“Falling Slowly”‘s Eligibility
One thing that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has been really, really good at this year is disqualifying or dismissing Oscar-worthy contenders. They disqualified Jonny Greenwood‘s There Will be Blood score. The foreign committee scrubbed The Band’s Visit and 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. And now, according to N.Y. Times Oscar blogger David Carr (a.k.a. “the Bagger”), there is talk that “Falling Slowly,” the beautiful love ballad from Once, may be ruled ineligible for a Best Song Oscar.
“An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film,” the Academy rules state. Carr says it is unclear how “Falling Slowly” may have run afoul of said rules, but the music branch of the Academy branch will be looking into the matter on Monday with a decision to follow soon after.
Carr advises readers to “wait until all the facts are in before commencing to freak out.” Okay, I’ll bide my tim. Bnd if the Academy rules against the eligibility of Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova‘s delicate, heart-lifting tune, it will really and truly be time to get out the torches and the pitchforks. I’ve used that metaphor before, but this is serious. These people seem to do nothing but say “no,” “no” and “not you either.”
A poster named “M” has written the following about this situation: “I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, that Hansgard was so enamored with the song during the filming of the movie that he recorded it with his band for release, anticipating that Once would not get wide release and wanting to give the song as much exposure as possible. The song itself was specifically written for the film, but recorded a couple of times before the film released in the U.S.
“That said, if ‘Falling Slowly’ loses to some sugar candy crap from Enchanted, I’m giving up on the Oscars entirely.”
Followup: a story posted today by the Dublin-based RTE Entertainment states that “Falling Slowly” was written for the film and captured on tape in January 2006. It later appeared on ‘The Swell Season’, a 2006 album recorded by Hansard and Irglova that came out in April ’06. It was then re-recorded for The Frames last album ‘The Cost’, which was also released in ’06.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Once director John Carney said”we’re all discussing that [the eligibility of the song] at the moment to get clear, exactly, and figure this out.”
The RTE story states that Oscar officials “are likely to discount the fact that the song featured on two albums before it was released as part of Once, and are expected to focus on whether the song was specifically written for the film.”
Up until 1980 the Academy had “Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score” as well as Original Score. It seems that the TWBB score would have fit under that catagory. Of course, the Oscar probably wouldn’t have gone to Hairspray.
Once and for all, let’s just be done with it and ELIMINATE the Best Song catagory alltogether. What do the craftsmen who have worked a life in film production think when they see Billy Joel walking off the stage with an Oscar–not a Grammy, an Oscar! …and of course the real benefit: no more Allan Carr type production numbers at the Academy Awards–ever.
Sorry, the Oscar “would have” gone to “Hairspray”.
Once and for all, let’s just be done with it and ELIMINATE the Best Song catagory alltogether. What do the craftsmen who have worked a life in film production think when they see Billy Joel walking off the stage with an Oscar–not a Grammy, an Oscar! …and of course the real benefit: no more Allan Carr type production numbers at the Academy Awards–ever.
It is pathetic, seriously. And all the disqualified nominees/potential nominees were the best of the year. Such crap.
“What do the craftsmen who have worked a life in film production think when they see Billy Joel walking off the stage with an Oscar–not a Grammy, an Oscar!”
The people always seem really happy whenever they give an Oscar to an aging rockstar.
Not Billy Joel (who has never done music for a movie), but Dylan, or Springsteen…
Do you also think that novelists who adapt their own books should be ineligible because they haven’t spent a lifetime as screenwriters?
He said Billy Joel, maybe he meant Phil Collins? I get my musical paragons of lameness confused sometimes too.
You mean Billy Joel wasn’t even nominated for his work on Disney’s “Oliver and Company”? The outrages just continue to pile up.
This is such a non-story that was cleared up MONTHS ago. The film was written for the movie, the movie was in the can, the song was released on two albums when it didn’t seem like the film would get a release. End of story.
Oh, if “Falling Slowly” goes down, I’m sure there’s another song from Enchanted that will be more than happy to step up.
