Alexandre Desplat - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (born 23 August 1961) is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham...

in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British Academy Film Award

British Academy Film Awards

The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...

for his score for The King's Speech. Among various projects, Desplat has worked on a variety of Hollywood films including The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...

, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy-drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald...

, The Golden Compass, New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...

and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David...

.

Early life

Desplat was born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

to a French

France

father and a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

mother who met at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. 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

Claude Ballif

Claude Ballif was a French composer.His music is known as a combination of tonality and serialism - a system that he named metatonality....

, Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...

in France and Jack Hayes in the U.S

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Desplat's musical interests were wide, and he was also influenced by South American and African artists and teachers, among whom were Carlinhos Brown

Carlinhos Brown

Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...

and Ray Lema

Ray Lema

Raymond Lema A'nsi Nzinga, known as Ray Lema, is a Congolese musician born March 30, 1946 in Lufu-Toto, Bas-Congo Province.Lema is a pianist, guitarist, and songwriter. He worked for the National Ballet of Zaire, as it was then called, and in 1979 was invited to the United States by the...

. Desplat swiftly became skilled, both as a performer and a composer.

Career

Desplat has composed extensively for French cinema

Cinema of France

The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

, Hollywood, and incidental music for over 100 films including Lapse of Memory (1992), Family Express (1992), Regarde Les Hommes Tomber
See How They Fall
See How They Fall is a 1994 film directed by Jacques Audiard. It stars Jean-Louis Trintignant,Jean Yanne and Matthieu Kassovitz...

(1994), Les Péchés Mortels
Innocent Lies
Innocent Lies is a 1995 British-French thriller film directed by Patrick Dewolf and starring Stephen Dorff, Gabrielle Anwar, Adrian Dunbar and Joanna Lumley. It is a loose adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Towards Zero. Keira Knightley had an early role in the film, playing the younger...

(1995), César-nominated Un Héros Très Discret
A Self Made Hero
A Self Made Hero is a 1996 French film directed by Jacques Audiard. It is based on the novel by Jean-François Deniau.-Synopsis:Albert Dehousse has grown up on heroic novels, unfortunately his life isn't quite so exciting. Albert lives in a village in Northern France with his mother, who lives in...

(1996), Une Minute de Silence (1998), Sweet Revenge
Sweet Revenge (1998 film)
Sweet Revenge is a 1998 British comedy film written and directed by Malcolm Mowbray. The screenplay is based on the epic two-part play The Revengers' Comedies by Alan Ayckbourn....

(1998), Le Château des Singes
A Monkey's Tale
A Monkey's Tale is a feature-length French animated film by Jean-François Laguionie. It was released in 1999. For unknown reasons, it has never been released on American video or DVD, although it has been available in the UK.-Synopsis:...

(1999), Home Sweet Home (2001), Reines d'un Jour (2001), the César-nominated Sur mes lèvres
Sur mes lèvres
Sur mes lèvres is a 2001 French film by Jacques Audiard, co-written with Tonino Benacquista. The film stars Vincent Cassel as Paul, an ex-con on parole, and Emmanuelle Devos as Carla, a nearly deaf secretary whose colleagues treat her disrespectfully, causing her to suffer...

(2002), Rire et Châtiment (2003), Césars-Winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a 2005 French film directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Romain Duris. It tells the story of Tom, a real estate thug torn between a criminal life and his desire to become a concert pianist. The film premiered on February 17, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival...

(2005), The Queen

The Queen (film)

The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...

(2006), Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...

(2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Ghost writer (2010), Daniel Auteuil

Daniel Auteuil

Daniel Auteuil is a French film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Algiers, French Algeria.-Career:...

's remake of La Fille du Puisatier
La Fille du Puisatier
The Well-Digger's Daughter is a 1940 French romantic comedy drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol.-Selected cast:*Raimu as Pascal Amoretti*Fernandel as Félipe Rambert*Josette Day as Patricia Amoretti*Line Noro as Marie Mazel...

(2011), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David...

(2011).

Desplat has composed individual songs that have been sung in films by such artists as Akhenaton

Akhenaton (rapper)

Philippe Fragione better known by his stage name Akhenaton is a French rapper and producer of French hip hop. He has also worked under the aliases Chill, AKH, Sentenza, and Spectre...

, Kate Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale

Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...

, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...

, Valérie Lemercier

Valérie Lemercier

Valérie Lemercier is a French actress, scriptwriter, director and singer.-Biography:Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, she grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservatoire - a dance, music and drama school. Lemercier made her screen debut in 1988, in the...

, Miosotis, and Catherine Ringer

Catherine Ringer

Catherine Ringer is a French singer, musician, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and actress.Ringer started her professional career on stage in the late 1970s in productions with Michael Lonsdale's Théâtre de Recherche Musicale as well as musical and dance productions...

