Listen to all 20 original scores shortlisted for Oscars: From ‘Alien: Romulus’ to ‘Young Woman and the Sea’
Oscar voting started on Jan. 8 and continues until Jan. 14 (extended two days due to the tragic California wildfires). But the Motion Picture Academy already narrowed things down in several categories when shortlists were announced on Dec. 17. That included Best Original Score where 20 compositions made the cut, from which five will be selected as the ultimate nominees. Listen to all 20 scores below, and read what their composers had to say about what inspired their award-worthy work.
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Alien: Romulus
Composed by Benjamin Wallfisch
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“Having the opportunity to contribute a score to the Alien franchise is truly an honor and creatively one of the most exciting challenges I’ve ever faced,” Wallfisch said to Gold Derby. “I have always loved the iconic scores by Goldsmith, Horner, and Goldenthal, but this film needed something really fresh to realize [director Fede Alvarez]’s vision, whilst also writing a love letter to the sonic of the previous movies. To do this we created an interplay between large orchestra and extremely confrontational electronics, and a journey between these two approaches. The theme of sibling-hood is also at the forefront of the way the themes are constructed, with everything sharing the same DNA through musical mirrors and other fun Easter Eggs. The whole project was a wonderful collaboration with Fede, where no idea was off limits, no matter how outlandish.”
Wallfisch has been nominated for BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe, and Emmy awards for his previous work, but he has yet to be nominated for an Oscar.
Babygirl
Composed by Cristobal Tapia De Veer
“The idea was to score the main character ‘Romy’ [played by Nicole Kidman] as two different people, her public and her hidden characters,” De Veer explained to Gold Derby. “Two distinct musical approaches starting with a classically written and produced orchestral waltz theme which mutates throughout the film into a pulsating primitive theme made out of animal and human breathing. The last scene consolidates both themes as Romy finds balance in her life.”
The composer is a three-time Emmy winner and two-time Society of Composers and Lyricists winner for his music on The White Lotus. He’s also a past BAFTA winner. But he has yet to be nominated for an Oscar.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Composed by Danny Elfman
“I did mess with [the main title theme] a little bit,” Elfman said in an interview with Forbes. “I got to get like a little crazier, and of course, when you have an end credits suite — that’s where you really get to go nuts. I pulled in this pipe organ that a friend of mine has here in Los Angeles and wrote in some pipe organ stuff that was different than the original.”
Elfman has been nominated for Oscars for composing Good Will Hunting, Men in Black, Big Fish, and Milk. His music has also won him three Emmys and a Grammy, and he has received two BAFTA and three Golden Globe bids.
Blink Twice
Composed by Chanda Dancy
“The score for Blink Twice is so different from anything I’ve done in the past and is quite a departure from typical film scoring techniques,” Dancy explained to Gold Derby. “Mostly, I scored away from picture and created textures. I would create a string texture, a wind texture, a synthesizer texture, a percussion texture, and different colors and send that back and forth with [director Zo? Kravitz] and Kathryn [J. Schubert], the editor. We would play with placing the textures in unexpected ways as if we were creating a sonic painting with gobs of different colors and plopping them on the canvas, thinking, ‘What happens if we put this here?’ Additionally, in filling out the sound of the universe, the score was an eclectic mix of the aforementioned textures along with EDM songs, a Bach Partita-like piece that morphs from an Afro-Peruvian orchestral feel to a hip hop feel with affected harp, solo ukulele and 808 drums that serves as the main character, Frida’s, theme. The end result was something fresh and unnerving, a score that creates a dissonance where you see beautiful images and good times on screen, but you hear the bubbling sound of dread telling you ‘No … you are NOT having a good time!'”
Dancy is an Emmy and Society of Composers and Lyricists nominee for Lawman: Bass Reeves. Blink Twice has earned her a Black Reel Award nomination for Best Score.
