The indie music blogs of the world are now 70% less interested in the Oscars because Jonny Greenwood’s haunting “There Will Be Blood” score was named ineligible by the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today.
According to The Envelope L.A. Times blog, who caught wind of the rumor earlier in the day, sources told them Greenwood’s score would not make the cut because, “the majority of the music was not composed specifically for the film.”
Later in the day, Variety confirmed the news, saying the disqualification was attributed to a designation within Rule 16 of the Academy’s Special Rules for Music Awards (5d under “Eligibility”), which excludes “scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music” (sometime known as the “the Godfather rule,” ever since Nino Rota’s score for the gangster epic was disqualified because that composer had recycled some of his previous work).
Greenwood’s score is only 35 minutes of original music and the rest of the film contains roughly 46 minutes of pre-existing work (including selections from the works of Arvo Pärt, and Johannes Brahms’ “Concerto in D Major”). Approximately 15 minutes of Greenwood’s 2006 composition “Popcorn Superhet Receiver” is also part of that latter 46-minute figure, but again, it’s a pre-existing piece of music.
The scores for “Enchanted” and “Into The Wild” (Michael Brooks’ music, not Eddie Vedder’s) were also deemed ineligible because of the film’s “predominant use of songs.” Apparently, though Paramount Vantage was aware months in advance about “Into The Wild,” being disqualified, they were caught off guard for ‘Blood’ ineligibility as it was announced last minute – seven days after the ballots for the Oscars were closed. Meaning people had the chance to vote for it and likely did. But now, those tallying the Oscars have been instructed to ignore all votes for Greenwood’s score. Kind of fucked, right? Maybe it was his penance for biting Penderecki too hard.
Many pundits, including us, believed Greenwood had a strong shot at an Oscar nomination, but obviously those hopes have now been dashed.