Yesterday afternoon, the work of Alexandre Desplat was celebrated during a conversation and performance of his Oscar-nominated score for Philomena at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge. During a Q&A moderated by Society of Composers & Lyricists president Ashley Irwin, the composer talked about his fourth collaboration with director Stephen Frears, the challenges of the project and meeting the real Philomena Lee portrayed in the film by Judi Dench. Check out a video from the conversation after the jump. Randy Kerber performed selections from the Philomena score on piano.
Expected to top the weekend box office is the film adaptation of the bestselling novel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland. Republic Records has released a soundtrack album featuring songs from and inspired by the film, including the original song Atlas by Coldplay. 
Also opening wide is the comedy drama Delivery Man written and directed by Ken Scott and starring Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Britt Robertson and Jack Reynor. The film’s original score is composed by Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Magnolia, This is 40). No word yet on soundtrack release. Delivery Man is a remake of Scott’s 2011 film Starbuck and follows a man who is informed that he has fathered 533 children via sperm donations he made twenty years earlier. Check out 
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.