Well, now this sucks – The Dark Knight’s score, which to Empire’s ears is one of the best, if not the best, of the year, has been disqualified from consideration for next year’s Academy Awards.
The executive committee of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s music branch made the decision after failing to be suitably satisfied that the score’s composers, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, were directly responsible for more than 70% of the music.
That’s because – in a show of generosity and solidarity – Zimmer and Howard, who collaborated on the Batman Begins soundtrack, listed three other people as composers on the official cue sheet, the document that specifies every piece of music in the film.
The other three were music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe, who were added to the cue sheet primarily, according to Zimmer, to qualify them for royalties.
Despite the fact, though, that the trio reportedly signed an affidavit stating that the score was primarily the work of Howard and Zimmer, the majority of the committee voted that the score should be disqualified.
In a way, we shouldn’t be too surprised – after all, the same issue befell Batman Begins three years ago. But we should be dismayed that such a wonderful score, with its cutting-edge sound design and an instantly iconic Joker cue, won’t be recognised.
To be fair, the debate took up a fair chunk of the music committee’s time, with some members arguing that the score should be included, so hats off to them. And, with the practice of multiple composers on the rise, we’re sure that at some point the rules will change.
For the time being, though, both Howard and Zimmer can console themselves with the knowledge that they’ve written two of the most iconic TV theme tunes of all time – ER for Howard, and Going For Gold for Zimmer.