On any list of the most admired composers working in film today, Alexandre Desplat would be either at the top or very close to it. That’s not just for the quality of the work — although, as his list of 11 Oscar nominations and two wins would indicate, there is that — but the expanse of styles and sheer breadth of his filmography, whether he’s doing ear-ticklingly eccentric scores for smaller-scale pictures or satisfyingly symphonic ones for the blockbusters.
The French scorer is about to undergo a Hollywood composer’s rite of passage, which some would say is overdue, conducting his first full night of music at the Hollywood Bowl this coming Tuesday night. It will finally answer the longstanding question: Who would win in a fight —”Godzilla” or “The Queen”? But seriously, having the music of monster movies and royal dramas on the same bill will make for a full-service night of great music from the contemporary cinema. (And, who knows, maybe the “Girl With a Pearl Earring” will beat the creatures and monarchs, both.)
Desplat did a Zoom session with Variety from London, as he was wrapping up the last recordings of his score for Guillermo Del Toro‘s “Frankenstein.” That will put quite a cap on a year that, just in the release slate of the last two months, has seen the composer charming audiences with the music for both “Jurassic World Rebirth” and “The Phoenician Scheme,” as big a gamut as any succession of movies in his career.
(Tickets for and further information about “The Cinematic Scores of Alexandre Desplat” on July 15 can be found here.)
Film buffs are anticipating your Hollywood Bowl show on the 15th. It’s hard to imagine, but you haven’t done a night at the Hollywood Bowl before, have you?
No, I didn’t. No, I’ve never been invited. It’s the first time. There was a DreamWorks tribute where I played one piece that I had composed, so I’ve been on that stage conducting one piece. But now, it’s a huge concert, a big, big moment for me. I’m so proud and honored. I have added to my diary some concerts here and there — I’ve played in Vienna, in Paris, in Greece several times. But the Hollywood Bowl, it’s a huge, fantastic place. I went there to listen to some jazz in the ‘80s, and I’ve seen John Williams, and the vibe there is so special and different from anywhere else. And it’s Los Angeles…
The list of selections you’ve put together for the night is so interesting. Were you trying to find a balance between things that are most well-known or exciting to an audience and things that are closest to your heart?
Well, it’s mostly American movies. Or Anglo-Saxon, let’s say, because there’s some British movies, but they were released in in America and went to awards season. And mostly we chose scores that could be really symphonic. Because some of the scores I played in Paris, for example, were more sparse; we played some of “Argo,” some of “Syriana,” which are more restrained, and sometimes with ethnic instruments and not fully symphonic. But here we have the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and it made sense to bring to the audience the largest symphonic pieces.
That makes sense. When you’ve got the LA Phil there, it’s tough to say, “You guys take give while we bring out an esoteric percussion ensemble.”
Exactly. Or a Turkish flute…
The program starts with “Godzilla” and ends with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.” It seems safe to say the idea is to bookend it with something thrilling.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Godzilla” makes a good overture because it’s very powerful and there’s lots of action going on, and then we can go into more intimate pieces like “Girl With a Golden Earring.”And “Harry Potter” is kind of the fireworks to end the concert because, there again, the orchestra is blasting out every second.
There are a couple of suits you’ve put together, of score excerpts pulled together either by filmmaker or theme. It’s kind of fun to have your scores for kings and queens all grouped together into one sequence.
That’s the idea. I’ve scored many movies with Stephen Frears, who I cherish. I’ve scored a few movies with Tom Hooper, and we did some great scores for his films. So it made sense to have “The King’s Speech” and “The Queen” and “The Last King”… It was just a matter of grouping these movies together and not just having little bits and pieces of each movie, but uniting in a suite those three movies, to have some continuity and a better experience for the audience, also.
Is there any one of the things you’re playing that you consider the most lyrical, in a way, that is less on the actiony side?
Well, I would say that even when I do action stuff, my music is always lyrical. I can’t restrain myself from writing melodies, and from having every section have something to play that is enjoyable, not just stabs or simple things. I want also the back rows to have something to play that is meaningful to them so that they can express lyrically what they can do. So even the action movies, they’re full of that — “Harry Potter” is full of lyrical moments, but even “Godzilla,” actually.
Not to diminish the blockbusters as anything less…
And actually you notice that I didn’t do many blockbusters. Maybe it’s because it is difficult to do that. Well, we have a great example. The best example is John Williams — he has managed to do big, huge blockbusters for hundreds of years [laughs] and the music is lyrical, sophisticated, melodic, and still connecting to the movie and to the audience. So if there’s one lead to follow, he’s the one.
