Alexandre Desplat on movies and Mozart

Alexandre Desplat, multi-award-winning film music composer, is preparing for the release of Rise of the Guardians, for which he wrote the soundtrack. In an in-depth interview with Howard Goodall, he explained what it was like composing for an animated film like this one.

"In this movie everything was flawless, it was easy, very easy, he said. "It's a lot of work, because there's an hour and a half of symphonic orchestra, but there's an easiness because the movie is easy to grasp."

He's composed music for all different genres of films, including Harry Potter and the King's Speech, so it's no surprise that he's influenced by a wide range of composers from French masters Debussy and Ravel, to Mozart.

Talking about his favourite composers, Desplat explained he loved the music of the 20th Century, but has a soft spot for earlier composers like Mozart.

"His music is always dark, and there's a density, even when it's joyful, it's never happy," he said. "There's something always hiding which is very deep and very sad, and I try and convey that in my music."

Listen to Saturday Night at the Movies this Saturday from 5pm for two hours of Desplat's film music.