbs |
miniseries |
Accolades
editDesplat has received many awards and nominations for his work including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
Decorations
edit- Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite (2016)[34]
- Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2016)[35]
- Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (2011)[36]
References
edit- ^ "Artists & ARTURIA #41 Alexandre Desplat using MatrixBrute on the Valerian Soundtrack". Arturia. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Alexandre Desplat". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d Burlingame, Jon (7 January 2007). "Thinking in Colors and Textures, Then Writing in Music". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ a b "Jacques DESPLAT : Décès (06 janvier 2011)". Sud Ouest (in French). 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ Delmotte, Natacha (2 April 2015). "Katie Ladopoulou-Desplat, mère comblée". La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ Buckley, Cara (12 February 2015). "Composer Knows His Competition Quite Well: Himself". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Biography". Alexandredesplat.net. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
- ^ Romano, Andrew (11 February 2014). "Meet Alexandre Desplat, Hollywood's Master Composer". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ Tsioulcas, Anastasia (18 July 2011). "Alexandre Desplat: Creating Color For Harry Potter". WBUR-FM. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ a b c Burlingame, Jon (5 November 2014). "Billion Dollar Composer: Alexandre Desplat Has Ears of World's Top Auteurs". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "How Alexandre Desplat creates a film score in three weeks". BBC News. 10 December 2014. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Scoring for the screen: Composers and film directors work in harmony | Film Journal International". Filmjournal.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Interview with Alexandre Desplat :: Film Music Magazine". Filmmusicmag.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Grammys: 54th Grammy Awards nominees". Los Angeles Times. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Herrera, Monica; Lipshutz, Jason; Mapes, Jillian (25 January 2011). "Reznor, Rahman, Zimmer & More React to Their Oscar Nominations". Billboard. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (23 June 2011). "'A Better Life,' Directed by Chris Weitz – Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Venice Names Alexandre Desplat To Head Fest Competition Jury". Deadline Hollywood. 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ "Oscar Nominations 2021: The Complete List | 93rd Academy Awards". Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ McGillan, Graeme (16 March 2015). "Alexandre Desplate Says He'll Be Working on 'Star Wars' Stand-alone Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ Kit, Borys (15 September 2016). "'Star Wars: Rogue One' Replaces Its Composter (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat: his wife, awards, albums and net worth". Classic FM. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (19 November 2009). "For Kristen Stewart, Abstinence Makes the Heart ... You Know". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Godzilla". Legendary.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat Takes Over Scoring Duties on 'The Imitation Game'". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat to Score 'The Secret Life of Pets'". Film Music Reporter. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat to Return for 'The Secret Life of Pets 2'". Film Music Reporter. 15 August 2018. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat Scoring George Clooney's 'The Midnight Sky'". Film Music Reporter. 26 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
- ^ "Alexandre Desplat to Reteam with Guillermo del Toro on Netflix Animated Movie 'Pinocchio'". Film Music Reporter. 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ "Wes Anderson's Asteroid City Soundtrack Out from ABKCO Digitally Today". Focus Features. 23 June 2023.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (25 April 2022). "Roman Polanski's 'The Palace' Adds 'Fantastic Beasts' Actor Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ "Nyad". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ "The Boys in the Boat". IMDb. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ^ Décret du 14 novembre 2016 portant promotion et nomination
- ^ "Arrêté du 10 février 2016 portant nomination et promotion dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres". 31 March 2016. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ^ Décret du 13 juillet 2011 portant promotion et nomination
External links
edit
- Alexandre Desplat, official website (in French and English)
- Alexandre Desplat at IMDb