“Best Score” Oscar Contenders Announced

The nominees for the 79th Annual Academy Awards were announced on January 23. The composers nominated for their “Achievement in music written for motion pictures” (a.k.a. Best Original Score) include two American perpetual also-rans, two first-time nominees, and a repeat appearance by the category’s 2005 winner.

The only Oscar-holder of the bunch is Gustavo Santaolalla, nominated for Babel. The Argentine-born Santaolalla won his first golden statue for the score for Brokeback Mountain.

Philip Glass was nominated for Notes on a Scandal. He has previously been nominated for his scores for Kundun and The Hours. However, Thomas Newman, nominated this year for The Good German, outdoes Glass for number of nominations without a win: seven times, to Glass’s previous two.

The two newcomers to the category are Spain’s Javier Navarrete for Pan’s Labyrinth and France’s Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.

The Academy Awards will be presented February 25. More information on this year’s nominees can be found on the Academy Awards website.