Oscar not 'Enchanted' by this score:
Academy’s music peer group decided some changes should be put in place that favor composers work that focuses on the business of dramatic scoring, not use of songs.
(Barry Wetcher / Disney)
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September 2, 2008
Pete Hammond is film critic for Maxim Magazine and Maximonline.com. He contributes to "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" and hosts Q&A screenings with top Oscar contenders for KCET Cinema Series and Variety. He appears frequently on TV as a pop-culture pundit and has been a producer for "Entertainment Tonight," "Extra," "Access Hollywood" and AMC - American Movie Classics network. Pete's "Note on a Season" column appears weekly on Thursdays exclusively on TheEnvelope.com.
Notes on a Season
‘Blood,’ ‘Enchanted’ scores booted from Oscars
Eight-time winner Alan Menken's "Enchanted" is reportedly ruled out because of "predominant use of songs."
By Pete Hammond
January 21, 2008
Two music scores have reportedly been nixed from consideration for tomorrow's Academy Award nominations in the Best Original Score category.
Jonny Greenwood's critically acclaimed work for "There Will Be Blood," which many pundits thought would be a shoo-in for an Oscar nod, has been ruled ineligible, sources have told The Envelope, because "the majority of the music was not composed specifically for the film."
Also reportedly ruled out by the academy's music branch is eight-time winner Alan Menken's "Enchanted," for the "predominant use of songs." It was after Menken kept winning the Oscar for his song-laden Disney scores ("The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast") that the academy's music peer group decided some changes were in order to favor composers who focus on the business of dramatic scoring, not use of songs.
In 1995 they segregated dramatic scores by creating a category for Best Musical or Comedy Score (Menken won it that year for "Pocahontas"), but they eliminated it after the 1998 Oscars.
Also, in previous years the academy had a category for Adaptation and Song Scores, which might have helped both "Blood" and "Enchanted," but the category has been dormant since 1984.
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