Music of four films — Black Swan, True Grit, The Kids Are Alright and Fighter — are reportedly being disqualified from Oscar consideration for not being sufficiently original.
Black Swan, Daren Aronofsky’s take on the dark world of ballet, and Jeff Bridges starrer True Grit have been deemed ineligible because their scores were “diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music,” the Variety reported quoting sources from inside the Academy music-branch executive committee.
The Kids Are All Right and The Fighter are expected to be disqualified as scores “diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs,” following another of the Academy’s stringent music rules. Composer Clint Mansell’s Black Swan score, largely adapted from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and Carter Burwell’s True Grit, mostly based on 19th century hymns, are not sufficiently “original,” the committee ruled last week.
The Kids Are All Right and The Fighter have original scores, but both films are filled with songs, leaving the scores to play second fiddle much of the time, the magazine said.
Alexandre Desplat’s The King’s Speech, a strong Oscar contender, has been ruled eligible despite some concerns by committee members that key moments of the film feature classical music excerpts.