Alexandre Desplat Celebrates Wes Anderson and Tarik Saleh at Cannes

It will be interesting to see how the jury chooses, this is two so different films, says Desplat to TT.>

With around 260 film music compositions on his CV, and more awards (Oscars, Emmy statuettes, Golden Globe awards, etc.) Alexandre Desplat is one of the world's most praised and awarded in the genre.

Collaborates with Wes Anderson

He has established collaborations with several directors, not least now Cannes-featured Wes Anderson. "The Phoenician scheme" is their seventh film together.

When it comes to Wes, I write long music pieces and then send them to him, after which he in the editing room picks and chooses. He is the only one of the directors I work with who does so.

Desplat always reads the scripts or at least an early version of them.

Then I work with different themes. I can never work on two different films simultaneously. It would be a short circuit in the brain if I were to go back and forth. It is nice to be able to work in different genres.

Contact with Tarik Saleh got him through his agent. Saleh's films always do very well in France, and the Paris-based Desplat had seen "Nile Hilton incident" and "Boy from heaven" and told his agent.

Then the agent brought me and Tarik together and I really liked working with him.

Likes Continuity

If there will be more collaborations with Tarik Saleh is not yet certain. He does not yet know what he will do. But clear is Desplat likes continuous collaborations. Apart from Wes Anderson, he has made multiple soundtracks for, among others, Stephen Frears and Guillermo del Toro. But does it never happen that it gets cut off, that he says "never more"? He laughs and says "look at my CV".

There one can see that he has only worked for Lasse Hallström when he wrote the music for "Casanova". Are they enemies?

No, absolutely not. I would gladly do more for Lasse. But he has not heard from him. It gets like that sometimes. A director changes photographer or composer or others from film to film. Sometimes it may hurt a little.

63 years old.

Family: Wife Dominique Lemmonier, two daughters.

Lives: In Paris.

Occupation: Composer.

Previous works in selection: A number of Wes Anderson films, "The shape of water", "Casanova", "The queen", "Ghost writer", "The king's speech", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", "Philomena", "Godzilla".

Currently with: "Eagles of the republic" and "The Phoenician scheme" which premieres at the film festival in Cannes.