The Composer's Roundtable: It ain't music to my ears without Alexandre Desplat but I'll listen if I must ...

I don't know how they can call this a Composer's Roundtable without including Monsieur Desplat! Ridiculous. (Or is that me?!) But, it's Slacker Sunday and I guess some of you might want to hear what composers like Danny Elfman (Big Eyes) Marco Beltrami (The Homesman), Trent Reznor (Gone Girl), Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) and John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon 2) have to say on the subject of writing film scores. Below they sit down with THR's International news editor Kevin Cassidy to discuss their 'awards-worthy' films.

Awards-worthy but not necessarily nominated. I thought Gone Girl was fantastic but I'm not at all surprised it's not really in the awards season conversation — except for Rosamund Pike nominated as best actress primarily because as always there's a dearth of female lead roles —Fincher, that youngish know-it-all is just not their kind of guy. I'm happy to hear what Trent Reznor has to say about his musical collaboration and his Golden Globe nominated score. And my son keeps telling me I really do need to see The Homesman for which Hilary Swank probably deserved a nomination, so hearing what the composer, the two time Oscar nominee Marco Beltrami (for Hurt Locker and 3:10 to Yuma) has to say about scoring and working with Tommy Lee Jones should be interesting. And of course the legendary Danny Elfman whose music graces The Simpsons plus loftier fare like Good Will Hunting, Milk, Big Fish and Men in Black, all of which were Oscar nominees for Best Original Music Written for A Motion Picture. John Powell counts How to Train Your Dragon, Happy Feet and Shrek amongst  his mostly animated movie credits which includes popular film titles like Rio and Kung Fu Panda and Ice Age, but also — and oddly to my thinking — The Bourne movies, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Two Weeks Notice. Add Hans Zimmer, nominated this year for Interstellar who already has eight nominations to his name plus the win for Lion King. What else has the slacker done? Let's see: Inception, Sherlock Holmes, Gladiator, The Thin Red Line, As Good as It Gets, The Preacher's Wife and Rain Man. And that's just the Academy Award nominated projects. He has an outrageously long list including movies we love like Thelma and Louise, Crimson Tide, The Rock, As Good as it Gets, The Ring, all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Batman flicks, and on and on and on so  I surely can't deny him a seat at the table!

Sigh. I guess Alexandre Desplat the eight time Oscar nominee was too busy to join his fellow composers; he's nominated this year for both The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel and is currently hard at work on The Light Between Oceans which stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Wiezs plus the upcoming Sarah Gavron project Suffragette starring Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan. Something to look forward to ladies! But I digress ... here then, the composers' roundtable, sadly sans Monsieur Desplat.

Since he can't be there, I'm digging up a snippet from Desplat's Oscar-nominated score to The Imitation Game, which frankly I much prefer, music-wise to The Grand Budapest Hotel, so you can have a listen. You're right, that's a flat out lie. I'm digging it up so I can have a listen. Enjoy! You know I will.