THE SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS (SCL)

Presented the SCL Member Screening of the

Warner Bros. Pictures film

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE

 Followed by a Q&A with

Composer ALEXANDRE DESPLAT

Moderated by WILLIAM ROSS

 SUNDAY, JANUARY 8th, 2012, DGA Theater, Hollywood, CA

L-R:  SCL's Dan Foliart, SCL's William Ross (moderator), BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, SCL's Laura Dunn, composer Alexandre Desplat, agent Laura Engel

Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open.  A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock - encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way - he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.

Three-time Academy Award® nominee Stephen Daldry directed “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” from a screenplay by Academy Award® winner Eric Roth, based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel.  The film stars Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock along with newcomer Thomas Horn in the role of Oskar, and was produced by Scott Rudin.  The film also stars Academy Award® nominees Max von Sydow and Viola Davis, as well as John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright and Zoe Caldwell.

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (Composer), a four-time Academy Award® nominee, most recently created the scores for George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” Roman Polanski’s “Carnage,” and the blockbusters “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Parts 1 and 2,” the final two films in the record-breaking franchise.  Desplat received his latest Oscar® nod for his score for the Best Picture winner “The King’s Speech,” for which he also won a BAFTA Award and earned a Golden Globe nomination.  He previously garnered Oscar® and BAFTA Award nominations for his score for the animated “Fantastic Mr. Fox”; Oscar®, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; and Oscar® and BAFTA Award nominations for Stephen Frears’ “The Queen.”  In addition, Desplat won a Golden Globe Award for John Curran’s “The Painted Veil,” and also received Golden Globe nominations for his scores for Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana” and Peter Webber’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”  In his native France, Desplat won a César Award for his score for “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” which also earned him a Silver Bear from the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.  He has also received four more César Award nominations, the latest coming for his work on the Oscar®-nominated 2009 French film “A Prophet.”  His recent film work includes Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life”; Stephen Frears’ “Tamara Drewe”; Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer”; the Chris Weitz-directed films “A Better Life,” “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “The Golden Compass”; Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia”; “Coco Before Chanel”; and Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution.”

WILLIAM ROSS (Moderator) is a prolific award-winning composer and arranger whose work has spanned feature films, the recording industry and television. He recently completed the score to New Line’s A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, and has composed music for such films as The Tale of Despereaux, Ladder 49, Tuck Everlasting, The Young Black Stallion, and My Dog Skip. He also adapted and conducted the score to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Mr. Ross has arranged music for a remarkable list of artists including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble, Kenny G., Sting, Quincy Jones, David Foster, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston, to mention just a few. The records on which he has worked have sold over 250 million copies combined in the United States. Arrangements by Mr. Ross have been a part of the opening ceremonies of several Super Bowls along with the opening and/or closing ceremonies of numerous Olympic Games. Mr. Ross is the recipient of four Emmy Awards, two BMI Film Music Awards and was nominated for an Annie Award and two Grammy Awards.

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THE SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS (SCL) is the non-profit and primary organization for professional film, TV and video game composers and lyricists, with a distinguished 65-year history in the fine art of creating music for motion pictures and television.  www.TheSCL.com

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