. 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

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...

, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra

Munich Symphony Orchestra

The Munich Symphony Orchestra is a German orchestra based in Munich. Kurt Graunke founded the orchestra as the Graunke Symphony Orchestra in 1945. The orchestra acquired its current name in 1990...

. Desplat has also given Master Class

Master Class

Master Class is a play by Terrence McNally, with incidental music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Vincenzo Bellini.The play originally was staged by the Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Mark Taper Forum. After twelve previews, the Broadway production, directed by Leonard Foglia, opened...

es at La Sorbonne in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

and the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

In 2007, he composed the scores for Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

's The Golden Compass; Zach Helm

Zach Helm

Zachariah "Zach" Helm is an American writer and film director. He is an alumnus of DePaul University.As a playwright Helm has had two plays produced; Last Chance for a Slow Dance and Good Canary, the latter having its 2007 world premiere in Paris under the direction of John Malkovich...

's directorial debut Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee.-Plot:...

with American composer Aaron Zigman; and the Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

movie Lust, Caution. Prior to these break-out works, he contributed scores for The Luzhin Defence
The Luzhin Defence
The Luzhin Defence is a 2000 film directed by Marleen Gorris, starring John Turturro and Emily Watson. The film centres on a mentally tormented chess grandmaster and the young woman he meets while competing at a world-class tournament in Italy...

, Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, and Cillian Murphy. The film is named after a painting of the same...

, Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...

, Birth
Birth (film)
Birth is a 2004 film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Danny Huston and Cameron Bright.The story is about a young widow from a prominent Manhattan-based family named Anna who slowly becomes convinced that her husband, Sean, who died ten years previously, has...

, Hostage
Hostage (film)
Hostage is a 2005 thriller film with Bruce Willis that was directed by Florent Emilio Siri. The film was based on a novel by Robert Crais, and was adapted for the screen by Doug Richardson....

, Casanova, The Nest
The Nest
The Nest , also known as Nid de guêpes, is a French action/thriller movie, directed by Florent Emilio Siri. The literal translation of the French title is Wasp's Nest. The film is quasi-remake of the 1976 film, Assault on Precinct 13, which in turn was a remake of 1959's Rio Bravo.-Plot...

and The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham...

, 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
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...

. He also won the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Film Music in The Beat that My Heart Skipped
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a 2005 French film directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Romain Duris. It tells the story of Tom, a real estate thug torn between a criminal life and his desire to become a concert pianist. The film premiered on February 17, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival...

. In 2008, Desplat received his second Oscar nomination for David Fincher

David Fincher

David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...

's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy-drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald...

. Desplat received his third Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1970 by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., with illustrations by Donald Chaffin. The book was later published with new illustrations by Jill Bennett, Tony Ross and Quentin...

in 2010, both of which were won by Michael Giacchino

Michael Giacchino

Michael Giacchino is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as...

for Up

Up (2009 film)

Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...

.

Recently, Desplat has composed music for Largo Winch
Largo Winch (film)
Largo Winch is a 2008 French film based on the Belgian comic Largo Winch. It was released on 17 December 2008. A sequel was released in Belgium February 16, 2011 as Largo Winch ; its international title being The Burma Conspiracy.-Cast:...

, based on the Belgian comic; Afterwards
Afterwards
Afterwards is a 2009 English-language psychological thriller film directed by Gilles Bourdos and starring Romain Duris, John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly. Based on Guillaume Musso's novel Et après..., the story tells of a workaholic lawyer who is told by a self-proclaimed visionary that he must...

a French-Canadian psychological thriller film directed by Gilles Bourdos in English; Anne Fontaine's Coco avant Chanel
Coco avant Chanel
Coco Before Chanel is a 2009 French film directed by Anne Fontaine, about the early life of the famed French fashion designer Coco Chanel....

based on the life of designer Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel...

; Robert Guédiguian

Robert Guédiguian

Robert Jules Guédiguian is a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. Most of his films star Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin....

's L'Armée du Crime
The Army of Crime
The Army of Crime is a 2009 French drama-war film directed by Robert Guédiguian and based on a story by Serge Le Péron, one of three credited for the screenplay. It received a wide release in France on September 16, 2009 and opened in the United States in 2010.The film deals with the events of the...

; Cheri
Cheri (film)
Chéri is a 2009 drama film directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend, it is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by French author Colette...

, reuniting him with director Stephen Frears

Stephen Frears

Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...

, whom he collaborated with on The Queen; Un Prophète
A Prophet
A Prophet is a 2009 French prison film directed by Jacques Audiard. Audiard claims that the film aims at "creating icons, images for people who don't have images in movies, like the Arabs in France," though he also had stated that the film "has nothing to do with his vision of society," and is a...

reuniting with director Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard is a French film director, the son of Michel Audiard, also a notable screenwriter and film director.He won twice both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, in 2005 for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and in 2010 for A Prophet...

; Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, and Chris Messina...

directed by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in...

; Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...

, directed by Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson

Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....

and based on the novel by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...

; New Moon
New Moon (2009 film)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, commonly referred to as New Moon, is a 2009 American romance fantasy-vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel New Moon. It is the second film in The Twilight Saga film series and is the sequel to 2008's Twilight. Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel in...

, directed by Chris Weitz

Chris Weitz

Christopher John "Chris" Weitz is an American producer, writer, director and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother, Paul Weitz, on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy, as well as directing the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass and the film adaptation of New...

; Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

's The Ghost Writer (film)
The Ghost Writer
The Ghost Writer is the first novel by Philip Roth to be narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, one of Roth's alter egos, and constitutes the first book in his Zuckerman Bound trilogy. The novel touches on themes common to many Roth works, including identity, the responsibilities of authors to their...

; Tamara Drewe
Tamara Drewe
Tamara Drewe is a weekly comic strip serial by Posy Simmonds published in The Guardian's Review section. The strip is based upon a modern reworking of Thomas Hardy's nineteenth century novel Far from the Madding Crowd....

; The Special Relationship
The Special Relationship
The Special Relationship is an episode of the BBC sitcom, The Green Green Grass. It was first screened on 30 December 2007, as the 2007 Christmas special. -Synopsis:...

; 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
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David...

. He reunited with director David Yates

David Yates

David Yates is an English filmmaker who rose to mainstream prominence directing the final four films in the Harry Potter film series. He helmed the series' fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments, all of which became an instant blockbuster success and made him the most commercially...

, who offered Desplat the opportunity to score the second part after his work on the Part 1 soundtrack "enchanted everyone in the control room". Desplat's soundtrack sequel to the 2008 film Largo Winch
Largo Winch
Largo Winch is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis.The principal character is Largo Winch whose birth name is Largo Winczlav. Other important characters include Nerio Winch , senior Group W executives John D. Sullivan and Dwight E...

was released in 2011 and was well received.

Desplat's 2011 projects include The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick

Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....

(which he actually recorded in early 2010), A Better Life
A Better Life
A Better Life is a 2011 American drama film directed by Chris Weitz. The screenplay, originally known as The Gardener, was written by Eric Eason based on a story by Roger L. Simon.-Plot:...

, La Fille du Puisatier
La Fille du Puisatier
The Well-Digger's Daughter is a 1940 French romantic comedy drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol.-Selected cast:*Raimu as Pascal Amoretti*Fernandel as Félipe Rambert*Josette Day as Patricia Amoretti*Line Noro as Marie Mazel...

, George Clooney

George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...

's The Ides of March
The Ides of March (film)
The Ides of March is a 2011 American political drama thriller film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay written by Clooney, along with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon. The film is an adaptation of Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North...

. 2012 will see Desplat's releases for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.The book's narrator is a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell. Two years before the story begins, Oskar's father dies on 9/11...

, The Spider's House, Roman Polanski's Carnage
Carnage
Carnage may refer to:*Carnage , a Marvel comic book supervillain*Carnage , a 2002 French film*Twitch of the Death Nerve, a 1971 Mario Bava horror film titled Carnage in the United States...

, and Florent Emilio Siri-directed biopic Cloclo.

Filmography (English Language)

The Revengers' Comedies
The Revengers' Comedies
The Revengers' Comedies is a play by Alan Ayckbourn. Its title references that of The Revenger's Tragedy. The play is an epic piece running more than five hours and was designed to be presented in two parts...

(1998)
The Luzhin Defence
The Luzhin Defence
The Luzhin Defence is a 2000 film directed by Marleen Gorris, starring John Turturro and Emily Watson. The film centres on a mentally tormented chess grandmaster and the young woman he meets while competing at a world-class tournament in Italy...

(2000)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, and Cillian Murphy. The film is named after a painting of the same...

(2003)
Birth
Birth (film)
Birth is a 2004 film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Danny Huston and Cameron Bright.The story is about a young widow from a prominent Manhattan-based family named Anna who slowly becomes convinced that her husband, Sean, who died ten years previously, has...

(2004)
The Upside of Anger
The Upside of Anger
The Upside of Anger is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Binder and set in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan...

(2005)
Hostage
Hostage (film)
Hostage is a 2005 thriller film with Bruce Willis that was directed by Florent Emilio Siri. The film was based on a novel by Robert Crais, and was adapted for the screen by Doug Richardson....

(2005)
Casanova (2005)
Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...

(2005)
The Alibi
The Alibi
The Alibi is a 2006 American film written by Noah Hawley and directed by Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattila. The film was released to DVD on December 5, 2006 under the title Lies and Alibis.-Plot:...

