Variety's Awards Central writes of how the score to The Dark Knight will not be able to compete at the Oscars:
The score for "The Dark Knight" has been disqualified by the executive committee of the Academy music branch.
Formal letters to that effect are expected to go out this week to composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who collaborated on the music.
Their previous collaboration, on "Batman Begins," was similarly disqualified in 2005.
Sources inside the committee said that the big issue was the fact that five names were listed as composers on the music cue sheet, the official studio document that specifies every piece of music (along with its duration and copyright owner) in the film.
Zimmer said, in an interview with Variety prior to this week's Acad action, that listing multiple names on the cue sheet was a way of financially rewarding parts of the music team who helped make the overall work successful. (Performing-rights societies like ASCAP and BMI use the cue sheet to distribute royalties to composers.)
Zimmer, Howard and the other three individuals -- music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe -- reportedly signed an affidavit stating that the score was primarily the work of Zimmer and Howard.
That apparently wasn't enough for the majority of the committee, which was also supplied with documentation indicating that more than 60%, but less than 70%, of the score was credited to Zimmer and Howard.
The "Dark Knight" score -- and the whole issue of multiple-composer collaboration, which is on the rise in Hollywood these days -- has occupied about four hours of discussion over the past two executive committee meetings.
Some members sided with Zimmer and Howard; citing the originality and cutting-edge nature of the music, they urged others to keep the "Dark Knight" score eligible despite the cue-sheet issue.
Both Zimmer and Howard declined comment on the ruling. Both are seven-time nominees; Zimmer won for "The Lion King."
Formal letters to that effect are expected to go out this week to composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who collaborated on the music.
Their previous collaboration, on "Batman Begins," was similarly disqualified in 2005.
Sources inside the committee said that the big issue was the fact that five names were listed as composers on the music cue sheet, the official studio document that specifies every piece of music (along with its duration and copyright owner) in the film.
Zimmer said, in an interview with Variety prior to this week's Acad action, that listing multiple names on the cue sheet was a way of financially rewarding parts of the music team who helped make the overall work successful. (Performing-rights societies like ASCAP and BMI use the cue sheet to distribute royalties to composers.)
Zimmer, Howard and the other three individuals -- music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe -- reportedly signed an affidavit stating that the score was primarily the work of Zimmer and Howard.
That apparently wasn't enough for the majority of the committee, which was also supplied with documentation indicating that more than 60%, but less than 70%, of the score was credited to Zimmer and Howard.
The "Dark Knight" score -- and the whole issue of multiple-composer collaboration, which is on the rise in Hollywood these days -- has occupied about four hours of discussion over the past two executive committee meetings.
Some members sided with Zimmer and Howard; citing the originality and cutting-edge nature of the music, they urged others to keep the "Dark Knight" score eligible despite the cue-sheet issue.
Both Zimmer and Howard declined comment on the ruling. Both are seven-time nominees; Zimmer won for "The Lion King."
-Tough break, I know...thoughts?
Posts
Hopefully this isn't a sign of the academy's attitude toward TDK as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to get a bit nervous now.
Perhaps the Academy needs to assess the way it accepts nominees for score? Perhaps the way royalties are paid needs to be assessed? Did the other three compose music and, if they did, why can't all five people be nominated for the score? Why is it any different from several people winning or being nominated in a category such as Original Song (I am thinking of Howard Shore, Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh)?
ReplyDeleteI recall Zimmer's work with Lisa Gerrard on Gladiator being a cause of contention when she was not included in the nomination because that year they decided composers had to have worked together before. Go figure! What if their best work was the first time they collaborated?
Yeah, I just read the official rules about score nominations, and believe me, it's just as confusing and unfair as it looks. As far as I can tell, only one composer can be nominated for any given score, but a collaborative score cannot be nominated, even if they only submit one composer for consideration as the primary composer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there was the rule about how if a composer uses the work of another composer or another film's score, that composer cannot be nominated, even if the previous work was by the same composer. This rule disqualified LOTR: The Two Towers, The Godfather Part II, and several other sequels from being nominated for original score. Then they changed the rule after LOTR: The Two Towers was disqualified in order to allow sequels to be nominated, such as LOTR: The Return of the King.
However, there were some pot holes in this new ruling, as was evidenced last year, when Jonny Greenwood's score for There Will Be Blood was disqualified because he used a track/cue (though remixed/edited) from his score to the film Bodysong. He also used a fair amount of cues form his original BBC radio composition, Popcorn Superhet Reciever. The academy ruled that he did not create enough original cues for the score to There Will Be Blood. Similarly, Stephen Sondheim could not be nominated (though this even has less sound logic than the previous example) for the orchestral compositions he created specifically for Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd. What confused me was that yes, he may not have composed the score originally for the film, but he created quite a substantial amount of new and remixed/edited cues for the film specifically that were not present in the score to the original play. This confuses me because not only were the instrumental cues following the rules set down that allowed LOTR: ROTK to be nominated, but he composed enough material to not put him in the disqualification that Greenwood fell into.
As for The Dark Knight, it would appear that the academy still has major holes in the rulings for sequels and collaborative works. From what I understand, if WB had submitted the cue sheet(s) for the score with only one person listed as a composer, it would have been nominated. But what baffles me, like Matt pointed out, is that practically every other category in the oscars can have multiple nominees, for a single work.
Best Picture goes to all the producers
Best Director, as seen last year, can go to more than one person
Best Original/Adapted screenplay goes to all writers
Best Editing goes to all editors
Best Costume Design goes to all costume designers
Best Art Direction goes to all of them
etc etc
So the question still remains. Out of 24 categories, only 6 require that only one person be submitted, and 4 of those are the acting categories. I understand Best Cinematography, because there is 99% of the time only one Director of photography. But many scores throughout history, and great ones at that, have had multiple composers and were collborative efforts. So why must only one composer be submitted/nominated for a film? The academy definitely needs to re-assess this nomination process.
I'm still fairly sure that they will nominate it in the major categories
ReplyDeleteI don't think this will have too big an impoact of how the flick will do overall with the powers that be, it certainly is disappointing and frustrating...
ReplyDeleteThis is the second year in a row this category has pissed me off, and while this loss is nowhere near as devastating as the ineligibility of There Will Be Blood, it still ridiculous. TWBB's disqualification was B.S., too, because the previous year Babel won, despite the fact that half of the score consisted of a piece previously used in The Insider. All these rules...
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Academy itself even understands the rules for Original Score. I feel like they disqualified both The Dark Knight and There Will Be Blood because the scores were too different and/or modern. The Joker's one note theme, as well as Batman's expanded theme, are enough to completely transport you into the film. But I think the Joker's one note theme, like the use of dissonance in the There Will Be Blood score, just don't seem to sit well with the academy simply because it makes them too uneasy, or maybe because it hurts their hearings aids. Not everything has to be Disney-fied vanilla and sound like a sweeping, romantic, uplifting/haunting epic score. Sometimes less is more, and different is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThis has always been a mangled category for the Academy, especially when you talk about multiple composers and their crazy rules. I'm saddened by this, but I'm honestly not surprised.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is what we needed, like last year in the Foreign Film category, when critically acclaimed films like The Orphanage and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days were eliminated from the finalist selection which brought a change to the rules to see that it didn't happen again. Perhaps this is the wake up call now presented to this category.