Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer.
He began composing in the late 80's in his home country and gained international recognition in 2006 with his scores in The Queen - for which he was nominated for an Academy Award - and The Painted Veil. These days he is the Associated Composer for directors Roman Polański, Jacques Audiard, George Clooney, Guillermo del Toro, Stephen Frears, Wes Anderson and Chris Weitz.
Desplat is known for having a pretty extensive curriculum, with more than 4 scores every year, and has touched every possible genre like political thrillers (Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Syriana), fantasy films (The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Godzilla (2014)), action films (Firewall, Hostage), animation (sorry to say this, Brad Bird) (Rise of the Guardians, Fantastic Mr. Fox), comedies (Julie & Julia, Wes Anderson films), period dramas (The Painted Veil, The King's Speech, Lust, Caution, The Imitation Game) and even TV spots (the Jaguar spot featuring Tom Hiddleston, Ben Kingsley and Mark Strong). Though he is highly in demand in the USA, he still composes for his home country, like Rust and Bone, A Prophet and Eiffel.
He has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards, and won two, for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water.
Works with soundtracks by Alexandre Desplat:
- For Wes Anderson:
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
- Isle of Dogs (2018)
- The French Dispatch (2021)
- Asteroid City (2023)
- For George Clooney:
- The Ides of March (2011)
- The Monuments Men (2014)
- Suburbicon (2017)
- The Midnight Sky (2020)
- For Stephen Frears:
- The Queen (2006)
- Chéri (2009)
- Tamara Drewe (2010)
- Philomena (2013)
- Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
- The Lost King (2022)
- For Roman Polański:
- The Ghost Writer (2010)
- Carnage (2011)
- Venus in Fur (2013)
- Based on a True Story (2013)
- An Officer and a Spy (2019)
- For Tom Hooper:
- The King's Speech (2010)
- The Danish Girl (2015)
- For Jacques Audiard:
- The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
- A Prophet (2009)
- Rust and Bone (2012)
- The Sisters Brothers (2018)
- For Chris Weitz
- The Golden Compass (2007)
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
- A Better Life (2011)
- Operation Finale (2018)
- For Guillermo del Toro
- The Shape of Water (2017)
- Pinocchio (2022)
- For Greta Gerwig
- Little Women (2019)
- Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
- Casanova (2005)
- Syriana (2005)
- Hostage (2005)
- The Painted Veil (2006)
- Lust, Caution (2007)
- Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)
- Largo Winch (2008)
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
- Julie & Julia (2009)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) & Part 2 (2011)
- Largo Winch II (2011)
- The Tree of Life (2011)
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
- Argo (2012)
- Rise of the Guardians (2012)
- Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
- The Imitation Game (2014)
- Unbroken (2014)
- Godzilla (2014)
- The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
- The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
- Eiffel (2021)
- Father & Soldier (2023)
Tropes & Trivia for his works:
- Associated Composer: The director he's most famously associated with these days is certainly Wes Anderson, Desplat has scored all of his films since 2009's Fantastic Mr. Fox.
- Inspiration for the Work: The use of cimbalom in his score for The Grand Budapest Hotel was inspired by the main theme of The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe by Vladimir Cosma, itself based off Romanian sirba music.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was the original composer for the Star Wars film Rogue One, but was replaced by Michael Giacchino after the film was extensively reshot during its Troubled Production, as he was no longer available to score the new footage.
- He was originally hired to score Black Widow (2021), however he was replaced by Lorne Balfe late into post-production. When questioned about it, Desplat responded by saying “I was attached to that movie, and then I was detached”, implying that he was fired over creative differences rather than a scheduling conflict.
- He was originally hired as composer for Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, but was forced to exit due to scheduling conflicts (due to the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 Pandemic back then, del Toro and Desplat were unable to meet in France to work on the score). Nathan Johnson replaced him.
- He was also the original composer for Barbie, reuniting him with Greta Gerwig. However, he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
