Trent Reznor: 'I Am Truly Stunned' to Win an Oscar

by Stacey Wilson

from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Composing "The Social Network" was “the best experience I’ve ever had,” added the Nine Inch Nails frontman.

Turns out the competition was a magic feather for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

While the Nine Inch Nails frontman and his British composing partner each expressed disbelief over their winning best original score Oscar for their synthy, non-orchestral soundtrack to The Social Network, Reznor revealed a surprising anecdote about his road to Oscar glory.

“[Inception] composer, Hans Zimmer, who I’ve been battling at awards shows all year, told me, ‘In a lot of ways, I hope you win because it’s helped open up the field a bit for texture of what film scores can be,’ ” Reznor told reporters backstage. “I am truly stunned by this. David [Fincher] bugged us to do it. I’m very glad we did. It’s been the best experience I’ve ever had from start to finish.”

Reznor, who'd already “put Nine Inch Nails on the back burner" when Fincher approached him to score Network (the two had previously together on the creepy title sequence to Fincher's 1995 film Seven) admitted that movie composing was never in his plans.

"Thankfully David had a very clear idea of what he wanted,” said Reznor. “The only immediate direction he gave us was that there be no orchestra, be similar to Bladerunner -- inhabit the same iconic quality -- but not sound dated. It was definitely difficult to score for a bunch of people talking in rooms. There were no landscapes, or battles scenes. It wasn’t obvious to us what shape it would have."

For his part, Ross said he’d “been stunned” by every bit of recognition the pair had garnered throughout award season and only when the two received an Oscar nomination did he believe their Academy Award changes. “That morning I thought, ‘Wow, this is a reality.’ I’ve come in with no expectations. It’s been incredible.”

It’s a long way from the day the musicians saw Fincher’s first cut of the film. “We watched 45 minutes, and it had more dialogue than in last 10 films I’d seen combined. That was a quiet car ride home,” Ross said.
Next up for the Oscar-winning composers? They are currently scoring Fincher's next film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

OSCARS 2011 - 83rd Academy Awards Nominations

Here are the nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards. 

Best Picture
"Black Swan," Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
"The Fighter" David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
"Inception," Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
"The Kids Are All Right," Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
"The King's Speech," Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
"127 Hours," Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
"The Social Network," Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceàn Chaffin, Producers
"Toy Story 3" Darla K. Anderson, Producer
"True Grit" Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Animated Feature Film
"How to Train Your Dragon" Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
"The Illusionist" Sylvain Chomet
"Toy Story 3" Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
"Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Costume Design
"Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Directing
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
"The King's Speech," Tom Hooper
"The Social Network," David Fincher
"True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)
"Exit through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
"Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Film Editing
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"

Foreign Language Film
"Biutiful," Mexico
"Dogtooth," Greece
"In a Better World," Denmark
"Incendies," Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria

Makeup
"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot
"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)
"Day & Night," Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
"The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)" Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)
"The Confession," Tanel Toom
"The Crush," Michael Creagh
"God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
"Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
"Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
"Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"127 Hours," Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network," Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3," Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"Another Year," Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception," Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right," Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech," Screenplay by David Seidler

And the Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards Will Be...

MovieRetriever.com is going on record. Write it down. Impress your friends. These WILL be the nominees when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences goes through their annual routine on Thursday morning at 5:30am PST. Yes, we're confident. You almost have to be in a year as weird as this one. Or, at least, Hollywood is that predictable. These aren't necessarily our picks for best of the year, but, given eighty previous years of ceremonies, these are pretty informed guesses. So, without further ado...

- Brian Tallerico

**********

BEST PICTURE

Based on precursors and buzz, there are two definite locks, the two clear front-runners to win the big prize - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. Both, based on these predictions, are going to be two of the three films with double-digit Oscar nominations on their newspaper ads this weekend. The other one? The Dark Knight. And the love for that film will push it into this category easily. The people who still think TDK won’t get in because it’s too mainstream don’t know their Oscar history. When a movie is this big, there’s no denying it. Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, Titanic, The Exorcist – all massive, mainstream hits, all Best Picture nominees.

