As with every year around this time, Best Original Score has barely been narrowed down, with 114 of the best scores still in contention. With 109 of these composers going home unhappy, the field is wide open for this one. The ones to watch out for are almost always the Academy favorites like Hans Zimmer (“Interstellar”), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“Gone Girl”), and Alexandre Desplat (for either “The Imitation Game”, “Unbroken”, or “The Grand Budapest Hotel” but probably not “Godzilla” or “The Monuments Men”) who all had amazing scores this year. Jóhann Jóhannsson has an extremely good chance of getting nominated with his work on “The Theory Of Everything” as does possibly Howard Shore for his work on the latest “The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies”.
Two scores you do not see on the list are “Birdman,” Antonio Sanchez and “Whiplash,” Damien Chazelle, both being drum solos that rode the run-time of each of their films. According to the Golden Derby website: “as per Rule 15(I)(a) an original score is defined as ‘a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring and is written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer.’ Rule 15 (II) sets out the eligibility: written specifically for the film by the composer, be the result of interaction with the the filmmaker; not have been heard elsewhere first. In addition, Rule 15 (II)(d) express this caveat: ‘Scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible.” That being said, these were also great scores this year.
Here’s the entire list:
- “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala
- “Anita,” Lili Haydn
- “Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara
- “At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval
- “Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral
- “Bears,” George Fenton
- “Belle,” Rachel Portman
- “Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman
- “Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman
- “The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Daviess
- “The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli
- “Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris
- “Cake,” Christophe Beck
- “Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy
- “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman
- “The Case against 8,” Blake Neely
- “Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud
- “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” Michael Giacchino
- “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them,” Son Lux
- “Divergent,” Tom Holkenborg
- “Dolphin Tale 2,” Rachel Portman
- “Dracula Untold,” Ramin Djawadi
- “Draft Day,” John Debney
- “The Drop,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanderss
- “Earth to Echo,” Joseph Trapanese
- “Edge of Tomorrow,” Christophe Beck
- “Endless Love,” Christophe Beck and Jake Monacos
- “The Equalizer,” Harry Gregson-Williams
- “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” Alberto Iglesias
- “The Fault in Our Stars,” Mike Mogis
- “Finding Vivian Maier,” J. Ralph
- “Fury,” Steven Price
- “Garnet’s Gold,” J. Ralph
- “Girl on a Bicycle,” Craig Richey
- “The Giver,” Marco Beltrami
- “Godzilla,” Alexandre Desplat
- “Gone Girl,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- “The Good Lie,” Martin Léon
- “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Alexandre Desplat
- “The Great Flood,” Bill Frisell
- “Hercules,” Fernando Velázquez
- “The Hero of Color City,” Zoë Poledouris-Roché and Angel Roché Jr.
- “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” Howard Shore
- “The Homesman,” Marco Beltrami
- “Horrible Bosses 2,” Christopher Lennertz
- “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” John Powell
- “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” A.R. Rahman
- “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1,” James Newton Howard
- “I Origins,” Will Bates and Phil Mossmans
- “The Imitation Game,” Alexandre Desplat
- “Inherent Vice,” Jonny Greenwood
- “Interstellar,” Hans Zimmer
- “The Interview,” Henry Jackman
- “Into the Storm,” Brian Tyler
- “Jal,” Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghoshs
- “The Judge,” Thomas Newman
- “Kill the Messenger,” Nathan Johnson
- “Kochadaiiyaan,” A.R. Rahman
- “Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return,” Toby Chu
- “The Lego Movie,” Mark Mothersbaugh
- “The Liberator,” Gustavo Dudamel
- “Life Itself,” Joshua Abrams
- “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed,” Pat Metheny
- “Lucy,” Eric Serra
- “Maleficent,” James Newton Howard
- “The Maze Runner,” John Paesano
- “Merchants of Doubt,” Mark Adler
- “Million Dollar Arm,” A.R. Rahman
- “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” Joel McNeely
- “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” Danny Elfman
- “Mr. Turner,” Gary Yershon
- “The Monuments Men,” Alexandre Desplat
- “A Most Violent Year,” Alex Ebert
- “My Old Lady,” Mark Orton
- “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” Alan Silvestri
- “Nightcrawler,” James Newton Howard
- “No GodNo Master,” Nuno Malo
- “Noah,” Clint Mansell
- “Non-Stop,” John Ottman
- “The One I Love,” Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaanss
- “Ouija,” Anton Sanko
- “Paddington,” Nick Urata
- “Penguins of Madagascar,” Lorne Balfe
- “Pompeii,” Clinton Shorter
- “The Purge: Anarchy,” Nathan Whitehead
- “The Railway Man,” David Hirschfelder
- “Red Army,” Christophe Beck and Leo Birenbergs
- “Ride Along,” Christopher Lennertz
- “Rocks in My Pockets,” Kristian Sensini
- “Rosewater,” Howard Shore
- “St. Vincent,” Theodore Shapiro
- “The Salt of the Earth,” Laurent Petitgand
- “Selma,” Jason Moran
- “The Signal,” Nima Fakhrara
- “Snowpiercer,” Marco Beltrami
- “Song of the Sea,” Bruno Coulais
- “Still Alice,” Ilan Eshkeri
- “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” Joe Hisaishi
- “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Brian Tyler
- “That Awkward Moment,” David Torn
- “The Theory of Everything,” Jóhann Jóhannsson
- “This Is Where I Leave You,” Michael Giacchino
- “300: Rise of an Empire,” Tom Holkenborg
- “Tracks,” Garth Stevenson
- “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” Steve Jablonsky
- “22 Jump Street,” Mark Mothersbaugh
- “Unbroken,” Alexandre Desplat
- “Under the Skin,” Mica Levi
- “Virunga,” Patrick Jonsson
- “Visitors,” Philip Glass
- “A Walk among the Tombstones,” Carlos Rafael Rivera
- “Walking with the Enemy,” Timothy Williams
- “Wild Tales,” Gustavo Santaolalla
- “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” John Ottman
