A couple of weeks ago, we brought you news that the score for “The Dark Knight” had been declared ineligible for an Oscar nomination.
Today, there’s good news. According to the Los Angeles Times, the original decision to disqualify the musical score has been reversed. This means the memorable score from this summer’s biggest hit will be up for consideration and nomination for an Oscar.
The original dispute came over the number of composers listed on the score for “The Dark Knight.” The Academy balked at the musical listing of five composers for the score.
Composer Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard will now be in the running for an Oscar next year. They are both seven-time nominees, Zimmer having won best original score for “The Lion King.”
It’s an interesting technique, using two composers like this, with Zimmer doing the “dark” music and Howard the “elegant” music, as they put it. The issue with Hans Zimmer is his company Media Ventures, where he has a whole stable of composers that work under him. Take Pirates, for example. Klaus Badelt gets credit for the score, but Hans worked on it, and Klaus worked on it, and however many other people did “additional” music.
I still like the composition by committee over James Horner any day of the week.