Composer Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Queen) is set to reteam with director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist, OSS 117) on the upcoming animated feature The Most Precious of Cargos. The film, which marks the director’s first animation project, is based on the bestselling book by Jean-Claude Grumberg and will feature the voice talent of Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Blanc and Denys Podalydès. The movie is set during World War II and tells the story of a poor woodcutter who lives deep in the Polish forest, when his wife finds a baby girl who was thrown from the train by her Jewish father and decides to keep the precious cargo and raise her as her own against her husband’s wishes. Grumberg is also co-writing the screenplay with Hazanavicius. The project is produced by Les Films du Fleuve, Ex Nihilo, Les Compagnons du Cinéma and La Classe Américaine. 3.0 Studio (formerly Prima Linea) (The Red Turtle) is in charge of the animation. Details of the movie were announced today at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Desplat has previously scored Hazanavicius’ last feature Final Cut, which just premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last month. The Most Precious of Cargos is set to be released in 2024. (Variety)
Desplat has recently been recording his score for Guillermo del Toro’s animated movie Pinocchio at Abbey Road Studios in London. The composer’s other upcoming projects include Stephen Frears’ The Lost King, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, Roman Polanski’s The Palace and Rebecca Miller’s She Came to Me.
