Alexandre Desplat has been tapped to score the upcoming drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. He is taking over scoring duties from composer Nico Muhly who was originally attached to the project with his name even credited on the film’s poster and in the first trailer. The movie is directed by Academy Award nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader) and stars Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, newcomer Thomas Horn, John Goodman, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer is adapted for the screen by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and produced by Scott Rudin (The Social Network). The drama tells the story of a nine-year-old boy who searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2011 by Warner Bros. For updates, visit the official movie website.

Desplat’s music can currently be heard in theaters in George Clooney’s drama The Ides of March starring Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella and Jeffrey Wright. As previously reported, a soundtrack album is scheduled to be released in November. Check back on this page for further details within the next few weeks.