The other two slots are little more open for debate. Milk didn't get a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, but has seen precursor love from nearly everyone else. It's a safe bet, although I won't be stunned if it gets snubbed. Disappointed but not stunned. It just doesn't feel like the love for Milk is there like it was even a few weeks ago. The fact that Milk has made less to date ($20 million) than Paul Blart: Mall Cop did in its first two days adds to the sense that people aren't talking about this excellent film as much as they should. The final slot? It's between four films - Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, and WALL-E. My heart says WALL-E. My head says that with every important precursor group - DGA, PGA, WGA, SAG - showing Ron Howard's purely so-so film serious love, it's getting in. Out of any of the majors in this feature, I'll be happiest if this prediction is wrong but I just don’t see it.

The Nominees Will Be:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Frost/Nixon

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

**********

BEST DIRECTOR

With the lack of buzz surrounding Milk lately and the general apathy I think most feel about Frost/Nixon, one of their directors is not getting in. Before we get to that, you can lock in David Fincher, Danny Boyle, and Christopher Nolan for their first Best Director nods each in easy predictions. Isn't that amazing? Relatively young and maverick directors like Fincher, Boyle, and Nolan will all have the words “Oscar-nominated” next to their names in future previews. The directors of Fight Club, Trainspotting, and Memento will all be able to put Oscar nominee next to their name. It feels a little like a changing of the guard and recognition of some talented filmmakers that a generation has grown up adoring. So, assuming that the battle for the four and five slots in Best Picture makes it unlikely that we will have a 5/5 match for director, who gets snubbed? Van Sant or Howard? I'm picking the latter and, with Mike Leigh and Andrew Stanton being names I wouldn't be surprised to hear, I'm going with a man whose film is growing in admiration every single day - Darren Aronofsky. The director Requiem For a Dream will be an Oscar nominee too. Amazing.

The Nominees Will Be:

Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight

Gus Van Sant, Milk

**********

BEST ACTOR

This is another case, like Best Picture, where three of the slots are locked in, done, over - Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn for Milk, and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. The other two are much tougher. Actors often ride a wave of support for their film, and I think that will carry Brad Pitt in for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, even if I'd much rather see a shocker like Josh Brolin for W. or Benicio Del Toro for Che. Neither has a chance but a critic can dream. Finally, I worry that Clint Eastwood will get in for his overrated work in Gran Torino and push out the far superior performance of Richard Jenkins in The Visitor. I love Clint but this is not nomination-worthy work. History will be MUCH kinder to The Visitor than Gran Torino. Once again, my heart wants to say Jenkins, but my head says, especially with the massive box office success, that Eastwood barely slides in. This would be a great one for them to release the votes. I think Jenkins misses that fifth spot by a handful of ballots. I hope I’m wrong.

The Nominees Will Be:

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino

Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn, Milk

Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

**********

BEST ACTRESS

Finally we have a category where four of the nominees are of the "lock" variety. If Anne Hathaway, Sally Hawkins, Meryl Streep, or Kate Winslet don't hear their name on Thursday morning in this category then that tapping sound you hear is the world of journalism frantically writing about their omission being the most surprising snub of the day. The fifth spot is trickier. Kristin Scott-Thomas once had a lot of heat for I've Loved You So Long. After Toronto, there were suggestions she might even win. Precursors haven't been kind to her and I think she misses out. Two other critical darlings - Melissa Leo for Frozen River and Michelle Williams for Wendy and Lucy - will suffer the same fate. All three of these talented women will see something that happens more often than you might think – the Academy making up for past omissions. Angelina Jolie should have been nominated last year for A Mighty Heart. She will be this year for Changeling.

The Nominees Will Be:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

Angelina Jolie, Changeling

Meryl Streep, Doubt

Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

**********

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Another category with four locks and one tricky spot, although I think this may be the category of the day that I feel the most confident about telling you to bet the farm on. You can certainly do so with Heath Ledger getting a nod for The Dark Knight. In fact, Ledger for Supporting Actor, Wall-E for Animated Film, and Waltz With Bashir for Foreign Language Film are three WINS that you can pretty safely bet your paycheck on now. The other three locks for nominees are Josh Brolin for Milk, Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt, although I'd be very happy if the Academy recognized that Hoffman's work in that film is lead and don't nominate him out of principle. Other more deserving and possible nominees? Ralph Fiennes for any of his work in 2008 (In Bruges, The Duchess, The Reader), Eddie Marsan for Happy-Go-Lucky, Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road, Bill Irwin for Rachel Getting Married, or James Franco for Pineapple Express or Milk. Any of them could be that one "shocker" nominee of the day that no one's predicting. (Keeping my fingers crossed for Franco or Marsan.) But I think the fifth nominee will be another "wave-rider" like Pitt for Best Actor, and Dev Patel will sneak in on the tsunami of support for his little movie that could.

