Alexandre Desplat Scoring Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ & Animated ‘Rise Of The Guardians’

Rarely a year has gone by over the past decade where composer Alexandre Desplat hasn’t delivered a memorable score for a film. 2011 was an especially strong year with “The Ides of March,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” As expected, Desplat’s workload isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, as he’s already set to score Wes Anderson’s much anticipated “Moonrise Kingdom” along with two recently announced projects.

Desplat will conjure up some enchanting sounds for the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film “Rise of the Guardians,” along with the Ben Affleck-helmed “Argo.” The first is a potentially ripe blend of fun. Based on William Joyce’s book series “The Guardians of Childhood,” the film will follow a star-studded cast voicing childhood favorites — Jack Frost (Chris Pine), Bunnymund/The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), North/Santa Clause (Alec Baldwin) and Tooth/The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), who team up to battle Pitch The Boogeyman (Jude Law), who is intent to take over the world. Peter Ramsey and Joyce are co-directing the pic, with Joyce also doing writing duties on the film’s script with “Rabbit Hole” screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire. The flim marks Desplat’s second major animated feature outing (following Wes Anderson's "The Fantastic Mr. Fox") and we can't wait to see what he delivers. “Rise of the Guardians” is set for a November 21, 2012 release.

Next up is Ben Affleck’s “Argo,” which as we know will star Affleck along with Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Taylor Schilling and Kyle Chandler. Desplat has never worked with Affleck before, but he has spent time with the film’s producers, George Clooney and Grant Heslov, on last year’s “Ides of March.” The film tells the true story of how the CIA, with help from Hollywood, used a fake movie project to smuggle hostages out of Tehran during the 1979 hostage crisis. That one will see a release from Warner Bros. on September 28, 2012, so it looks as if Desplat once again has himself a busy slate. Though for a composer who can even make the 'Twilight' films sound good, we’re sure he’ll deliver. [FilmMusicReporter]