Winners press conference interview with Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel) in the original music category
Q. Welcome. Alexandre, congratulations on your second BAFTA. How does it feel?
A. It’s really unpredictable and beautiful. I love British cinema. I think it shows through my filmography. There are many great British directors. So being at the BAFTAs is a very important moment.
As I said on the stage, Wes’ world is unique, and the way together for three films now we have worked on the scores has opened new ideas in my writing and I am happy that it’s recognised tonight. Because Wes’ films look like at nobody else’s and, you know, they are very special.
Q. He is a very fastidious director. He is very composed, very organised. What sort of direction does he give you, or does he let you go off and do your own thing?
A. You know, it’s a mix of both. It is very strange, because he has a great sense of what the music should do and how it should sound, maybe. So very early on, we talk about the orchestration because it is very important, orchestration in films I have already said that because the sound that the music creates can resonate, vibrate with the picture or not. So finding the sound is crucial. And once we found the instrumentation, the group of musicians they want to put in the room, like, there’s many balalaikas and zithers and the cymbelines, it is actually very fast. We sit in my studio and very quickly in a few days, we found we find the ideas.
You know, I write themes/ and sounds, and it goes very fast. It is incredibly fast, because he enjoys the process
Q. Yes.
A. that we truly have fun, a lot of fun.
Q. Fantastic. We have time for one more question.
NEW SPEAKER: Was there any pressure? Because the music actually ran many scenes and there were words and it was over to you.
A. No, because with Wes, there’s not that kind of pressure. Actually, when you do a big blockbuster, you can feel the pressure of the weight of this big thing that you’re trying to hold at the last you’re the last screenwriter, you come at the end and there’s a lot that rely on you. But with Wes you never feel that as I said, it’s always enjoyment as if you were, you know, children playing in the same room. You know? And you just sit on the floor and play with your toys.
Thank you.
Q. Thank you, and congratulations once again.
Alexandre Desplat, everybody.
A. Thank you very much.