Speaking of Williams, of course you’ve just done the new “Jurassic” movie and you’re following directly in his footsteps there. With a franchise, there will probably be a call to quote something from the original, but you wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t going to be satisfying in putting a unique stamp on what you’re doing.
Yeah. You do quote in the film… There were some very precise moments where Gareth (Edwards, the director) wanted me to bring out a little excerpt of the signature theme. It’s not the whole theme, but some moments where you could recognize it. That’s for the audience, because they love this melody so much, as we all do, so we had to pay tribute to this theme in a few moments of the film. But the rest of the time, I’m just writing my own thing. And, again, watching out and looking up to John Williams, trying to challenge him with what I write — which is impossible. [Laughs.]
You’ve said before you said that you write to the characters, not to the action.
Yeah.
But is that possible in a film like this?
Not as much as in an intimate love story. Of course not. But, still… I look at the character, and I wonder what the character is feeling. If there’s a character that is a dinosaur… who knows what the dinosaur is feeling? [Laughs.] So, I do, yeah. And that’s why it was so great to work on this film, because it’s such a beautiful cast, and they really hold this story together because they’re great actors.
This kind of film is sort of the exception and not the rule in your career, as you’ve said.
True.
These big films have not been a big focus for you, so when you accept an assignment like this that’s so different from a We Anderson film, what makes the difference for you saying, yes, I wanna do this? Is it the fact that you don’t do it as often as you could, or is there something about the film or the filmmakers particularly that lets you know it’ll be a good relationship?
It’s several factors. First of all, when I dreamed of one day becoming a film composer for Hollywood, when I was between 17 and 25, those are the scores that I was listening to — these big blockbuster scores, by Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams, and I was dreaming of doing that. But then my career took another start with “Girl With the Pearl Earring” and “The King’s Speech” and “The Queen,” movies which are more intimate, and French movies, which were also more intimate. And I haven’t had that many opportunities to do big movies. So now, later in my career, I’m being offered these huge things. “Godzilla” was one, and that with Gareth. So when Gareth, who I like very much — we are good friends — called me for this one, I accepted. It made sense that it was a good moment for me to work on a big adventure movie.
To talk about Anderson and “The Phoenician Scheme,” that’s a really enjoyable score to put on at home, if you need some motivation to pick up your step — it’s driving, but not in an overpowering way. You’ve said that with Wes, you always focus on a unique instrumental group. So how did you select what you did here, which seems very percussion-driven?
We had explored before, especially in “Isle of Dogs,” using Japanese percussion instruments. We also did it in “Grand Budapest Hotel” — there are many moments where it’s only the drumming or percussion playing, and tambourines… and snare drums in “Moonrise Kingdom,” and triangles. We do use percussion quite often in Wes’ films. But in this one, because the main motif that we are using melodically comes from “The Firebird,” from Stravinsky, I had to twist and find another way of playing around that melody. And using percussion was one of those.
The tone of Anderson’s films can be difficult to pin down, deliberately. There’s often going to be an element of whimsy, and you’ve said that the two of you share a sense of humor. But you’re clearly not playing to that in a score like this, which at times has a suspenseful score, more like a thriller. In a way maybe you’re really kind of grounding the film somewhat in terms of the seriousness or the tension.
Yeah, I really think that writing comedy music is something very difficult, and I don’t think that we’ve ever done that with Wes. I never wrote something that was meant to be funny for a scene that was meant to be funny and that the music would just amplify that. I’ve always tried to grasp the innocence and convey the poetic world of Wes Anderson. Beause actually, once you go really deep into the story, there’s a lot of poetry there. And I guess that’s what I try to do. Of course the music I write for his films is very melodic, and simple, which doesn’t mean simplistic, but I try to find the simplest way of expressing what I think is the soul of the film. Even in “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” the first movie we did together, it’s childlike sometimes, but never childish, and it’s more moving than funny. In “Budapest,” it’s the same. It can be bouncy, but bouncy doesn’t mean funny.
You got your first Oscar for “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” so it’s not surprising to see that here on the list for the Hollywood Bowl. How did you decide which films to include in the Wes Anderson suite?
Again, it depends on the instrumentation. How can you transcribe it for a symphonic orchestra? “Isle of Dogs” was very difficult because it was voices, percussion and saxophones — not easy to transcribe for an orchestra, so we had to pass on that one. We passed on “Asteroid City,” too, because there was mostly a piano doing a motif — and some strings at some point, but not enough to be in the suite for a symphonic orchestra. I love what I did for these movies, but they can’t be played by a symphonic orchestra because there’s not enough material to do it. Or if you do, you kill completely the spirit of the music itself, and it’s disconnected from the original film, so it’s not right. I think for “Grand Budapest,” even though there were balalaikas, I’ve added full symphonicorchestra and I think still that we hear what it means, what it refers to. I made it bigger, but it’s connected. There’s a cimbalom, in the orchestra, but there’s an orchestra playing, and that’s the how the choice has to be made.
