Director Peter Webber has announced on Twitter (via The Film Stage) that Alexandre Desplat is attached to score the upcoming political thriller Emperor. The movie starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones is set in Japan amidst the uncertainties of the days following the nation’s surrender at the end of World War II, when General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander of the occupying forces and the leading Japanese expert on his staff are faced with the decision if Emperor Hirohito should be tried and hanged as a war criminal. David Klass (Walking Tall) and Vera Blasi are writing the screenplay based on the historic events. Yoko Narahashi (The Last Samurai), Gary Foster (Daredevil, Ghost Rider), Russ Krasnoff (The Soloist) and Eugene Nomura are producing. Desplat has previously collaborated with Webber on 2003’s The Girl with a Pearl Earring, for which the composer received his first Golden Globe nomination and which put him on the map in Hollywood. Emperor has just started principal photography and will be shot in Japan and New Zealand. No word yet on a release date.
Desplat’s projects in 2012 already include Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Florent Emilio Siri’s Cloclo, both of which have already been recorded. The composer will also be scoring Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone starring Marion Cotillard.
