Academy Award Winners 2004

Academy Award Winners 2004

KACZMAREK FINDS NEVERLAND

28 February 2005 – Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek has won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the film FINDING NEVERLAND. The 53-year old won the Award on his first nomination, having previously worked on films such as WASHINGTON SQUARE, BLISS and UNFAITHFUL. The film stars Johnny Depp as playwright and author J.M. Barrie, whose friendship with the widowed Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies (Kate Winslet) and her youngest son (Freddie Highmore) provides him with the creative inspiration he needs to invent Captain Hook, Tinkerbell and Neverland itself.

In accepting his award, Kaczmarek said “I cannot tell you how happy I am. Thank you Academy. Finding Neverland was a great adventure and I'm so proud to be part of it. Marc Forster, thank you for your subtle mind, for your incredible talent. Also, Richard Gladstein, a man who truly understands the power of music. I'm very thankful for this, as well. My wife Elzbieta, who always surprises me with her intellectual passion and incredible taste. She's responsible for many good notes I've written. And to my friend and agent, Anita Greenspan, thank you so much”. Kaczmarek went on to thank Harvey Weinstein, the musicians who worked on the score, and his collaborators in Poland and America, including orchestrator Krzysztof Herdzin, recording engineer Rafal Paczkowski, and pianist Leszek Mozdzer. The other nominees in the Best Score category were John Debney for THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, James Newton Howard for THE VILLAGE, Thomas Newman for LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, and John Williams for HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

In the category Best Original Song, the award unexpectedly went to Uruguayan composer/musician Jorge Drexler for the song “Al Otro Lado Del Río”, from the critically acclaimed socio-political road movie THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. Somewhat controversially, Drexler was stopped from performing his own song on-stage by show producer Gil Cates (Drexler had performed on the soundtrack), and was replaced by actor Antonio Banderas and guitarist Carlos Santana. However, Drexler had the last laugh by performing an impromptu acapella rendition of the song during his acceptance speech – one of the highlights of the evening. The other Best Song nominees were Bruno Coulais and Christophe Barrarier for "Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)" from THE CHORUS; Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Mallery, David Bryson and Daniel Vickrey for "Accidentally In Love" from SHREK 2; Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Charles Hart for "Learn To Be Lonely" from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; and Alan Silvestri and Glenn Ballard for "Believe" from THE POLAR EXPRESS.

In the other major categories, Clint Eastwood’s MILLION DOLLAR BABY, a dramatic story about the relationship between a young female boxer and an ageing coach, won Best Picture, Best Director for Eastwood, Best Actress for Hilary Swank, and Best Supporting Actor for Morgan Freeman. Martin Scorsese’s dramatic biography of entrepreneur Howard Hughes, THE AVIATOR, picked up five awards from its eleven nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of Hollywood screen icon Katherine Hepburn, Best Cinematography for Robert Richardson, Best Art Direction for Dante Ferretti and Francesco Lo Schiavo, Best Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker and Best Costume Design for Sandy Powell.

Jamie Foxx won the coveted Best Actor award for his portrayal of soul music legend Ray Charles in director Taylor Hackford’s RAY, beating out strong competition from Leonardo Di Caprio, Johnny Depp, Clint Eastwood and Don Cheadle. The other best film nominee, SIDEWAYS, picked up the award for Best Original Screenplay for writer/director Alexander Payne and writer Jim Taylor; Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth won the Best Adapted Screenplay award for their work on ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND; THE INCREDIBLES won the hotly-contested award for Best Animated Feature and the sound editing tech award; and RAY, LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS and SPIDER-MAN 2 won technical awards for sound mixing, make-up and visual effects respectively. Director Alejandro Amenabar’s euthanasia drama THE SEA INSIDE won the award for Best Foreign Language Film; BORN INTO BROTHELS, a film about child prostitutes in India, won the Documentary Feature Oscar; and honorary awards were given to director Sidney Lumet and historian Roger Mayer.

Sadly, director Mike Leigh’s searing 1950s drama VERA DRAKE, the critically acclaimed HOTEL RWANDA, and the theatrical drama BEING JULIA, as well as CLOSER, COLLATERAL and KINSEY all went home empty-handed.

For a Movie Music UK’s commentary on the Oscar nominations, please click here.

For a coverage of the 2004 Academy Awards, please visit the official website.

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