E-Mail Bag: Oscar Talk

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

We interviewed Danny Elfman on Friday on the subject of his two nominations, for Good Will Hunting (Drama) and Men in Black (Comedy). Elfman had never before been nominated, never thought he was going to be, and, in short, he is still a bit "bewildered" by the double nomination. Our article will run in the March Film Score Monthly. We suggested to Elfman that it was like he was "Carrie"--excluded from the dance for so long, he's now been invited, and is just a bit afraid of getting a bucket of pig blood dropped on his head! He liked that.

From: "Randy A. Salas" <rasalas@startribune.com>

Earlier this week you wrote:

"The way the Oscars work is that the winners are now chosen by the entire Academy membership, but nominees are chosen by the members in that particular branch. So for Elfman to be nominated--especially twice--means there are now enough composers in the Academy's music branch who, well, like him."

Aren't composers probably a minority in the music branch? Doesn't it also include orchestrators, recording engineers, copyists, musicians, etc.? Don't they all take part in the nominations?

Um, yes. Sorry. Actually I don't know all the specifics, but in short, all the music people are responsible for nominations, then the entire Academy votes for the winner.

From: "Pieter Coenen" <mab@village.uunet.be>

I don't understand why they gave Goldsmith a nomination for L.A. Confidential. Does anyone?

Why didn't they give Williams a nomination for Seven Years in Tibet or even Rosewood? And not for his overblown Amistad. The Africa theme seems to fit more to some kind of E.T. with blacks in it than it does in a drama about slavery.

1) Goldsmith was nominated for L.A. Confidential because it was a terrific film well-scored, and although the music did not entirely have the misty, poignant character of Chinatown, it was close enough to be one of his best, critically acclaimed cinematic contributions this decade.

2) Maybe Amistad was just at the forefront of people's minds. Williams had to be nominated for something, and Amistad was a better received film than Seven Years in Tibet, although the latter probably had the better score.

From: "Sam Alexander Peltzer" <peltzer@mailexcite.com>

In response to dragon7's letter on 2/13/98

You may be getting a lot of mail about this, but you should've looked over your list of Academy Award nominations again before stating the following on the Film Score Monthly site:

"I can appreciate the talent that Philip Glass has, but I listened to Kundun and there was no "music" to speak of. I guess if I were from India or the Orient I would appreciate it more, but can you honestly hum me one section out of that? [Yes -LK] I suppose to be politically correct this thing had to be nominated for best picture and score. This movie could put anyone to sleep and I will be fit to be tied if it wins in either category."

KUNDUN was not nominated for best picture. The best picture nominees this year are AS GOOD AS IT GETS, THE FULL MONTY, GOOD WILL HUNTING, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, and TITANIC. Yes, I too can hum the melodies from KUNDUN ("Escape to India," anyone?).

"Secondly, despite varying opinions, I am a litte intrigued that Contact didn't get nominated for best picture and Full Monty did. This is another obvious political correctness move."

Do you know the definition of the phrase "politically correct"? How is not nominating CONTACT obviously "politically correct"? Was there something inherently offensive or non-PC about CONTACT, which was a intelligent movie about the battle between faith and science concluding with a victory for both sides? And what was so PC about THE FULL MONTY? Maybe it's just that a lot of the voting members don't remember seeing CONTACT way back in July, whereas THE FULL MONTY is still in theaters. (By the way, I thought CONTACT and Jodie Foster should've been nominated, but then again, so should've THE SWEET HEREAFTER and Ian Holm.)

"Speaking of Titanic, I can't believe Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get nominated for best actor, yet I think one of the guys from Full Monty did."

Wrong again. No actors from THE FULL MONTY were nominated, although Mark Addy ("the fat one") probably should have been for supporting actor. The best actor nominees are Matt Damon, Robert Duvall, Peter Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, and Jack Nicholson. Supporting actor nominees are Robert Forster, Anthony Hopkins, Greg Kinnear, Burt Reynolds, and Robin Williams. Only one Brit in the entire bunch, and Anthony Hopkins was not in THE FULL MONTY. (That would've been disturbing.)

By the way, I'm also rooting for Danny Elfman to win for MEN IN BLACK.

Folks, please do continue the Oscar talk on our spankin' message board. To see all the nominations, go to www.Oscar.com. Happy President's Day! Go buy a new car or something.

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