The Nominees Will Be:

Josh Brolin, Milk

Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire

**********

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kate Winslet is undeniably a lead in The Reader, but that's not going to stop the Academy from nominating and probably awarding arguably the best actress of her generation in this category instead. If you're keeping track at home, this nod will be Winslet's SEVENTH (and without a win, making her taking home this trophy all the more likely). She's only 33. At her age, even Meryl Streep only had four and, that year, would win her second for Sophie's Choice, the last time she went home with Oscar gold. (Meryl will land her unbelievable fifteenth for Doubt. Anyone else think Kate will match that total during her career? I do.) They'll probably give it to Kate, but they need to nominate four others. Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the only guarantee. She has been since the day the movie came out. The other three will be a combination of Amy Adams and Viola Davis in Doubt, Rosemarie DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married, Taraji P. Henson in Button, and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. I think Aronofsky's film is going to have a big day and the precursor love for Doubt makes me think both of those ladies are getting in, leaving poor Rosemarie and Taraji waiting till next year.

The Nominees Will Be:

Amy Adams, Doubt

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis, Doubt

Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Kate Winslet, The Reader

**********

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

This is the most challenging category of the day. If you look at the WGA nominees, usually a safe bet, then that means that Burn After Reading is getting a nod here. I don't see that happening. Milk, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and The Wrestler will match up with WGA, but I see surprises in the other two. I am very sadly predicting a Visitor shut-out (and hoping I'm wrong). That leaves two spots open. They love to nominate Pixar here – The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story all landed one – and Wall-E isn’t going to break that pattern. The fifth one is a nightmare to predict. Am I wrong about The Visitor or is it Rachel Getting Married, In Bruges, Happy-Go-Lucky, or maybe even Synecdoche, New York? Throw a dart at a board. For now, I'm going with Rachel. Ask me again tomorrow.

The Nominees Will Be:

Milk

Rachel Getting Married

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

WALL-E

The Wrestler

**********

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

This one's easier. The WGA chose the Nolan's excellent work on Dark Knight but the Academy has a history of snubbing films that they see as technical marvels from the screenplay category (Titanic didn’t get one). I think TDK is getting snubbed here. I predict a little of the love for The Reader sneaking them in and the other ones going straight match with the WGA. If Let the Right One In, somehow, deservedly, pushes one of these aside, the entire city of Chicago will hear my childish squeal of glee.

The Nominees Will Be:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Doubt

Frost/Nixon

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

**********

Those are the high-profile ones. Here are my picks for the other categories (excusing the short-subject ones where everyone just guesses anyway), just in case you want an early start on planning your Oscar pool.

**********

BEST ANIMATED:

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

Wall-E

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

The Betrayal

I.O.U.S.A.

Man on Wire

Standard Operating Procedure

Trouble the Water

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

3 Monkeys

The Class

Everlasting Moments

Revanche

Waltz With Bashir

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Defiance

Revolutionary Road

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ART DIRECTION:

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST EDITING:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Frost/Nixon

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

BEST MAKEUP:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Reader

Synecdoche, New York

BEST SCORE:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

BEST SONG:

Bolt

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

The Wrestler

BEST SOUND MIXING:

The Dark Knight

Defiance

Iron Man

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

BEST SOUND EDITING:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Defiance

Iron Man

WALL-E

**********

TOTALS FOR MAJOR NOMINEES

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 12 nominations

The Dark Knight - 11

Slumdog Millionaire - 11

Milk - 7

WALL-E - 6

Doubt - 5

The Wrestler - 5

Frost/Nixon - 4

The Reader - 4

Changeling - 3

Defiance - 3

Iron Man – 3

Cinematical Seven: Outrageous Oscar Disqualifications

by Eric D. Snider

With the news that the musical score from The Dark Knight has been disqualified from Academy Awards consideration on the grounds that too many people were credited with composing it, outrage against the Academy's stringent, complicated rules has erupted afresh. In the interest of fueling this indignation and making the world an angrier place, let's take a belligerent march down memory lane and look at seven other controversial disqualifications.

The Jazz Singer disqualified for being a talkie. When the very first Academy Awards were held in May 1929, honoring films released between August 1927 and July 1928, everyone was talking about The Jazz Singer -- the first feature-length movie to use recorded sound in some of its talking and singing scenes. So great was the attention that the Academy disqualified the film from the inaugural Best Picture category, reasoning that its use of sound put it on an uneven playing field against the films still stuck in silence. Instead, the Academy gave Warner Bros. a special award "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry." It's true, too! I don't know if you've noticed, but pretty much all movies nowadays have talking in them.

