January 13, 2010

Another score bites the dust...

...this one the score to 'The Princess and the Frog'. Steve Pond has this to say:

The Academy's music branch strikes again.

Although Randy Newman's score to Disney's animated film "The Princess and the Frog" was originally deemed to be eligible in the original score category at the Oscars, the Music Branch Executive Committee met on Monday and disqualified Newman's music from consideration.

The score, the committee determined, runs afoul of an AMPAS rule disallowing "scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music,
diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer."

Newman's songs are arguably the dominant musical element in "The Princess and the Frog." Four of those songs remain eligible in the Oscar original-song category.

Earlier, the music branch committee disqualified Karen O's and Carter Burwell's score for "Where the Wild Things Are." Other notable musicians, including Brian Eno ("The Lovely Bones") and T Bone Burnett ("Crazy Heart") opted not to submit their scores for consideration.

Although 274 films qualified for the Oscars this year, only 80 scores are eligible.

Randy Newman has been nominated for 17 Academy Awards, nine times for song and eight times for score. Four of his previous score nominations came for animated films. He has won one Oscar, for the song "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc."

-Thoughts on the state of this race?

16 comments:

  1. While I wasn't a huge fan of the score, it seems odd to disqualify it for this reason. I may have it wrong, but to me, it sounds like this disqualification would have applied to such Disney classics like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, all of which won the Oscar. This branch continues to become more confusing and irritating everyday.

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  2. I would add that, historically, the scoring cateogry has been one of the most confusing categories at the Oscars. The ways in which this category has been divided, re-united, re-described, etc over the last 35 years, is quite astounding: Original Score; Original Score for a Drama and Original Score for a Musical or Comedy; Original Score and Oringal Song Score and its Adaptation; the list is quite long. As recently as '95 they tried dividing it again, but, of course, that was also criticized. Oh well...
    As it pertains to The Princess and the Frog, given the heavy competition in this category this year (Avatar, A Single Man, Up, Brothers, etc) does anyone think this score would have gotten nominated? Just curious...

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  3. Indeed, and no, it was in the top 10 in my eyes, but not a likely nominee...

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  4. You shouldn't have to turn in paperwork to be eligible for Oscars. If your film came out, your film should be eligible in all categories. I'm not upset about the 'Princess' score being disqualified, but to snub Karen O and Carter Burwell for the brilliant 'Wild Things' score is just silly. They're missing the best of the year because of politics in the race. It's crap.

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  5. It certainly has diluted the field of some worthy contenders...

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  6. And will Clint Mansell EVER get nominated? He has another chance this year, but I feel like if they were going to nominate him, they would have done it already for 'Fountain.'

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  7. If Sony Pictures Classics had seen all these films not being eligible coming, they would have sent out screeners and CD's of Moon. Alas, we'll have to wait for Mansell to be honored. One day...

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  8. So 'Moon' is also ineligible? NO!!! What do you think the nominees will be?

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  9. It's eligible, just the studio didn't give the film any push for Awards Contention, so it's doubtful enough voters saw it. I'd say that Up, Avatar, and The Informant! are the most likely nominees, and then the other two slots are between Sherlock Holmes, Public Enemies, A Serious Man, The Last Station, and A Single Man.

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  10. I like your taste. Good choices. Mine preference would be 'Up', 'Avatar', 'The Informant!', 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', and 'Public Enemies.' We shall see. But I think it's safe to say that 'Up' has won.

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  11. Thanks, those are just my pseudo predictions, not preference. Good call on Mr. Fox too...

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  12. In a perfect world?

    Invictus
    Moon (winner)
    Star Trek
    Up
    Where the Wild Things Are

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  13. Haha. Awesome. I'm right there with ya for your 'perfect world' predictions. However, I would replace Invictus with Avatar. Thanks for chatting, bro. Until next time.

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  14. Avatar is a good one too. Anytime, that's what we're here for...

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