Onlinemagazin für Film und Filmmusik

Hello Mr. Desplat. Let’s start with how you came to film music. Can you tell us something about your background, your education and how you got your first film score assignment?

I was trained as a classic fluetist. And when I was in my teen age, I was really a movie addict and I shared my time between between school, practising my flute and going to the movies. Naturally I was kind of dreaming, that maybe I will be working in that area. And one day, after my first stage music, I was asked by one of the actors of the play to compose for his short movie. That was in 1983 I think.
This is how I was offered to do my first movie score. The good thing was that he was very much into american film scores like Steiner or Waxman or John Williams and we were listening to this music together. He wanted me to compose a big, lush orchestral score – but of course there was no money. So I was approaching all my friends and fellow students from the conservatory and tried to put together an orchestra. We recorded a big, huge and loud piece and that became my demo tape, that I could play around to agents and directors. This helped my to get another short movie and my first feature film, which was in 1985. That’s how I started to work in film scores.

Few people outside France know something about what you did before “The Girl With The Pearl Earring”. Can you give us a short overview over important projects.

Well, I was lucky enough to meet one of the most important directors I collaborated with, Jacques Audiard, who was first a screen writer and an editor, before he became a director. We did four movies together and each of them brought my work not only to the ears of the audience but also of the major producers. In the early ninetees I started to do some british movies here and there, like “The Hour Of The Pig” or “The Revengers’ Comedies”. And all of these movies, one after the other, gave me some credit in England. And even in America; without even knowing that some american music editors or directors have heard my scores and appreciated them at this time. I learned that when I came to “The Girl With The Pearl Earring”, that my previous works has been noticed.
So yes, “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” was around my fiftieth movie for the cinema and it’s not that my career was rather short before that. I felt that I’ve been only working for fifteen years before [laughs]. I think it came at the right moment. I trained myself on very different paths and tracks, from big symphonic pieces to string trios, piano or jazz or Mancini type of scores. So whenever composing for films, I was also trained and practising every day my capacity of composing fast. That’s one element that is very important when you’re composing film music.

Did the success of the score for “The Girl With The Pearl Earring"surprise you? What is it like that at once quite a few film music fans know about you?

Did it surprise me – not really, not my success but the success of the film. When Peter Webber contacted me, I was ready to go on holidays. It was in June or July, and I had a family plan and was ready to go. Than I saw the movie and I said to my family, I’m sorry but this summer I will not on holiday with you, because this movie is so beautiful and there was really something strong and different. It had so much quality that I should do it. So infact, I was not really suprised that the movie broke in. It had so many elements, the direction, the art direction, the photography and Scarlett and Colin. It was really a marvellous film put together.
The success of the music? Yes, I could be suprised. Even though it is a movie where music is really exposed. It is not just underscore all the time, there’s been a lot of moments where the music shines and that is very rare for a composer. So all these elements made it easier for me to show my crafts, that I’ve learned for so many years – and show it to the american public.

Did this change something with regard to jobs you were offered?

Well, it did change, because it of course opened the american market, which before was locked. I remember the articles in America, where I was totally unknown, even though I’ve done these movies in France. So yes, of course, it gave me the opportunity of showing my work over there and also being nominated for the golden globes and the BAFTA the same year.
But it was very very fragile, you know. So many artists are just one shot artists – just one great song, one great movie or one great music or whatever. They just fade out in the crowd and the struggle was for me, when I was done with “The Girl With The Pearl Earring”, to show that I could something else as good, maybe different and not exactly the same. In a different area of film and not just in this period movie. I tried this with “Hostage” and with “Birth” and “Syriana”, I really tried to as diverse as I could.

Let’s talk about Birth! The music seems to be very important, due to many scenes without dialogue. What was your concept for the score?

Well, I think it is important for a composer that he knows how to deal with dialogue, because in most of the movies, this is their engine, that could make them work. But of course, when you get the opportunity of letting go and having the fun, when the music drives everything, these are great moments for a composer. So, the opening scene of “Birth” was also a blessing for me, because I was able to show what I have learned for so many years. You know, concerning orchestration, the structure of the piece, the synth patterns with some lyrical melodie on top of it. It gave me this great opportunity.

So you would say that it is enyoable to get the possibility to work scene where the whole story is told through music?

Well, yes of course, of course. It’s a mix. You know, I always say this especially in connection with “Birth”, there is the incredible voice of Nicole Kidman and I also try to compose some lace behind her dialogue, without the music being too obvious or intruding. The music doesn’t have to be in the way of the dialogue. It is also a question of craft, that you have to know when to score scenes with music that shines atop of all. I enjoy both, but yes: Scenes where music is exposed are always a big pleasure.

Why did you use the synthesizer so directly?

I’ve always used the keyboards and the electronics as one of these sounds that just don’t exist. I’ve never liked to use only keyboards, that’s not my cup of tea. Maybe it’s because I was trained classicaly, I like to use the real players. But I always tried to inject in my scores, those world instruments and electronics. In Birth, having this obsessive, repetetive low base, mixed to this repetetive strings of harp, made it really dark and obsessive and that was also the intention in the direction of the movie.

You’ve won the Golden Globe for “The Painted Veil”. Congratulations. How does this feel?

Well, if you see the photos of me with the Golden Globe after the ceremony – I look like I’m twelve years old again! I think this says everything.

You had to plan the score between asia and europe, as well as between traditional and modern society. How did you do it?

This brings us back to what I just said on “Birth”. I used on both scores electronic and world instruments, without being as on the top of the whole music as I did in “Syriana”. It is just a flavour of China in the music, since most of the body of the work is orchestral, with classical instruments. That’s the way I tried to achieve my score, I never wanted to play real folklore. I think it is very limited to just use real folklore. It is good to have these colours, but that should be used almost sublimly.

Do you have, in general, more freedom to write the way you like when you compose for french films or american films?

You cannot generalize this, it very much depends on the director more than on the country. Some directors are really uptight and get stressed with the music and it is very difficult to communicate and to be able to let go, because they want to hear what they already heard. Wether this was in your scores or in other scores, they are stressed and scared of something new. And some other directors, they want you to surprise them, and that is the best working situation you can have, like on “Birth” or “Syriana” or on all the movies I did with Jaques Audiard. Each time it was a real challenge, it was made to be a little different then the times before. I think, that is the most important thing.

Later this year, you will compose music for “The Golden Compass”. How did you get the job and is there anything you can tell us about the film or the music at this point?

I got the job because the director knew my work, he knew “Syriana”, “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” and “Birth” and he supposed I could do a mix of fantasy, magic, mystery and musical own world for “The Golden Compass”. I think it is a big, beautiful and wonderful story with a little girl travelling between parallel worlds. The music will be grand, it has to be huge and symphonic, but at the same time I want to be intimate. It is a big challenge for me, I have again to try a new direction using what I’ve learned, what I know and what I like. And yet, trying to avoid to be a copy of my masters, like John Williams. He made great music like “Raiders” and “Harry Potter” and I need to approach it this way without being John Williams. Or like Danny Elfman with some of his fantasy movies with Tim Burton. So I have to find my own path, but with a new dimension that I’ve never achieved before, because I never had such a huge two-hours and some minutes score with the huge pressure of a hollywood studio. So it is very challenging, scary, but really a wunderful experience.

Thank you very much for this interview.

Jan Zwilling / 20.07.07