(2006)
Firewall
Firewall (film)
Firewall is a 2006 British-American thriller film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Joe Forte. Harrison Ford stars as Jack Stanfield, a security expert at a bank faced with a corporate merger and the offer of a new job.-Plot:...

(2006)
The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...

(2006)
The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham...

(2006)
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee.-Plot:...

(2007)
The Golden Compass (2007)
Afterwards
Afterwards
Afterwards is a 2009 English-language psychological thriller film directed by Gilles Bourdos and starring Romain Duris, John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly. Based on Guillaume Musso's novel Et après..., the story tells of a workaholic lawyer who is told by a self-proclaimed visionary that he must...

(2008)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in Colliers Magazine on May 27, 1922. It was subsequently anthologized in his book, Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz...

(2008)
Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, and Chris Messina...

(2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...

(2009)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
The Special Relationship
The Special Relationship (film)
The Special Relationship is a 2010 American-British political film directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of British Prime Minister Tony Blair , following The Deal and The...

(2010)
Tamara Drewe
Tamara Drewe (film)
Tamara Drewe is a 2010 comedy film directed by Stephen Frears.The screenplay was written by Moira Buffini, based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name written by Posy Simmonds...

(2010)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)
The King's Speech
The King's Speech (film)
The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush...

(2010)
The Tree of Life (2011)
A Better Life
A Better Life
A Better Life is a 2011 American drama film directed by Chris Weitz. The screenplay, originally known as The Gardener, was written by Eric Eason based on a story by Roger L. Simon.-Plot:...

(2011)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David...

(2011)
The Ides of March
The Ides of March (film)
The Ides of March is a 2011 American political drama thriller film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay written by Clooney, along with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon. The film is an adaptation of Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North...

(2011)
Carnage
Carnage (2011 film)
Carnage is a 2011 black comedy drama film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the acclaimed play God of Carnage by French playwright Yasmina Reza. The film is an international co-production of France, Germany, Poland and Spain.-Plot:...

(2011)
My Week with Marilyn
My Week with Marilyn
My Week with Marilyn is a British drama film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Adrian Hodges. It stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dougray Scott, Judi Dench and Emma Watson. Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the...

- [Marilyn's Theme] (2011)
The Spider's House (2012)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (film)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an upcoming 2011 American drama film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey...

(2012)

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
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a 2005 French film directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Romain Duris. It tells the story of Tom, a real estate thug torn between a criminal life and his desire to become a concert pianist. The film premiered on February 17, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival...

(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
Quand j'étais chanteur
When I Was a Singer is a 2006 French musical romantic drama film starring Gérard Depardieu and Cécile de France. It was written and directed by Xavier Giannoli.-Cast:* Gérard Depardieu as Alain Moreau* Cécile De France as Marion...

(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
L'Ennemi Intime
L'Ennemi intime is a 2007 French war film, directed by Florent Emilio Siri, starring Benoît Magimel, Albert Dupontel and Mohamed Fellag. It was filmed in France and Morocco.-Plot:The film is set in 1959 during the Algerian War...

(2007) – French (original title)
Lust, Caution (2007) Se, jie – Chinese (original title)
Largo Winch
Largo Winch (film)
Largo Winch is a 2008 French film based on the Belgian comic Largo Winch. It was released on 17 December 2008. A sequel was released in Belgium February 16, 2011 as Largo Winch ; its international title being The Burma Conspiracy.-Cast:...

(2008)
Coco Before Chanel (2009) [Coco avant Chanel – France (original title)]
A Prophet
A Prophet
A Prophet is a 2009 French prison film directed by Jacques Audiard. Audiard claims that the film aims at "creating icons, images for people who don't have images in movies, like the Arabs in France," though he also had stated that the film "has nothing to do with his vision of society," and is a...

(2009) [Un prophète – France (original title)]
The Army of Crime
The Army of Crime
The Army of Crime is a 2009 French drama-war film directed by Robert Guédiguian and based on a story by Serge Le Péron, one of three credited for the screenplay. It received a wide release in France on September 16, 2009 and opened in the United States in 2010.The film deals with the events of the...

(2009) [L'armée du crime – France (original title)]
La Fille du Puisatier
La Fille du Puisatier
The Well-Digger's Daughter is a 1940 French romantic comedy drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol.-Selected cast:*Raimu as Pascal Amoretti*Fernandel as Félipe Rambert*Josette Day as Patricia Amoretti*Line Noro as Marie Mazel...

(2011)
Largo Winch 2 (2011)
Cloclo (2012)

César Awards

|-
| 1997

César Awards 1997

The 1997 César Awards were hosted by Annie Girardot. The winners and nominees were:-Best Actor – Leading Role:* Philippe Torreton – Captain Conon...

| A Self-Made Hero
| Best Music Written for a Film