Nathaniel Mechaly: Taken

Taken, 20th Century Fox's upcoming French thriller starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace, gets an original score by French composer Nathaniel Mechaly, who is best known for Revolver and La Boîte noire. The film is directed by Pierre Morel, who is also a prolific cinematographer with credits such as Before Sunset, The Transporter and Unleashed under his belt, and scheduled to open in France on February 27. Neeson stars as a former spy whose daughter has become a victim of slave trade.

Dario Marianelli: Hippie Hippie Shake

Dario Marianelli has been signed on to score yet another film produced by Working Title (he previously scored the recent Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award-nominated Atonement as well as Pride and Prejudice). The new project is Hippie Hippie Shake, a drama taking place in London at the end of the 1960s during the hippie era, starring Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller under the direction of Beeban Kidron (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Swept from the Sea). Marianelli's has also begun work on Joe Wright's next film, The Soloist.

Patrick Doyle: Igor

Igor, an animated monster comedy featuring the voices of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi and John Cleese, will get an original score by Patrick Doyle. The film, which is scheduled to be released by The Weinstein Co on October 24, is directed by Anthony Leondis (Lilo & Stitch 2) and produced by Exodus Film Group. Igor is the film's main character, a hunch-backed lab assistant of an evil scientist who has big dreams of becoming a mad scientist himself. Patrick Doyle, who is represented by Air-Edel, has been scoring a lot of films in the fantasy genre lately, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Eragon and Nim's Island. Among his other recent scores are The Last Legion, As You Like It and Sleuth.

Kenji Kawai: L - Change the World

Leading Japanese film composer Kenji Kawai is doing the score for his eigth film directed by Hideo Nakata, L: Change the World. Among their previous films together are the original Ring horror films and Dark Water, and Kawai has also composed music for Nakata's Kaidan last year. L: Change the World follows the 2006 thriller Death Note, directed by Shusuke Kaneko and also with a score by Kawai, and follows the character named 'L' who appeared already in Death Note. Ken'ichi Matsuyama is doing that part and is accompanied by Youki Kudoh, Erika Toda and Renji Ishibashi. Film is scheduled to premiere on February 9. Among Kawai's other upcoming film scoring assignments are horror film Orochi and the animated The Sky Crawlers.