Alexandre Desplat: The Grand Budapest Hotel Academy Award

A much deserved Oscar award last night for Alexandre Desplat for his soundtrack to The Grand Budapest Hotel.

It has to be said that Desplat had a reasonable chance of bringing something home to put on his mantlepiece given that he was nominated for two seperate Best Soundtrack Academy awards.

As well as The Grand Budapest Hotel, he also created the soundtrack for the film The Imitation Game which was also nominated for the Best Soundtrack Academy Award this year.

The Grand Budapest Hote had been nominated or a number of Oscars, but still picked up four in total. The Wes Anderson film  missed out on Best Film and Best Director and best Original Screenplay awards. It also failed to get Best Cinematography and best editing, but won Best Costume design, best production design  and best make up and hair design as well as  Best Soundtrack.

Desplat's no stranger to the Oscars ceremony,  having been nominated six times before.

Previous work that earned him nominations are The Queen (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2009), Fantastic Mr Fox (2010) The King's Speech (2011), Argo (2013) and Philomena (2014).

He has also won three César awards, for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2006), The Ghost Writer (2011) and Rust and Bone (2013).

He's also worked on some big name Hollywood films in the past, include The Girl with the Pearl Earing (2003), The Golden Compass (2007),  and Zero Dark Thirty (2012) as well as Harry Potter and Twilight movies.

2015 Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards unfolded in Los Angeles last night, and while there was no repeat of Daft
Punk's sweeping victory last year for French artists, there was at least one French artist on the list, and a French flavour for another.

Alexandre Desplat picked up the award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the soundtrack of The Grand Budapest Hotel.

There was one award interesting award, with a Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella  award for Texas vocal group Pentatonix for a track entitled Daft Punk, a work that pays tribute to the French duo.

Meanwhile Daft Punk associate Pharrell Williams took home a prize for Best Pop Solo Performance for Happy and Best Urban Contemporary Album for his album Girl. He also took home the Best Music Video award for Happy.

Alexandre Desplat: 2015 Academy Awards nominations

For many musicians, an Oscar nomination would be the highlight of their career. But this time, for
Alexandre Desplat its something a bit more unusual as he has been nominated for two Academy Awards in the Best Original Score category.

His work for the films The Grand Budapest Hotel and for The Imitation Game earned him the nominations.

However, an Oscar nomination is no new experience for the Paris-born composer, having been nominated six times before.

His previous work that earned him nominations are The Queen (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2009), Fantastic Mr Fox (2010) The King's Speech (2011), Argo (2013) and Philomena (2014).

This time, with two nominations, he must surely be the most likely winner.

In his career he has already won three César awards, for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2006), The Ghost Writer (2011) and Rust and Bone (2013).

Other Hollywood films he's previously worked on include The Girl with the Pearl Earing (2003), The Golden Compass (2007),  and Zero Dark Thirty (2012) as well as Harry Potter and Twilight movies.

His work with the French film industry includes Quand j'étais chanteur (2006), Coco Before Chanel (2009), the Army of Crime (2009) ,  A prophet (2009) and Cloclo (2012)

Elsewhere, the 2015 Oscar nominations see Marion Cotillard nominated for  Two Days, One Night. Cotillard  previously won the title for her portrayal of Piaf in La Vie en Rose in 2008.

The winners will be revealed on February 22.


 

M83: My Tears Becoming a Sea - Rust and Bone

A song that's gained a renewed life after its appearance in the UK trailer for the film Rust and Bone.

My Tears are becoming a sea featured on the M83 album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, and album that's secured a place as one of the classic albums of the last few years.

The film debuted at Cannes earlier this year, and while not a winner of the palme d'or, it gota positive critical reaction, and more recently won the Best Film award at the BFI London Film festival.

Some suggest the film could earn Marion Cotillard her second Oscar award.

The soundtrack for the flim was composed by Alexandre Desplat, who previously worked on Cotillard's earlier film Coco Before Chanel, and with Rust and Bone director Jacques Audiard on the films A Prophet, A Self Made Hero, Read My Lips and The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

Desplat's film soundtrack career also included work on Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Queen, Twilight: New Moon and both Harry Potter and the Deathley Hallows movies. He's been nominated for an Oscar four times and won two César awards as well as a Golden Globe and a Bafta.