The2024 Academy Awardshave already been drumming up a lot of conversation and controversy, as the snubs of bothMargot Robbie in the race for Best Actressand Greta Gerwig for Best Director have sparked endless debate online. However, the two most essential women behindBarbieare far from the only snubs that can be found – or rather not found – in this year’s list ofOscarnominations. Some of the most egregious snubs don’t even come from any of the above-the-line categories.
Specifically, we want to take a moment to highlight the award for Best Original Score. The race for the film scoring Oscar is consistently one of the most competitive, yet not as frequently talked about, in the entirety of the annual awards season. This year, there were not just several more-than-deserving scores that were left out, but they were left out in favor of lackluster and predictable nominees. Here’s what happened:
John Williams and the Other Nominees
As is the case every year, there were five nominees in the category of Best Original Score this year. Some of them are famous, immensely talented and familiar names who have won the award previously, while others are first-time nominees that have burst onto the scene with some of the most memorable scores of the year. The nominees are:
On the surface, this seems like a great list of nominees, and that’s largely true. John Williams is a legend, and it’s no surprise to see his name on the list once again. Ludwig Göransson is perhaps the fastest-rising composer in Hollywood. He already won the award back in 2019 for his work onBlack Panther; he was nominated again forBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverlast year; he’s far-and-away the frontrunner to win this year, and that’s not even to mentionhis other fantastic workonThe Mandalorian,Creed,Tenetand more.
Then, the other three nominees are all first-time nominees. Jerskin Fendrix has been primarily known as part of the growing new wave, post-punk rock scene in the UK, alongside bands like Squid, Black Midi and Black Country, New Road. His score forPoor Thingsmarks Fendrix’s first go at crafting the music for a film. Meanwhile, Laura Karpman is another composer on the rise, who has gained attention (beyondAmerican Fiction) for her work on HBO’sLovecraft Countryas well as a handful of scores for Marvel, includingMs. Marvel,What If…?andThe Marvels.
Finally, there’s Robbie Robertson, who was a frequent collaborator with Martin Scorsese, who had worked onThe Color of Money,The Irishman,The King of Comedyand more. Robertson sadly just passed away last August, and his posthumous nomination here also marks the first of his career.
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The Academy Likes to Give Viewers Someone to Root For
It’s hard to complain about a list of nominees who are that talented. However, there is one that, as incredible as they are and have been, should clearly not be on the list. As blasphemous as it may sound, that standout is John Williams. Obviously, Williams’ impact, talent and dedication to his craft are undeniable.
He is the second-most-nominated individual in the history of the Oscars, with this nomination forIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,bringing his career total to 54 nominations– having won five of them. That puts him only a few nominations behind Walt Disney’s total of 59. Williams is the oldest nominee in the history of the Oscars; his first nomination was in 1967 forValley of the Dolls, and this marks his ninth nomination since 2010.
Objecting to another nomination for John Williams might seem inane, and it would’ve been in recent years with his scores for films likeThe Fabelmans,Star Wars: The Last Jedi, andLincoln. However, does the composer really need another nomination for the latestIndiana Jonesflick? It’s not that his score forThe Dial of Destinyis poor – it’s actually one of the best parts of that movie, but it’s also not all that different from the first fourIndiana Jonesscores that he did, for which he has been nominated twice before. Williams’ nomination this year feels more so like he was nominated by default, rather than it being recognition for a genuinely deserving score.
There are a lot of reasons to which the famous composer’s nomination this year can be attributed, but the biggest one is also the simplest: name recognition. Because Williams is such a legend in the industry and pop culture as a whole, it’s easy to see his name and assume that his work was the best. However, Williams’ name is not just recognizable to people in the Academy, but to pretty much everyone that could potentially watch the awards, whether they’re a film buff or a casual viewer. Including Williams in the conversation gives everyone a familiar name to root for, which in turn makes them feel as if they have a bigger investment in the awards.
Casual audiences likely wouldn’t care about the Oscar for Best Original Score if they didn’t know any of the nominated composers or films, but by including Williams' name in the list, the Academy is able to capture their attention to some degree more than they would’ve otherwise.
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The Incredible Scores That Missed
However, the point of the Oscars is not to recognize the most famous individuals or popular films. It’s to celebrate the best films of the year and the greatest achievements that made those films so outstanding. There are many, many other composers and scores that not only deserved to be nominated this year, but specifically deserved that recognition more than Williams did. Looking at the shortlist of 20 films that were considered for the award, incredible scores from films likeThe Boy and the Heron,The Zone of Interest,Society of the Snow,The Holdovers,Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,Saltburnand more were considered, but ultimately passed over.
Even if the Academy was solely considering how they could nominate a legacy composer that has had an incredible impact and influence on the industry, there was a much better option on the shortlist than Williams. That was Joe Hisaishi forThe Boy and the Heron. Hisaishi has composed countless incredible scores over the years, with his most famous undoubtedly being thosehe crafted for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli– such asSpirited Away,My Neighbor Totoro,The Wind Rises,Princess Mononoke,Kiki’s Delivery Serviceand more. Throughout the decades of his career, he has never been nominated for an Oscar.
He just received his first major American award nomination this year, as his score forThe Boy and the Heronwas nominated for a Golden Globe. His work onThe Boy and the Heronis yet another brilliant addition to his catalog, and it was far-and-away one of the finest scores produced all year. Hisaishi is a composer who is long overdue for the recognition that he deserves, yet he was shut out of the conversation once again this year – in favor ofIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
It’s also crucial to recognize the vast number of great scores that didn’t even make it onto the Oscars’ shortlist for this category. Some of the best scores of the year, like Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen’s forPast Lives, Philip Glass and Paul Leonard-Morgan’s forThe Pigeon Tunneland Gavin Brivik’s forHow to Blow Up a Pipeline, were omitted from the race early on.
Plus, frequently-loved composers like Hans Zimmer and the duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were also ignored, despite their excellent work on Gareth Edwards’The Creatorand David Fincher’sThe Killerrespectively. With so many incredible and groundbreaking scores to choose from – we’d also be remiss to not specifically highlight Daniel Pemberton’s work onSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verseone more time – it’s hard to look at the nominees for Best Original Score this year and feel that the five best scores of the year are represented in that list.
