The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has approved a new rule for the 85th Academy Awards in the Best Original Song category, in which there will now be five guaranteed nominees. According to the Academy, “all voting members of the music branch will receive a reminder list of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category.
Tag: Academy Awards
Five Film Composers Invited to Join the Academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 176 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures to join the organization. Among the invited artists this year are five film composers, including former Oscar nominee Albert Iglesias who has received three Academy Award nominations for The Constant Gardener, The Kite Runner and last year’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, previous Oscar recipient Ryuichi Sakamoto who won the award for co-scoring 1988’s The Last Emperor with David Byrne and Cong Su, as well as the most recent Academy Award winner in the Best Original Score category Ludovic Bource who received the award for his music for The Artist at this year’s ceremony.
New Oscar Rule in Music Category
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has approved rules for the 85th Academy Awards, including a change in one of the music categories. The organization announced that in the Original Song category, the “Executive Committee may recommend that a fourth songwriter for an individual song be considered in rare and extraordinary circumstances. This amends the rule that has been in effect since 2005, whereby up to two songwriters could be eligible per song, although a third songwriter could be added if he or she were found to be an essentially equal contributor.” Check out the full announcement on the Academy’s official website.
Hans Zimmer’s Oscars Theme Released
Following last night’s Oscar ceremony, the compilation album Celebrate the Music – The 84th Annual Academy Award featuring music from the show has been released. The album includes the theme for this year’s show entitled Celebrate the Oscars composed by Hans Zimmer. Also featured are a number of tracks inspired by or derived from Zimmer’s thematic framework by the members of the all-star band that Zimmer and Pharrell Williams brought together for the show, including A.R. Rahman, Giorgio Moroder, Junkie XL, Sheila E. and Esperanza Spalding. Finally, the album also includes the cover version of What a Wonderful Life performed by Esperanza Spalding and the Southern California Children’s Chorus, which played during the ceremony’s In Memoriam sequence. To listen to audio clips and download the album, visit iTunes.
Ludovic Bource Wins Oscar for ‘The Artist’
Ludovic Bource has won his first Academy Award in the Best Original Score category for his music for Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white silent film The Artist. The other contenders in the category were John Williams (The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse), Alberto Iglesias (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Howard Shore (Hugo). All four nominated composers were in attendance at the awards ceremony.
In the Best Original Song category, Bret McKenzie has received the award for the song Man or Muppet from Walt Disney Pictures’ The Muppets.
Marc Shaiman to Score ‘Parental Guidance’
Marc Shaiman has signed on to score the upcoming family comedy Parental Guidance. The movie is directed by Andy Fickman (The Game Plan, Race to Witch Mountain) and stars Billy Crystal and Bette Middler as two grandparents who struggle with their grandkids’ modern ways and soon resort to an old-school style of parenting. Marisa Tomei, Bailey Madison and Tom Everett Scott are co-starring. Crystal, Peter Chernin & Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Samantha Sprecher are producing the 20th Century Fox and Walden Media co-production.
Academy Award Nominations Announced
This morning, the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced. Here are the music-related nominations:
Best Original Score
- The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
- The Artist – Ludovic Bource
- Hugo – Howard Shore
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
- War Horse– John Williams
2012 Academy Awards Original Score Predictions
On December 22, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced the movies eligible in the Best Original Score category for the 84th Academy Award. Among the 97 scores on the list, we think about a quarter of the titles have a realistic chance of getting one of the five nominations. Among those scores, there are ten titles that we consider to have frontrunner status (including two scores that should get nominated for sure). The other scores listed seem more like long shots, but past years have shown that surprise nominations are possible.
The Locks:
Ludovic Bource who has composed the score for the black-and-white romance The Artist has already won the European Film Award, the Best Use of Music in Film Award by the Boston Film Critics, as well as as the Best Score Award by the Washington DC Film Critics. Bource also received a Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nomination. The fact that the movie doesn’t feature any dialogue makes the music carry a much heavier load than in a most other pictures and the score has been singled out in an unusually large number of film reviews. In addition, the universal acclaim of the film, as well its Oscar chances in other categories (including Best Pictures) makes The Artist our current pick to win the award unless the controversy around the limited use of Bernard Herrmann’s score from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in the film keeps growing and ends up impacting some voters.
Notable Omissions among the Academy Awards’ Original Score Finalists
As announced last Thursday, 97 movies are eligible for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards. Not included were a couple of scores that have been considered possible contenders. The two most notable omissions from the Academy’s finalists list are Drive and My Week with Marilyn, which both were disqualified for different reasons.
The score for Nicolas Winding-Refn’s Drive composed by Cliff Martinez has received the Boston Society of Film Critics‘ Best Use of Music in Film prize (tied with Ludovic Bource’s score for The Artist), the runner-up award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, as well as nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Washington DC Area and London Critics Film Circle. As reported in Variety, the score was disqualified by the Academy because a number of songs were playing at key dramatic points during the film instead of the score, and two other composers were listed on the official studio cue sheet in addition to Martinez.
Academy Awards Original Score List Announced
The Academy of Motion Pictures Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the eligible movies in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards. The 97 eligible scores along with the composer are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“The Adjustment Bureau,” Thomas Newman, composer
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams, composer
“African Cats,” Nicholas Hooper, composer
“Albert Nobbs,” Brian Byrne, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anonymous,” Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser, composers
“Another Earth,” Phil Mossman and Will Bates, composers