Oscar Sour Note Ahead for Music of ‘Black Swan,’ ‘True Grit’?

Some of the year’s most effective scores could run afoul of strict Academy rules prohibiting pre-existing music

"Black Swan," "True Grit" and "The King's Speech" exhibit three of the most effective uses of music in film this year, but because of stringent Academy eligibility rules, there's no telling if we'll see the folks responsible for them on Oscar night. 

Here's the problem: Each film blends new compositions with existing work, potentially running afoul of rules that makes scores "diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music" or "diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs" ineligible for Best Original Score.

That's too bad, because each of these films uses music beautifully:

Black Swan>>In "Black Swan," the action rises to a fever pitch during a delirious final ballet sequence, with Clint Mansell's dramatic score merging in and out of a deliciously overheated arrangement of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

>>In "True Grit," a motley posse rides across stark western landscapes in search of retribution; the wide open spaces are set off with Carter Burwell's spare piano-based score, while the righteous resolve that fuels the film's heroine is underlined by Burwell's hints of old Protestant hymns. 

>>In "The King's Speech," which is admittedly less likely to be disqualified, Alexandre Desplat's stately but playful music fits seamlessly with snippets of classical works, and then steps aside – at Desplat's insistence – for the slow-building majesty of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony during the film's climactic sequence.

We've seen this before. As Kris Tapley points out, Jonny Greenwood's acclaimed score to "There Will Be Blood" was disqualified on these grounds in 2007.

Last year, the score that Burwell wrote for "Where the Wild Things Are" was disqualified, reportedly for containing too many Karen O songs and not enough score.

Already, Variety has written that the "Black Swan" score was ruled ineligible, and Anne Thompson's review of "True Grit" says its score "is likely ineligible."

In fact, according to the Academy, nothing has been disqualified yet. The deadline for submissions was Wednesday, December 1 at 5 p.m., and the music branch committee didn't begin evaluating the submitted scores until that deadline passed.

True GritFor now, the studios involved are keeping their fingers crossed. Screeners of "Black Swan" include Mansell's music in a list of "for your consideration" suggestions, and a Fox Searchlight exec said the company is hoping for the best, but has long been aware that eligibility issues could arise.

Paramount has already distributed CDs of the "True Grit" music – and, according to Tapley, the studio has also prepared a breakdown for the Academy, along with a special CD containing his score without any of his arrangements of hymns.

"The King's Speech" would seem to have the easiest path to eligibility, and the Weinstein Company is now actively campaigning for Desplat's score. Still, several of the key moments in the film, including virtually all of its climactic sequence, are set to existing classical music rather than Desplat's score.

Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" overture plays when Colin Firth's stuttering King George VI first reads a passage for speech therapist Lionel Logue, while that composer's clarinet concerto backs a key montage showing Logue's methods of working with the king.

The King's SpeechThe event that gives the film its title, King George's radio address at the beginning of World War II, is set entirely to the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony – a choice, said Hooper during his appearance at theWrap's screening of his film, that was encouraged by Desplat, because the composer felt a well-known piece of music would help convey the public nature of the speech. The aftermath of that speech, carrying through to the end of the film, is scored with the slow movement of Beethoven's "Emperor" piano concerto. 

Although some screeners for the film mistakenly did not list Desplat's music among the accomplishments suggested "for your consideration," the score has been submitted to the Academy, and also has been sent to voters for the Oscars and other awards.

Now, things are in the hand of what you could say is the pickiest branch in the Academy. Last year, although 274 films qualified for Oscar consideration, only 81 film scores were deemed eligible. This was by far the smallest field among the categories whose nominees were not decided by special committees.

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