You’ll be including some pieces from your films with Guillermo del Toro, and of course you are working with him right now on “Frankenstein.” I don’t know if you would use the word “romantic” or not, but it sounds like you are going for something that is obviously not like a horror movie score.
Yeah. With Guillermo, we found a common ground, which is emotion. Emotional and lyrical, to come back to your first phrase. Of all the movies I’ve scored with Guillermo that are the most lyrical, could it be “Pinocchio,” could it be “Shape of Water,” or this one? This one is also about the characters. And I’ve done the same for “Pinocchio,” even though it was little puppets; I was scoring that movie as it was real, live action and not just stop-motion. So we are doing the same for “Frankenstein,” which is about the characters, Victor Frankenstein, the creature, and some characters around them. I’m really interested in giving them more depth, more emotions, so that the audience really can share what Guilerrermo has tried to do. And it’s closer to Mary Shelley’s book, you know. It’s not a horror film. There are some moments. Of course, if you create a creature from dead bodies, you’re not picking up flowers in a poppy field, you know. But it’s very lyrical, with it melodies and large orchestra, choir, solo violin. But it’s not romantic, because the music I write is not romantic. There are very strong melody lines, and if you play that music in a romantic way, it becomes very cheesy. So I try to get myself away from that.
But knowing Guillermo’s tastes, he is in love with the monster.
Yeah, he is. You see that he likes these monsters, like in “Shape of Water.” With the music, we surround the characters with love — let’s put it that way.
He’s someone who loves movies so much, and clearly you do too, and I’m sure he understands music very well. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall while the two of you work things out.
Well, yeah, he understands the power of music in his films, and in cinema in general. And I think he likes working with me because he understands that I can share with him cinema references. I don’t mean music references, but movie references — shots or scenes of other movies. And he also understands that I will push the emotion to a place where he had not maybe expected that it would go. Which doesn’t mean it will be more emotional; sometimes it could become more restrained or more delicate. But sometimes he pushes me, because I’m sometimes too French. He wants me to be more Mexican.
Are you happy or sorry to see the process come to an end as you wrap up work on something like “Frankenstein,” where your work is so valued, but the amount of work is so intensive?
Well, the only thing I’m thinking about is to sleep. To be able to have a real night’s sleep, and a few naps during the day, to catch up. But it is a very exciting project. Guillermo is an incredible artist, and music is a very important character in this film. He gave me a lot of space to express myself — you know, a huge orchestra, a choir, this great solo violin player. And there’s a hundred minutes of music, so it’s a daunting task. But it’s for the good, it’s to work on a masterpiece, the movie that he’s been wanting to do for so many years — I’m glad I could be part of it.
There was an interview you did recently where someone asked you if there are still directors you dream of composing for and your answer was “Honestly, I mostly aspire to rest.” So that fits with what you are saying about your need for sleep right now.
Well, there are so many directors that I love, but they already work with great colleagues. Some others are the great directors of the New Hollywood in the ‘70s and ‘80s, which I’ve admired: Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg — but they have their own people too. So I just have to wait until one of those great directors (from that golden era) comes along and, if the movie’s good, I’d be so glad to do it. And I’ll be glad to be loyal to the ones who have continued calling me.
When you are doing something like this night at the Hollywood Bowl, are you focused on the micro-decisions, or do you allow yourself to step back and think about what this means for your career to have this huge body of work you can choose from and celebrate in Hollywood?
I have to look back because I’m giving a concert, but otherwise I don’t think about my body of work at all. I never look back at my list of films and what I’ve done, because I’m so stressed about the next one that I’m writing or recording that I can’t. But, that being said, thinking that I’m gonna go to the Hollywood Bowl and play my music in Los Angeles, that’s a huge achievement for me. It’s a dream that I’ve had since I’m a kid, so I can’t wait to be there. And I hope that the music will please the audience and that the house will be full.
The run of show for the July 15 Hollywood Bowl performance (not counting promised surprises):
• Godzilla (2014)
• The Imitation Game (2014)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
• Wes Anderson Suite:
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The French Dispatch (2021)
• Pinocchio (2022)
• Suite Royale:
The Queen (2006), The King’s Speech (2010), The Lost King (2022)
• Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
• The Shape of Water (2017)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Suite (2010/2011)
