Dole

It's true that composers from the music branch choose the nominees for score and song, but the whole Academy gets to vote on the winners, not just a special committee (right?). The only qualifications for voting are in categories like Best Foreign Language Film/Best Shorts/etc. where any Academy member wishing to vote for the winner has to attend special screenings of all five nominated films before being given a ballot. Otherwise, all Academy members can vote for the winners in pretty much every competitive category (unless they've recently changed this). Personally, I think Academy members should have to pledge to see EVERY nominated film from EVERY category. Some members have admitted to voting without even seeing all five Best Picture nominees. Ridiculous!

They changed the rules just a month or two ago. From now on (if I remember correctly) no sheet music, no CDs, no nothing will be sent to members of the Music Branch for either music category. I don't remember exactly why the rumor started. I read it either here or at the fsm message boards. I do know that in 2002 the music branch said it wasn't going to nominate anymore sequel scores in a pretty blatant effort to shut out LOTR:TTT that year, so maybe Williams withdrew AOTC and COS because they were sequel scores, or maybe the music branch simply disqualified them. I know the branch later changed its mind (hence POA and LOTR: ROTK being nominated in subsequent years). By the way, I want to make it clear I'm not stating it as fact that TPM and/or AOTC were withdrawn. I'm just saying I thought I remembered there being a rumor to that effect. Maybe someone else can clear that up.

Did he withdraw CoS because of the whole Ross thing? Weren't there rumors that he'd withdrawn the first two SW prequel scores as well? I thought I remember seeing that discussed here once, but how true it was I have no idea.

2. Why are some scores more availble than others? I mean, I've seen A.I. and CMIYC promo many times on eBay, but none others. Do the Academy members sell them after they're done listening to them? Do they make extra copies of certain promos? Academy members sometimes sell the promos or give them to other people who sell them. They do this with free DVD's they get too. A couple of years ago, the Academy (or the MPAA) moved to ban free copies of DVDs to Academy members and they threw a fit so they reinstated the giveaways. As of this year, there will be no more promotional CDs sent out for Best Score or Best Song though. 4. Can the Academy be given any movie score? Even, say, movies that are never in theaters? No. In order for a film to be considered (except in the foreign language category), it must play in a Los Angeles theater for a certain amount of time. It used to be that it didn't matter if the film played across the rest of the U.S. or the world for years, it didn't become eligible for Oscar consideration until it played in L.A. That's why Casablanca, a 1942 film, won best picture for 1943 (because it didn't debut in L.A. until 1943). After 1972 (when Charlie Chaplin won the Best Original Score Oscar for Limelight which was made and released outside of Los Angeles twenty years earlier!) the Academy imposed some sort of deadline for a film to debut in L.A. if its released somewhere else. 6. Are foreign film score elligable? Yes, but rarely nominated. But foreign films are rarely nominated in most of the other categories either.

The Robe? Captain from Castile? Wuthering Heights? How the West Was Won? All About Eve?

The earliest re-recording I have is for King Kong (1933). The earliest original recording release is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Wouldn't that depend on when the score is recorded? Williams started work on AOTC in October but had to record it starting in January.

Maybe Williams knows who is planning to direct the last film and that person has asked Williams to be involved. With the exception of Cuaron who was supposedly contractually obligated to use Williams, I think the choice of composer has been made by each film's director.

Who here doesn't like Max Steiner????!!!! He's the man who's credited with popularizing the original film score with King Kong. And then there's Gone with the Wind, Now Voyager, The Informer, The Adventures of Don Juan, A Summer Place, The Searchers, Casablanca, Since You Went Away, Jezebel, The Letter, Dark Victory, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Caine Mutiny, etc. For shame!

No, it doesn't. Yes it kind of does. For example, there's a nice rendition of Shmi's Theme in Minority Report and the father/son theme from The Last Crusade is quoted in Far and Away. But it's normal. A reporter once pointed out similarities in two of Bernard Herrmann's pieces and Herrmann responded in his normal subtle way by saying something like "Of course they sound similar. The same person wrote both of them you ****ing idiot!"

"Across the Stars" is beautiful and tragic, like something Rota might have written. And of course (according to Williams) it's the first love theme ever written for the Star Wars franchise, so I guess the lovely "Han Solo and the Princess" is disqualified.

He usually does his more iconic works as encores, at least at the Hollywood Bowl. I'm sure he'll play some of those in Chicago, too. Bet money on "The Mission Theme" as well with the usual "Since the concert's run a little long, you may have missed the news so..." followed by polite laughter and applause a few seconds into the piece.

I've had no luck in Chicago either. When I went, you had to be a big donor to the CSO or something in order to get backstage to meet him. They even turned away this 7 or 8 year-old kid who was standing there with a Star Wars CD.

Is that meant to be sarcastic?

One of the film's highlights! Read the title and then watch the scene again. It's not about running around with shoes. If you don't understand this, then Potter is all you deserve. Alex Yeah I understand the scene isn't about running around with shoes. Just didn't want to miss a chance to trivialize what I think is an overly-pretentious film. Still, I stick to my opinion that even though the music to Empire of the Sun is among Williams' best, I think it's a little too much and in your face (or I guess your ears) for the film at times (but then again, so is the direction).

I kind of find "Jim's New Life" somwhat annoying in the film, although I love it on the CD. It just seems a little too much for a scene where Christian Bale is running around a prison camp with shoes and such. Then again, I'm not a great fan of the film Empire of the Sun so maybe I'm biased.

My vote would go to the original "Binary Sunset" from Star Wars. I'm glad Lucas made him rescore it. Although a nice and interesting track on the CD, it doesn't really capture the feeling of the scene in the film. Williams got that one totally wrong the first time IMHO.

I thought that all the music on the album was Williams. Maybe that debate hasn't been settled.

Is the climax from "Meeting Tom Riddle" from COS?

Forgive me if this is old news, but I didn't see it on the main page under future concerts. Williams will be conducting the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio on Sep. 26. CSO Announcement

I like the segueway that's on the Gerhardt recording better than the one that's on the OST. It's more subtle, with the percussion coming in so as not to be so in-your-face and overpowering as Yoda's theme fades away. I think it sounds smoother that way.

The end of Battle of Hoth, Anakin's Dark Deeds, and Sail Barge Assault are all amazing as far and fanfare type endings go. I would also nominate the ending to T-Rex Rescue from Jurassic Park and TIE Fighter Attack from Star Wars among others.

Well at least we can agree that he's done more for American music than Erich Kunzel, the conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, can't we?

Yes. I think the fact that it's sung by a children's chorus seals the deal in my mind. Not only is it a clever play on the Emperor's theme melodically, but it's a clever play on the theme in the way it's presented since the Emperor's theme is performed by a very different sounding choir.

I have to say that by far, the most disappointing part of the prequel scores was the lack of proper end credits. There are so many great themes in TPM, there's no reason why two concert pieces should just have been stitched together like that. AOTC is ok, but ROTS is a mess, with the concert version of Battle of the Heroes and the tacked on version of the traditional ending from the original Star Wars and Jedi which doesn't quite flow very smoothly. I miss the old medleys. Jedi has the worst end credits of the OT, but still, they're leagues ahead of the prequel end credits.