The Regina Spektor song from “Bombshell” and at least six major scores including “The Two Popes” and “The Irishman” won’t be on Oscar’s music shortlists when they are announced next week.
That’s because none of them are on the official Academy eligibility lists from which music-branch members are now voting. Preliminary voting ends tomorrow afternoon, and the song and score shortlists — from which the final five nominees will be chosen in each category — will be announced Dec. 16.
Variety got a look at the eligibility lists, which are available only to Academy music-branch members during the shortlist voting process.
“One Little Soldier,” written and sung by Spektor for “Bombshell,” is not among the 75 eligible songs. Missing from the list of 170 eligible scores are “Captain Marvel,” “The Irishman,” “The Two Popes,” “Knives Out,” “A Hidden Life” and “Ad Astra.”
Reasons for the omissions vary, sources tell Variety. “An administrative mixup” resulted in Nathan Scott’s “Knives Out” score failing to make the list. And while Lionsgate officials could not immediately be reached to confirm this, that also appears to be the case with the Spektor song for Lionsgate’s acclaimed sexual-harassment drama.
“Captain Marvel” was not submitted for Oscar consideration, a surprise considering Pinar Toprak immediately shot to prominence as the female composer behind a billion-dollar-grossing franchise entry. One source suggested that Disney was throwing its promotional weight behind “Avengers: Endgame” instead.
James Newton Howard’s score for “A Hidden Life” was disqualified. Sources say that was less of a surprise considering director Terence Malick’s usual musical process involving numerous classical-music selections and several different composers contributing bits and pieces to the final score. Howard contributed the most, and his voice is most prominent, but it was apparently not enough to pass muster with the Academy music-branch executive committee.
Netflix officials did not immediately respond to queries about “The Irishman,” whose Robbie Robertson score was nominated Sunday for the Critics Choice Awards. Sources say it was submitted but disqualified. Most of the music in Martin Scorsese’s film consists of more than 30 licensed songs and Robertson’s score consisted of only a few cues.
Bryce Dessner’s score for “The Two Popes,” sources say, was disqualified because of the ABBA and Beatles material included. A music-branch rule excludes scores “diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs or any music not composed specifically for the film by the submitting composer.”
“Ad Astra,” sources say, was not submitted as also likely to be disqualified. The final score was primarily the work of composers Max Richter and Lorne Balfe. Oscar rules say “two credited composers [must] function as equal collaborators, each contributing fully to the original dramatic underscore.” Richter was the original composer on the film and Balfe came in later with new music; they did not collaborate.
All of these could still be honored by other critics’ groups. Oscar rules are the most stringent of all during awards season.
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