Young Americans disqualified from Best Documentary category ... after it already won. Whoops. This is a sad case, and a unique one. The documentary, about the peppy Young Americans show choir, won the Oscar at the 1969 ceremony for being the best feature-length documentary of 1968. But a few weeks later, the Academy discovered that the film had screened at a theater in October 1967, making it eligible for that year's awards and not for 1968. The Academy actually took back the Oscar statues from the filmmakers, Alex Grasshoff and Robert Cohn, and gave the award to the film that had been first runner-up. When Grasshoff died earlier this year, his widow told the Los Angeles Times how heartbroken he'd been. Can you imagine?

Musical score from The Godfather disqualified because some of it was from an earlier score. Nina Rota's haunting score from The Godfather actually got as far as being nominated for an Oscar before someone discovered that its love theme had been previously used in another film Nona had scored, Fortunella. The rules say the music must be written specifically for the movie at hand, so Nona was disqualified and the score from Sleuth was added as a nominee in its place. Two years later, Rota was co-nominated with Carmine Coppola for their Godfather Part II score, and actually won. How could that be, though, when much of the music was simply reused from the first Godfather? Because the Academy had changed the rules in the meantime. Arrgh!

"Come What May" from Moulin Rouge disqualified because it was actually written for a previous project. This is the one that irks me, personally, the most, since the song is gorgeous and actually fit the story of the film. But to be eligible for the Best Song category, the song must have been written specifically for the movie. (That's why screen versions of Broadway musicals usually toss in a couple of new, just-for-the-movie tunes -- because the preexisting songs can't win Oscars.) "Come What May," as it turns out, had been written for Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. He wound up not using it, but it didn't matter. The fact that it hadn't been written with Moulin Rouge in mind made it ineligible. I always wondered why "Come What May" songwriter David Baerwald didn't just, you know, lie about it. I mean, who would have known that he'd actually written it for something else? Apparently he's a more honest person than I am. Oh, and as usual, the Best Song winner that year was something that played over the closing credits and had nothing to do with the movie. Happy, Academy?

Fahrenheit 9/11 disqualified because it aired on TV too soon. The Academy gets a break on this one -- it was Michael Moore's own damn fault. The rules said that to be eligible, a documentary cannot air on television any sooner than nine months after its theatrical debut. Fahrenheit 9/11 was released in the summer of 2004, and Moore chose to show it on pay-per-view TV on Nov. 1, hoping it would influence the election in John Kerry's favor over George W. Bush. He knew it would disqualify him from the documentary category, though he hoped it might still get a Best Picture nomination. (The eligibility rules are different in that category.) Well, as it turns out, the film didn't get nominated for anything, and Bush still won the election. Nice try, though, Mike.

The Band's Visit disqualified from the Best Foreign Language Film category for having too much English. In the foreign-language category, the rules are pretty simple. The film must be predominantly in a language other than English, and it must come from a country other than the United States. The Band's Visit, an optimistic, can't-we-all-get-along? comedy from Israel in 2007, seemed like a shoo-in for a nomination, and many considered it a good bet for the win. The problem was this: The movie is about an Egyptian police band getting lost in a small Israeli town. The characters don't speak each other's languages, so they communicate in the smattering of English that they do have in common. It makes sense, and it enhances the film's overall theme of learning to understand and communicate with one another. Doesn't matter, the Academy said. Since the English spoken in the film adds up to more than 51% of the dialogue -- and yes, people from the Academy sat there with stopwatches -- it didn't qualify as a "foreign-language" film.

Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood score disqualified for not being original enough. It would seem that the music categories are the ones that cause the most trouble, and this sting from last year is still fresh in a lot of people's minds, especially fans of the Radiohead guitarist Greenwood. The Academy ruled that his haunting, unusual score for There Will Be Blood was ineligible because it was "diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music." Greenwood wrote about 35 minutes of original material, used about 15 minutes of some of his own previously written music, and incorporated music by the likes of Arvo Pärt and Johannes Brahms. Whatever the combo was, the Academy nixed it -- but not before the preliminary ballots had already gone out with the score listed as being eligible. Still, at least they made up their minds before the thing actually got nominated -- or, heaven forbid, before Greenwood actually went home with the trophy. One take-back in an 80-year history is enough.