Production is currently underway in Germany on George Clooney’s next directorial feature, the WWII drama The Monuments Men, and some new images of the star-studded cast on set have surfaced.  Based on a true story, the pic centers on an unlikely World War II platoon made up of museum directors, curators, and art historians tasked by FDR with going into Germany and rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves before they are lost forever.  These set photos give us a look at Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, and Clooney all in character, along with what looks to be a cameo by composer Alexandre Desplat.  This is absolutely one of my most anticipated films of the year, and I can’t wait to see the ensemble’s interplay when the film hits theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Cate Blanchett and Bob Balaban.  The Monuments Men opens on December 18th.

Production has commenced on George Clooney’s fifth feature directorial effort, the action-thriller The Monuments Men.  The Columbia Pictures/20th Century Fox co-production tells the true story of an unlikely World War II platoon made up of museum directors, curators, and art historians tasked by FDR with going into Germany and rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves before they are lost forever.  Clooney directs, stars in, and produces the film alongside his Smokehouse Productions partner Grant Heslov, with whom he also co-wrote the script.  Moreover, Clooney has assembled a truly remarkable cast that includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey).

Unfortunately Daniel Craig is not listed as part of the cast in the official press release, so it appears that he may have dropped out of the film.  Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

Coming off of 2012’s splendid Moonrise Kingdom, writer/director Wes Anderson is putting the pieces together for his next feature, Grand Budapest Hotel.  As usual with Anderson’s films, plot details are scarce, but we do know that the story takes place 85 years ago and centers on the troubles and tribulations of a hotel concierge played by Ralph Fiennes.  As production gears up to begin, word now comes that one of Anderson’s recent collaborators will be joining the project: composer Alexandre Desplat.  Hit the jump for more details.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has narrowed down the Best Original Score race…to 104 entries.  The Academy has shortlisted over 100 scores from 2012 that are eligible to compete for the gold on Oscar night, including three from Alexandre Desplat alone (Argo, Rise of the Guardians, and Zero Dark Thirty).  Every year there are a few scores that are ruled ineligible for one reason or another, and this year those ineligible films include The Bourne Legacy, Moonrise Kingdom, and Rust and Bone.

For my money, the standouts of 2012 were Beasts of the Southern Wild, Looper, and The Dark Knight Rises.  I have a feeling Howard Shore’s work on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will end up being a favorite of mine as well.  Hit the jump to check out the full list of 104 eligible scores, and leave thoughts on your personal favorites from 2012 in the comments section.  The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced on January 10th, followed by the ceremony on February 24th.

With Rise of the Guardians opening this week, I recently got to see the finished film and it’s really well done.  Not only is the animation great to look at, it’s got a strong story that’s character driven and it doesn’t rely on stupid jokes.  In addition, unlike most superhero films that spend half the time introducing characters by explaining their origin and showing off their powers, what’s fantastic about Rise of the Guardians is that we join almost everyone in the middle of the story.  If you’re not familiar with the story, it  revolves around the rebellious Jack Frost (Chris Pine) teaming up with other mythical figures North aka Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), E. Aster Bunnyman aka Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Tooth aka The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the Sandman to battle the evil Pitch (Jude Law).  Here’s my video blog review and all our previous coverage.

To help promote the film, last week I got on the phone with composer Alexandre Desplat.  We talked about how he got involved in Rise of the Guardians, his extremely busy year, his collaboration with the director on animated movies versus live-action features, and more.  In addition, we also talked about some of his other projects like Ben Affleck‘s Argo, Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty, George Clooney’s The Monuments Men, other possible future projects, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

As we move closer to awards season, one of the more interesting films coming up is director Kathryn Bigelow’s drama Zero Dark Thirty.  The film documents the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the now-famous SEAL Team Six operation.  The production has been shrouded in a massive veil of secrecy given the sensitive subject matter, but it’s expected to be a major awards player given that it serves as Bigelow’s follow-up to her Best Picture-winning The Hurt Locker.

Steve recently spoke with the incredibly talented (and prolific) composer Alexandre Desplat about his work on the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film Rise of the Guardians (you can click here for Steve’s thoughts on the movie), and Desplat took a moment to talk about his unique score for Zero Dark Thirty and what he thought of the film.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

George Clooney has lined up an incredible cast for his next film, Monuments Men.  As we previously reported, the story centers on a group of art experts selected by the U.S. Government to chase down the stolen art of Europe during World War II.  Aside from the terrific premise, Clooney, who co-wrote the film with partner Grant Heslov, will star alongside a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Jean Dujardin, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett.  Dujardin, Murray, and Blanchett had previously been mentioned in connection with the film, and Craig is a strong addition along with other new cast members John Goodman, Bob Balaban, and Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville.

Hit the jump for more.

