Alexandre Desplat has won the Orange British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) in the Original Music category for his score for The King’s Speech. The award was presented to him by singer/songwriter Paul McCartney. Desplat’s competitors in the category were A.R. Rahman for 127 Hours, Danny Elfman for Alice in Wonderland, John Powell for How to Train Your Dragon and Hans Zimmer for Inception. The award marks Desplat’s first BAFTA after being nominated before for Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. For a backstage interview with Desplat at the Awards show, watch the video below after the jump.
Tag: The King’s Speech
Composers react to Academy Award nominations
Following the announcement of the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, reactions from all nominated composers have appeared online.
John Powell on How to Train Your Dragon:
Visit Movieline for a short interview with Powell on his very first Oscar nomination and also check out Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for a short reaction from the composer.
Alexandre Desplat on The King’s Speech:
Check out a short quote in Variety and The Wrap on his fourth (and third consecutive) nomination for Tom Hooper’s movie which received the most nominations for any film today.
Hans Zimmer on Inception:
Check out this interview on Movieline for Zimmer’s reaction on his ninth nomination and the lack of nomination for Inception’s director Christopher Nolan.
Weekly Film Music Roundup (November 26, 2011)
Four new movies are opening wide over Thanksgiving weekend:
Walt Disney Pictures’ Tangled features songs and score by Alan Menken. Check out our previous article announcing the soundtrack album. A short video interview on the score has been uploaded on YouTube. To listen to lenghty audio interviews with Menken talking about his work on Tangled, visit Film Music Magazine’s On the Score and WDW Radio. Entertainment Weekly also featured an in depth interview with the composer worth checking out. Also check out a short interview Menken did with The Wall Street Journal, as well as a recent article about Menken on LA Times’ Music Blog.
The King’s Speech soundtrack album details
Alexandre Desplat’s score for The King’s Speech will be released by Decca Records on November 22. The soundtrack album features about 30 minutes of score, plus two classical pieces by Beethoven which have been specifically recorded for the movie. To listen to audio clips from the album and order the CD, visit Amazon. Also check out Decca’s soundtrack page for a short note by Alexandre Desplat about working on the music. Click here to check out the movie’s trailer.
Alexandre Desplat to score The Gardener
UPDATE (February 24, 2011): The Gardener has recently received a new title: 
A Better Life.
Alexandre Desplat has been hired to score the upcoming drama The Gardener. In the movie, a gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city’s wealthy landowners. The Gardener is directed by Chris Weitz who previously worked with Desplat on The Golden Compass and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The indie drama stars Demian Bichir. No release date has been set yet for the Summit Entertainment movie.