Alexandre Desplat is reteaming with director Stephen Frears on the upcoming tragic comedy Philomena. The film starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan is based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a 50 Year Search by BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith and tells the true story of an Irish woman seeking the illegitimate son she was forced to put up for adoption in the U.S. Coogan co-wrote the script with Jeff Pope and is also producing the BBC Films, Pathe and British Film Institute production with Gabrielle Tana (The Duchess, Coriolanus) and Tracey Seaward (The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things). Desplat has previously collaborated with Frears on the Academy Award-nominated drama The Queen, as well as Cheri and Tamara Drewe. Philomena is currently in post-production and is expected to premiere later this year.
Desplat whose other upcoming projects include George Clooney’s The Monuments Men has also recently scored Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur (La Vénus à la fourrure). The film starring Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner is based on the Broadway and off-Broadway play by David Ives about an actress who attempts to convince a director how she’s perfect for a role in his upcoming production. Polanski wrote the script with Ives and Robert Benmussa (The Pianist) and Alain Sarde (Mulholland Dr.) are producing the project. Desplat has previously worked together with Polanski on such films as The Ghost Writer and Carnage. Venus in Fur is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.
Also premiering in Cannes is the thriller Zulu directed by Jérôme Salle and starring Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom. The film is based on the award-winning novel by French author Caryl Férey and follows two Cape Town cops who are investigating the murder of two women. Richard Grandpierre (Brotherhood of the Wolf) is producing the project. Desplat has previously scored Salle’s last two features The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch and The Burma Conspiracy and recorded his score for Zulu last month in France. The movie will premiere as the closing night film at Cannes on May 26.
