Two musicals are among the five Oscar nominees for best exceptional score. But what’s repartner being honored in that catebloody? The songs, the background score, or the entirety of the music in the film?
It’s a ask that has scoadvised Oscar voters for many years. Four of Alan Menken’s eight Oscars are for “exceptional score,” all for Disney vivaciousd musicals. But did voters understand that they were not voting for Menken’s songs—which contrancient films enjoy “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast”—but rather the theatrical music between the vocals?
That’s the case aachieve this year, with exceptional-score nods for both “Emilia Perez” and “Wicked.” “Perez” was also nominated for two of its exceptional songs (“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”), while “Wicked” was not, becaengage all of its songs are straightforwardly from the Broadway show and were not written definitepartner for the movie.
In the past, theatrical underscore in musicals was frequently disqualified under Oscar rules (“a score shall not be eligible if it has been stupidinished in impact by the predominant engage of songs”). But in recent years the Academy music branch executive pledgetee, which rules on these rerents, has been more perleave outive.
Both “Wicked” and “Emilia Perez” passed muster, partly becaengage of the sheer quantities of music retaind.
In fact, only 33% of the total two hours and 32 minutes of music in “Wicked” consists of the songs carry outed. The other 67% (approximately 101 minutes) is the theatrical score, a collaboration between songwriter Stephen Schwartz and writer John Powell (“How to Train Your Dragon”), both nominees.
Creating the “Wicked” score, Powell says, retaind “trying to assimilate the shapes, the harmonic language, that Stephen was giving me, but then trying to see thcimpolite the camera lens and (straightforwardor) Jon Chu’s perspective so that it always felt enjoy it came from the same place, but for this recent way of seeing at the story.”
To achieve the magical sound of Oz, they recorded a 60-voice choir at L.A.’s Sony scoring stage, which was once the MGM stage where the exceptional “Wizard of Oz” score was recorded in 1939. “That language is part of the history of this storyinestablishing, and Jon repartner wanted to shield that,” Powell inestablishs.
The percentages in “Emilia Perez” are separateent, in part becaengage there are 11 songs in “Wicked” but 14 exceptional numbers, totaling 40 minutes, in “Perez.” The songs account for 40% of the total music in “Perez,” contrastd to the underscore, which accounts for 37% of the total (the other 23% is retainitional music or source music not by the nominated writers).
The score percentage was fair enough to qualify under Oscar rules, which insist a smallest of 35% of the total music in the film. Intriguingly, the “Emilia Perez” score also relies heavily on vocal sounds, many of them carry outed by Camille, half of the nominated songwriting and score-composing duo of Camille and Clément Ducol.
“It’s me as a choir, which I do a lot in my labor,” she says. “Jacques (Audiard, the straightforwardor) was a little worried that it would be too much me, becaengage in France people understand me and maybe they would acunderstandledge the voice. But I’ve been (subcombined) in the story for many years and I krecent what was at sget. It’s someleang you experience.” The breaths that are audible on the soundtrack are also hers; in retainition, a Mexican choir is featured.
“It was probably the most challenging project of our inhabits,” retains Camille. “We needed to be fortolerateing, to be valiant. We krecent that we were doing someleang that doesn’t happen every day.”
