I have now seen “The Dark Knight” three times, and listened to the score several times. While the flaws of the film as a whole have become more apparent (though I still maintain it is excellent), the collaboration of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard keeps growing on me as an integral part of the film and character building, especially for Batman and the Joker.
The nature of the collaboration will almost certainly keep the duo out of the Oscar race due to the rules on such matters. But I still can’t help but wonder…why does this remain the only category where two artists who work together and, as such, enrich each other’s work, not allow such artists to be awarded for it? I need only point out the Nick Cave/Warren Ellis score to “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” last year as another example.
I…just…don’t…get…it
Comments
8 responses to “It’s not just about Howard and Zimmer”
I feel the same way you do Gerard. In fact I’m listening to the score right now as well. It connects the whole movie and makes all the scenes organically flow into each other and keeps the film from ever losing its pace. It’s an integral part to the experience of the film. Amazing.
The “Antrozous” track from Batman Begins is still my favorite. It’s a masterpiece.
The rule does not disqualify teams of composers. It does not allow COMPILATIONS, but it does seem to allow COLLABORATIONS. That’s why the rule does not simply say, “Only original scores conceived and executed by a single composer shall be deemed eligible.”
We won’t know Zimmer and Howard’s eligibility until AMPAS makes an official judgment about it.
Yes, yes, yes… I have mentioned this on her before and have seen similar posts by users and staff, The Jesse James score was brilliant, def one of the the best of last year (I know there were some good ones, but I actually feel it was the best 0 even better than Greenwood’s masterpiece). I can relive every scene and feeling when listening to it and it still stands on its own the best…
Hehe, didn’t The Color Purple get an Original Score nomination despite having 4,328 credited composers? lol
This is the only fact I have to contribute, so I keep saying it over and over, on various web sites.
The Last Emperor won the Oscar for Best Score, with three composers:
Ryuichi Sakamoto
David Byrne
Cong Su
That was 1987, so I have no idea if it’s relevant to eligibility of the Zimmer-Howard score.
That fact has been noted in this space before, Ryan:
http://www.incontention.com/?p=415
A lot changes in 20 years.
There’s a good chance I got my fact from that very source, Kris. Hard enough for me to remember stuff; much less where I got it from. ;-)