Perhaps the Academy needs to do less analyzing of the time and purpose for which Falling Slowly was written and more analyzing whether its current rules are disqualifying what should be perfectly eligible songs and scores.
Sounds like some Disney exec backdoor angling to me.
Sean, to your point “Do you also think that novelists who adapt their own books should be ineligible because they haven’t spent a lifetime as screenwriters?”
Here’s the bottom line: these lame ass songs RARELY have anything to do with the movie, they are usually filler over the closing credits. A screenwriter does, I think we may all agree, actually contribute something to the actual film.
“The people always seem really happy whenever they give an Oscar to an aging rockstar.”
Hell, give ‘em a free dinner or an Oscar goodie bag. Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen–these are not the names that come to mind when I am thinking cinema. I’m glad they wrote a nice hummable tune for a Disney flick, but give ‘em an Oscar? There are sound editors who have done great work on forgettable movies who have never even been nominated after 20-30 years of admirable work who are barfing right now.
“these lame ass songs RARELY have anything to do with the movie, they are usually filler over the closing credits.”
’8 Mile’, ‘Hustle & Flow’…
“A screenwriter does, I think we may all agree, actually contribute something to the actual film.”
But your stated complaint was that the people don’t work in the industry. (which I assume was deliberately ignoring Randy Newman) Now you’re changing your complaint, and it’s still kinda stupid. The category is “Best Song”.
“Hell, give ‘em a free dinner or an Oscar goodie bag.”
You’re the person who said people were upset about giving them an Oscar; I’m saying, if you watch the footage, the people in the crowd give more applause to the Best Song winner than most other Oscars.
“There are sound editors who have done great work on forgettable movies who have never even been nominated after 20-30 years of admirable work who are barfing right now.”
If they wanted an Oscar so bad, they should be working in a field where Oscars are easier to get.
I think you’re taking the Oscars so seriously that it’s laughable.
One issue is how integral all these songs are to the story. Would you rather see a Falling Slowly, a song fully tied into the story, ruled ineligible while some credit-coverer gets a nomination, simply because of some details over when and why it was written? To me, the rules seem out of step with what you should be trying to achieve with the category.
“You mean Billy Joel wasn’t even nominated for his work on Disney’s “Oliver and Company”?”
He didn’t write any of those songs (I believe he only sang one, but however many he sang), and none of those songs were nominated. It went to Carly Simon that year for a song from ‘Working Girl’.
Which might lend some credence to snack’s point… on the other hand, if you look at the years around it, you see a song from ‘Dirty Dancing’ (certainly important to the movie), “Under the Sea” (can’t quarrel with that, and no rock star either) and a Stephen Sondheim ditty from ‘Dick Tracy’.
Apparently it was also used in a Czech film back in 2006, which might be the rock that upsets the apple-cart.
All of which is a delightful reminder of just how inane the Academy Awards are when you boil them down with these arbitrary rules and such.
“To me, the rules seem out of step with what you should be trying to achieve with the category.”
The only thing they’re trying to acheive with the category is making the show more bearable to the people in the audience by giving them something to watch for a few minutes other than actors dressed-up and sober making speeches.
Sean beat me too alot of what I wanted to say to snackyx.
I’m not sure how “Dead Man Walking” and “Streets of Philadelphia” gets grouped in with the stuff Phil Collins did for Tarzan. Springsteen deserved what he got, bub.
It’d be nice if the songs nominated were always part of the movie and not just tacked over the end credits. Something like “Hard out here for a pimp” is a good example. Best song ever? Maybe not.
Catchy and crucial to the film? Yes.
I’m not a rap fan but I’ll take that over the extra song every musical tends to add so it can get an Oscar nom.
One could argue they should add some kind of “adapted” song which would allow something like Chicago to get nominated wihtout them having to BS something new. It’d also be nice to see something previously released (“Anyone Else But You” from Juno being an easy example) get recognition.
Whatever – it’s a bit of a joke category. What else is new in Oscarland?