Movies like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are difficult to review.  On the one hand, part of me wants to rip Stephen Daldry’s film to shreds and call it a manipulative, corny, over-the-top, Oscar-seeking mess.  But the other part of me wants to drop the cynicism and enjoy the heartfelt emotional journey for what it aspires to be: a film that attempts to cope with the aftershocks of 9/11, and mourn those we lost in the fire.

Watching Extremely Loud on Blu-ray over the weekend, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  While not exactly the masterpiece it thinks it is, Daldry’s film at least sidesteps the problems I had with the director’s previous efforts, especially the overtly saccharine The Reader and the morbid, depressing The Hours – both of which tried to do too much and therefore lacked focus.  Hit the jump for my review.

Over the last few years, composer Alexandre Desplat has gone from genre to genre and consistently delivered fantastic scores.  Here’s a few that he’s done since 2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox, A Prophet, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, The Ghost Writer, The Ides of March, Carnage, and, most recently, director Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  With his ever expanding resume and the fact that he records rather quickly for a composer, he’s rapidly become one of the biggest composers in Hollywood. As a big fan of his work, it’s great to see.

The other day I got to sit down with Desplat for an extended interview.  During our wide ranging conversation, we talked about what the past few years have been like, his writing process, what it’s like to work with some of the biggest directors in the world, how he picks his projects, his favorite scores that he didn’t write, and how he got involved in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (which he did in three weeks!).  In addition, we talked about his work on the final two Harry Potter films, Twilight: New Moon, and Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom, which he finished last month.  Hit the jump for more.

September 11^th, like any tragedy, can be easily exploited.  It can be exploited for profit, for political gain, and for an easy strike at your emotional soft spots.  But it can also be handled in a mature, thoughtful manner like Paul Greengrass‘ United 93.  It’s been over ten years since 9/11 and we must start accepting that the event can be used in a story that’s not directly about 9/11.  That’s an incredibly tricky proposition because of the easy route to exploiting our national tragedy, and that’s where Stephen Daldry‘s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close seems to be going at its outset.  Daldry has to scale a mountain of negative expectations as we struggle to see how 9/11 could be absolutely essential to the story.  We must also contend with a painfully affected character played by a child actor gives a off-putting, robotic performance.  But Daldry’s brilliant direction ultimately brings the 9/11 plot point and the bizarre lead performance together to create an emotional finale.

Splitting J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was a risky proposition from a narrative standpoint.  Financially, it was an unsurprising move, but if you have one movie that’s all slow, methodical character development and the second movie that’s all fast-paced action, then each movie could be monotonous because they’ve lost the other half of their story.  Both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows managed to avoid that problem.  The first part, while mostly centered on wandering and quiet moments, still managed to work in humor and thrilling set pieces.  By contrast, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is an almost non-stop epic battle that still finds time for the character development and deeply moving moments the series became known for.  It is the grandest of all of the Harry Potter films in scope, in action, and in heartbreak.

Bad news if you’re a Clint Mansell fan. The composer’s exceptional work for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan has been deemed ineligible for Oscar consideration due to its usage of music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. While not exactly a surprise, it’s still a shame considering the score’s unique, even complicated structure.

According to Variety, Carter Burwell’s scores for True Grit and The Kids Are All Right (which he composed alongside Nathan Larson and Craig Wedren) and Michael Brook’s work on The Fighter have also been disqualified. Alexandre Desplat’s score for The King’s Speech, however, which recently received a Golden Globe-nomination, has been deemed eligible despite its usage of classical works. Hit the jump for more.

The 2010 European Film Award Winners were announced this weekend, and the big takeaway is that the European Film Academy really liked The Ghost Writer.  The Roman Polanski-directed feature was warmly received on this side of the Atlantic, but I’d be shocked if it swarms the Oscars with quite the ferocity it did the EFAs. Six awards in total, including best film, director (Polanski), actor (Ewan McGregor), screenwriter (Polanski and Robert Harris), production designer (Albrecht Konrad), and composer (Alexandre Desplat).

The ceremony wasn’t entirely Ghost-written, though: Lourdes, The Illusionist, Carlos, and Lebanon were among the other winners.  Hit the jump for the full list.

The Harry Potter films have had a wonderful diversity of composers throughout the series.  The franchise kicked off with John Williams (and now it’s hard to imagine Harry Potter without “Hedwig’s Theme”), and moved on to Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and now acclaimed composer Alexandre Desplat.  Desplat’s diverse body of work includes the scores for Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Syriana, New Moon, and plenty more.  He was recently named “Composer of the Year” at the 10th Annual World Soundtrack Awards.  I’m excited to hear where he takes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

Hit the jump for a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the score for the film.  The soundtrack will be available to purchase on November 16th as a standard or limited edition.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 opens November 19th.