The Dark Knight Disqualified From Oscars?

Posted by Jorn Tillnes

November 13, 2008

Welcome back! Have you subscribed to my RSS feed yet? Make sure you don't miss anything by getting all Soundtrack Geek posts by Email. Also check out Soundtrack Fans, a new social network for soundtrack fans. Thanks for visiting!

tdkcovers The Dark Knight Disqualified From Oscars?

According to Variety, the rules of the academy states that at least 70% of the cues on the score must be credited the composers (James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer). Wait a minute? Does that mean that over 30% of the cues on The Dark Knight composed by someone else? Yes according to the academy who claims that 5 composers are listed on the cue sheet. Interestingly enough, Hans Zimmer said in an interview with Variety earlier that listing more composers on the cue sheet was a way of rewarding some of the members of the music team financially.

Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Alex Gibson, Mel Wesson and Lorne Balfe apparently signed an affidavit that The Dark Knight score was primarily composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. The oscar committee wouldn’t have it and went with their 70% rule in this case. Collaboration on scores is a burning issue these days and it seems like every year there is a “scandal”. Remember “There Will Be Blood” by Jonny Greenwood? I didn’t expect it to be nominated as it isn’t a typical academy award score, but even so, it seems like the rules get stranger every year. What do you think?

Source: Variety