Two of the three “Enchanted” songs (“Happy Working Song” and “That’s How You Know”) are plainly and organically integrated into the plot. And I believe everything that was eligible from “Enchanted” was nominated (for some reason “Ever Ever After” was knocked out)–the more likely beneficiary from the knockout of “Falling Slowly” would be Vedder’s “Into The Wild” songs.
K.Bowen>> Perfectly said.
Obviously I want “Falling Slowly” to win, and if it was written for the film, then it should be eligible. The technicality in this case would be a very unfortunate one if it costs the song the nomination.
Of course, the especially silly thing in this case is that they already announced the nomination. How many times has that happened – revoking an official nomination? That’s some serious egg on the Academy’s face if they screw up that big.
“I think you’re taking the Oscars so seriously that it’s laughable.”
Seriously? “Serious”, Sean? If this catagory puts a smile on your face, mission accomplished. If you get a woody seeing Melissa Etheridge win an Oscar, enjoy. This has been the most maligned catagory in the entire Oscar biz for years and for good reason. Oddly enough this link was concerning the possible disqualification of the song from ONCE which is actually one of the few songs that is an integral part of a movie. I think you said it best: “The people always seem really happy whenever they give an Oscar to an aging rockstar.” Maybe next year they can figure out a way to give Emeril Lagasse an statue.
Did the Academy get rid of the Original Song Score category, or is that so few original musicals are written for the screen each year that there aren’t enough of them to justify having the category? The last time I remember OSS existing was in 1984, when PURPLE RAIN was up against THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN. (Almost all of the songs in HAIRSPRAY were written for the Broadway show, PerfectTommy, which would disqualify them in this category.)
snack – I can no longer pretend to find any sort of consistency in your responses to me, so I guess there’s no point in continuing the conversation.
I still can’t get THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD’s score out of my head.
I personally can’t understand how Enchanted gets THREE fricking nominations and Eddie Vedder gets ZERO for Into the Wild. I’m a big fan of Falling Slowly and will be pissed as hell if it’s ineligible, but I’m still pissed Vedder got snubbed. There was at least one original song made specifically for the movie there. No single movie needs THREE nominations in one category. Boring.
Sean: Same on this end. You enjoy the BEST SONG catagory, I don’t. Now how about that Obama…
shouldn’t the two rap songs be tossed out since their “music” is taken from previous sources?
“I still can’t get THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD’s score out of my head.”
Geoff, I agree. This was somewhere in the neighborhood of Jonny Greenwood’s omission. It’s also one of the most important in its use to its film. Maybe other scores were more complex symphonically, or something, but Oscars should be about filmmaking, not standalone beauty.
Yeah, when the music really serves the film in such an extraordinary way, you really have to pay attention. I don’t think anyone can argue that the music hinders the film’s emotional journey in any way, like a small minority of people feel about THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
I’m postitive everyone appreciated the score of JESSE JAMES.
Interview where this was discussed with Glen Hansard:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/did_you_hear_about_the_oscar_eligibility_issues_with_falling_slowly_from_once
Also, Jesse James had the best score of the year followed by TWBB. Its a shame neither was nominated. Just as it was a shame Clint Mansells score for The Fountain was ignored in 07
I agree on The Fountain, btw.
Here was my initial reaction to the music categories a few days after the noms were announced:
http://antidisartsandent.blogspot.com/2008/01/song-and-score-wrong-note.html
Bowen – only two songs from ‘Once’ were eligible, not five.
And, since we’re talking about Best Song, “Beautiful Ride” from ‘Walk Hard’ deserves an Oscar, but I assume Apatow (and maybe Kasdan) pushed the song “Walk Hard” because he was a co-writer. Too bad that song sucked.
However many Once songs were actually eligible wasn’t my concern. Just saying you could fill the nominations out with Once songs and I’d be pleased. (BTW: was the other one “If You Want Me.”)
I sure wouldn’t mind seeing a Walk Hard song, either. Walk Hard or Let’s Duet would work just fine.
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