Throughout his career, French composer Alexandre Desplat has penned original scores for everything from famous franchises to arthouse favorites. He's also struck up partnerships with influential auteurs like Wes Anderson and Guillermo del Toro. Since earning his first Best Original Score Academy Award nomination in 2007, he's won the statuette twice and received eight other nominations for his work on films like Little Women.
His outstanding work has also earned the composer three BAFTAs. Desplat's most recent collaboration with Anderson, The French Dispatch, has earned a nomination at the 2022 Golden Globes and is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score. Like John Williams and other influential film composers, Desplat has proved himself to be a monumental creative force in modern filmmaking.
The Queen (2006)
Desplat earned the first Academy Award for Best Original Score of his career for the 2006 biographical drama The Queen. The film is set in 1997 and centers around the aftermath of Princess Diana's sudden death and how the Royal Family responded. For her role as Queen Elizabeth II, Helen Mirren earned numerous awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe.
Desplat composed 16 different tracks for The Queen which were performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Along with the Academy Award nomination, his score received a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music nomination. Some outstanding compositions from Desplat's original score include the regal and swelling "The Queen" and the slightly ominous "Mourning."
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Wes Anderson's 2009 animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox marks the first collaboration between the director and Desplat. An adaption of the 1970 Roald Dahl children's story, Anderson's underrated stop motion film is incredibly charming and embraces the story's publication decade in style. Since its release, Fantastic Mr. Fox has become one of Anderson's most familiar titles.
The film's theme, "Mr. Fox in the Fields," captures the audience's attention in just a few banjo string plucks and has become one of the most recognizable songs in Desplat's extensive catalog. The composer's score contains just as much whimsy and nostalgia as its source material, and the touches of folk music help it stand out. Desplat's work earned Academy Award and BAFTA nominations.
The King's Speech (2010)
The King's Speech, Tom Hooper's biographical drama about King George VI seeing a speech therapist to control his stutter, is the first Academy Award for Best Picture winner featuring an original score by Desplat. The King's Speech also won the Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Desplat's score won the Best Film Music BAFTA and the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Grammy.
A surprising R-rated film, The King's Speech would be the fourth film to score Desplat an Academy Award nomination, though he'd lose to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' memorable score for The Social Network. Featuring retro-sounding compositions like "Queen Elizabeth" and the film's title track, the composer used his score to tell the story of an important man trying to articulate his thoughts to the masses.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
One of five films Desplat scored in 2010, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and its 2011 second half are some of the composer's most popular scores. The beginning of the end of the Harry Potter saga, Deathly Hallows Part 1 follows the Golden Trio as they hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes and risk their young lives for the sake of the wizarding world.
For Part 1, Desplat composed 29 original songs to guide the beloved characters through the last chapters of their stories. Some standouts include the opening track "Obliviate," which plays as Hermione wipes herself from her parents' memories, and "Ron's Speech," a hauntingly beautiful tune from the magical scene where Ron reunites with his friends after destroying Salazar Slytherin's locket.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
The second Wes Anderson film Desplat composed for, Moonrise Kingdom is a coming-of-age story about young love and adventure. Troubled tweens Suzy and Sam run away after feeling alienated, heading off into the wild New England wilderness on the fictional island of New Penzance. Moonrise Kingdom features great performances from its ensemble cast made up of Hollywood legends and doe-eyed newcomers, as well as some of Anderson's most iconic costumes.
Along with Desplat's original orchestrations, another frequent Anderson collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh crafted percussion compositions for the film. Moonrise Kingdom's score draws stylistic inspiration from Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide and also features music by the late composer and various artists like Hank Williams and Leonard Bernstein alongside Desplat's original songs.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The Grand Budapest Hotel marks Desplat's third collaboration with Wes Anderson and the composer's first win for Best Original Score at the Academy Awards. The dramedy, nominated for Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards, tells the story of a lobby boy's adventures as a famed concierge's accomplice after the man is accused of murder. Along with the Oscar, Desplat earned his second BAFTA and Grammy.
Desplat drew inspiration from Russian folk music, taking viewers back in time as the film recounts the story of Zero and Monsieur Gustave. The Grand Budapest Hotel's score features the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra throughout its 32 tracks. "Mr. Moustafa" is one of Desplat's most popular tracks on Spotify, and other great compositions include "Escape Concerto" and "The New Lobby Boy."
The Imitation Game (2014)
At the 87th Academy Awards, Desplat competed against himself in the Best Original Score category. While he won for The Grand Budapest Hotel, his score for the historical drama The Imitation Game is just as beautiful. The film explores the life of Alan Turing, a British mathematician and codebreaker, and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Despite joining the project late, Desplat was able to craft a fantastic score for the film. His score, which uses piano arpeggios to depict Alan's constant thinking, was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. Keira Knightley's Joan Clarke, one of Turing's fellow codebreakers, has her own song in the score, and "Joan" is as interesting and complex as the character it's named after.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Desplat won the second Best Original Score Academy Award of his career for the 2017 film, The Shape of Water. The historical fantasy film is often considered del Toro's best, and most romantic, feature. Set during the Cold War, The Shape of Water tells the story of Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaner who falls in love with a human-amphibian hybrid being held at a government lab.
Along with great performances from Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and a prosthetic-covered Doug Jones, The Shape of Water features a strong score. Now a master at his craft, Desplat was able to make moving music to pair with del Toro's sci-fi romance. The composer won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score — Motion Picture and his third BAFTA. The titular composition was nominated for two Grammys.
Little Women (2019)
Desplat landed the 11th Academy Award nomination of his career for scoring Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women. Following the four March sisters as they come of age in Civil War-era Massachusetts, Little Women received critical acclaim and 6 Oscar nominations, winning for Best Costume Design.
Featuring a career-best performance from Saoirse Ronan and a star-making turn from Florence Pugh, the seventh adaption of Little Women has become a fan favorite. While Desplat may not have won a third Oscar for the score, tracks like "Laurie and Jo on the Hill" and "Plumfield" are some of his best, the latter earning a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition.
The French Dispatch (2021)
The latest collaboration between Wes Anderson and Desplat, The French Dispatch is a visual love letter to journalism told through three vignettes. Following stories written by three of the fictional newspaper's reporters, the film explores an artist behind bars, the lives of student activists, and the kidnapping of the police commissioner's son.
Another one of Desplat's popular scores on Spotify, The French Dispatch will compete for the Best Original Score Golden Globe against Encanto, The Power of the Dog, Parallel Mothers and Dune. Some standout songs from the score include the fun and fast-paced "Animated Car Chase" and "Obituary," the film's opening track.