 |  In what is surely the most open Best Score race in years, the early front-runner looks to be 52-year-old Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who has been rewarded with a debut nomination for his charming orchestral score for Mark Forster’s drama FINDING NEVERLAND, which stars Johnny Depp as author and creator of Peter Pan, J.M Barrie. As the film is likely to go un-rewarded in the main categories in which it has been nominated (Best Film, Best Actor), the Academy could well see fit to bestow the award on Kaczmarek as something of a “consolation prize”, something the Oscar voters have been known to do in the past. However, this is not to say that this score is unworthy of the award: it is on many people’s lists of favourite scores in 2004, and Kaczmarek himself is due for recognition having written excellent music for films such as UNFAITHFUL, LOST SOULS and BLISS in the past. Click here to read Peter Simons’s review of this score “as heard in the film”. |
Kaczmarek’s biggest challenge looks set to come from American composer John Debney, who has picked up his first Oscar nomination for his work on Mel Gibson’s controversial, but hugely successful depiction of the last days of the life of Jesus, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. The perceived backlash against the film has not materialised in the way many had predicted: this, coupled with the massive album sales Debney’s score achieved, and the composer’s standing as a well respected and well liked member of the Hollywood film music community, could well see the 49-year old walk away with some well-deserved recognition for a career which has seen him write such wonderful scores as CUTTHROAT ISLAND and DRAGONFLY. 
The legendary John Williams has received his 43rd – yes 43rd! - Oscar nomination this year, but not for his score everyone anticipated. Instead of picking up his nod for Steven Spielberg's airport-bound comedy The Terminal, 73-year-old Williams has instead been honoured for his work on director Alfonso Cuaròn’s HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, the third instalment in the series of films based on the massively successful novels by J.K. Rowling. Despite having won the award five times previously, his last success came back in 1993 on SCHINDLER’S LIST, and considering the strength of the category elsewhere, this is unlikely to change this year – unless the Academy decide to spring a huge surprise. 
American composer Thomas Newman, the youngest member of the massively influential Newman film music family, has received his seventh Oscar nomination for his work on the unique and innovative children’s fantasy LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, directed by Brad Silberling. As probably the weakest of the five nominated scores, Newman’s place on the list is more likely to do with his standing and popularity among the Hollywood fraternity than the actual excellence of the score, but despite this Newman is a composer badly in need of some official recognition for his vast talents – and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Academy would chose to do so here. 
Rounding out the nominations is James Newton Howard, who has unexpectedly received his sixth Oscar nomination for his score for the M. Night Shyamalan’s critically mauled but commercially successful thriller THE VILLAGE. Despite a great deal of acclaim from the film music press, and favourable comparisons to Bernard Herrmann, Howard’s score was not expected to receive any official recognition from the Academy as the film itself was so poorly regarded – the score nomination is the only nomination it has received. Nevertheless, its inclusion proves that the Oscar voters do occasionally open their ears and reward scores for films which would otherwise be overlooked at awards time. 
