Jonny Greenwood's 'Blood' score disqualified by AMPAS
Jonny Greenwood's original score for "There Will Be Blood" has been ruled ineligible by the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The news comes on the heels of last week's Best Foreign Language Film controversy, which left the two most critically acclaimed efforts of the year in that category out of contention (Romania's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" and France's "Persepolis").
(Pete Hammond is also reporting on this over at The Envelope, but there is much more to the story, which has been fluttering in the wind throughout the weekend.)
The disqualification has been attributed to a designation within Rule 16 of the Academy's Special Rules for Music Awards (5d under "Eligibility"), which excludes "scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music."
Greenwood's score contains roughly 35 minutes of original recordings and roughly 46 minutes of pre-existing work (including selections from the works of Arvo Pärt, as well as pieces in the public domain, such as Johannes Brahms' "Concerto in D Major"). Peripheral augmentation to the score included sporadic but minimal useage (15 minutes) of the artist's 2006 composition "Popcorn Superhet Receiver."
"Popcorn" is a 20-minute work commissioned by the BBC in 2005. The piece premiered at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in November of 2006.
All musical inclusions were indicated on the score's cue sheet, of which the Academy has been in possession since early December. The organization had over a month to run over rules and eligibility, sending out reminder sheets to Academy voters that included Greenwood's score for consideration along the way.
Other scores that were deemed ineligible include "Enchanted" and "Into the Wild," from Alan Menken and Michael Brook respectively. Both were disqualified due to the "predominant use of songs." But sources say Paramount Vantage was alerted to the ineligibility of "Into the Wild" far in advance. The situation with "Blood," however, has come at the last minute, catching the studio entirely off guard.
Vantage was made aware of the Academy's "Blood" decision on January 19, seven days after balloting closed. Greenwood himself first received word via postal mail from the Academy at his home in London on January 17. Price Waterhouse has been instructed to discount all votes for Greenwood on Academy ballots.
According to the studio, the Academy's decision has also come, in part, due to a situation which arose with Nino Rota's score for "The Godfather" in 1972, which was pulled from the list of nominees after it was discovered that the film's love theme was used in another film, 1958's "Fortunella." The Academy would like to right a wrong now rather than withdraw a nomination further down the road. "The Godfather Part II" won the original score Oscar and featured the same love theme which rendered Rota's initial score ineligible.
Sources at the studio say that, though they are baffled by the surprising turn of events, they respect the Academy's decision. They only wish they had been advised of the situation in enough time to properly appeal it.
Red Carpet District is Variety contributor Kristopher Tapley's attempt at making sense of the ever-expanding glut of film awards coverage. He's been on the beat for six years. Email 
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Posted by: High class London escorts | 11/18/2009 8:40:15 AM
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Posted by: PhillDoc | 10/22/2009 8:49:21 AM
this score makes jonny the ONLY "rock" musician to not embarass himself in the classical music scene and he gets ripped off!
Posted by: mark | 6/9/2008 8:07:42 PM
A pity. Greenwood really deserved the Academy Award for this.
Posted by: Nina, Tote, & Berg | 2/27/2008 8:48:54 AM
What a shame. I can't help but feel ripped off by this decision for the incredible talent that will not be recognized by the Academy. Greenwood's score for There Will Be Blood was almost a supporting actor in the film for me. It is the first score that I can say has ever moved me MORE than the film itself. Kudos to this daring and seductive score by Greenwood.
Posted by: arstone333 | 1/23/2008 10:08:34 PM
WHY ONLY ONE NOMINATION 4 LA VIE EN ROSE ,SURELY IT QUALFIES AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM EVEN IF IT HAD ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Posted by: FIONA DRENNAN | 1/22/2008 3:40:16 PM
the Academy should go ahead and disqualify any future scores by John Williams, Danny Elfman and Mark Mothersbaugh then, since all they do is rip off their own back catalogs... Sheeeeeeesh.
Posted by: endo | 1/22/2008 2:19:10 PM
does that apply to Shakira as well? shy she was left out for best song?
Posted by: Cholera | 1/22/2008 12:01:45 PM
Yeah, this is particularly ironic given the Babel win last year. Maybe the technicalities line up, but the spirit of the law certainly does not. Absolutely ludicrous.
Posted by: DarthCorleone | 1/22/2008 10:08:06 AM
the score affected me deep to my core. whether it be "original" or not, its usage is unique. The Academy's relevance is as important as we deem it. My heart knows what it feels. That's enough for me right now.
Posted by: CHRISTOPHER | 1/22/2008 12:13:35 AM
Does the academy know that all the actors are also used before?
Posted by: marc | 1/21/2008 11:58:17 PM
bunch of crap!
Posted by: Rafael28 | 1/21/2008 9:05:06 PM
And by this standard, Santaollalla's score for Babel was eligible how, exactly?
Posted by: ToddToronto | 1/21/2008 4:12:07 PM
"yup", way to be original in your critique. greenwood and paul thomas anderson have been open about the penderecki influence.
Posted by: jordan | 1/21/2008 3:56:48 PM
What a shame? Oscar or not, it's the best score of the year by far.
Posted by: Yama | 1/21/2008 3:31:10 PM
they could have pulled it because it was a Penderecki/Ligeti RIP OFF.
Posted by: yup | 1/21/2008 3:28:44 PM
First the ridiculous foreign film nominations, and now this.
Let's find a reason to disqualify the most original and daring musical score in many years.
Way to go Academy.
If things like this keep up in the years to come, the Oscars may well lose their relevance with the public, and the movie industry as a whole.
This is just wrong.
Posted by: paddy | 1/21/2008 3:19:15 PM
Dude, that's CRAZY. Think we would've found this out a little earlier. Too many crazy rules to keep track of.
Posted by: MiraJeffAICN | 1/21/2008 1:43:22 PM