Blitz
Composed by Hans Zimmer
“I said to [director Steve McQueen], look, the only way I know how to do this is to write maybe probably the most unlistenable, most horrific, and terrorizing score possible because I want the grown-ups to feel the way a child would feel,” Zimmer told NPR. “It takes a certain amount of courage to go and then turn all that upside down and me saying, here are the notes, but what I want from you is I want them to be, like, you know, razors running down a piano wire.”
Zimmer is a 12-time Oscar nominee, winning twice for The Lion King and Dune: Part One. His Blitz score has earned him a Hollywood Music in Media bid for Best Original Score – Feature Film.
The Brutalist
Composed by Daniel Blumberg
“My first instinct was to use piano,” Blumberg told Gold Derby. “It’s physically huge and therefore has such a wide dynamic potential that I felt could carry so much over the 3.5-hour runtime. Particularly prepared piano, where you modify the strings of the piano with screws so that when the hammers hit it creates percussive sounds, I felt could speak to the construction, design and architecture in the film. On the other extremity, the piano can be very intimate and nostalgic to follow the internal and artistic journey of the main character László. The other main element of the score is brass, which can be both warm or harsh. The score had the responsibility to evoke the ’40s and ’50s, so it felt important to work with instruments and performers with versatility.”
Blumberg has no previous Oscar nominations, but his score for The Brutalist has already earned him nominations from the Golden Globes and the Society of Composers and Lyricists. The film has also won plaudits from Boston, Washington, D.C.C., Philadelphia, and San Francisco film critics, among other groups.
Challengers
Composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
“With Challengers, when [director Luca Guadagnino] mentioned dance music, what you’re faced with, with any film, is ‘what is the best way to tell the story?'” Reznor told IndieWire. “There’s no question in my mind looking back that the best way to tell the story of Challengers was the vessel of dance music. It just brought the film to life in a way that felt like — I think you can use the word visionary for Luca. He has a holistic idea for what his films mean, and there’s no end to his commitment.”
Reznor and Ross have won two Oscars for composing the scores for The Social Network and Soul, and they have been nominated for an additional Oscar for their score for Mank. Their Challengers score won a Golden Globe, earning them bids from the Critics Choice Awards, the Grammys, and the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
Conclave
Composed by Volker Bertelmann
“The film Conclave is a thriller that deals with questions of religious integrity. To compose music for such a topic was a great task for me as a musician because I could combine religious music with thriller elements, echoing spiritual and social distress,” Bertelmann told Gold Derby. “I explored music that can be fragile and powerful simultaneously. I had the most fun searching for historical instruments, like the Cristal Bachet and experimenting with themes and modern techniques for Conclave. Collaborating once again with Edward Berger was an inspiring experience.”
Bertelmann was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Score for Lion and won for All Quiet on the Western Front. His Conclave score has been nominated for the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards, and the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
Emilia Pérez
Composed by Clément Ducol and Camille
“ Jacques [Audiard] is very audacious, and I would say it’s the same way I work on my songs. Art is about breaking the rules, breaking barriers, and making worlds that have never met meet,” Camille recently told Gold Derby. “ You’re in a playful mode and in a political mode also. But yeah, we’re here to move the lines.”
Ducol and Camille have no previous Oscar nominations. Their score for Emilia Pérez earned them Best Composer honors at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Original Score—Feature Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. It has also earned nominations at Critics Choice, the Golden Globes, and the Society of Composers and Lyricists.
The Fire Inside
Composed by Tamar-kali
“In composing the score for The Fire Inside, I sought to strike a balance in its support of Claressa Shields‘ transformative journey and the rhythmic and percussive nature of the ‘sweet science’ of boxing,” Tamar-kali told Gold Derby. “An instrumental palette of strings, percussion, modern electronic sounds, and brass provided the versatility for the score to flow through a myriad of experiences from the everyday grind to poignant and emotional moments to the epic stage of the Olympics.“
Tamar-kali has no previous Oscar nominations, but her past work has been nominated for the Hollywood Music in Media Awards and the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards. Her Fire Inside score is up for a Black Reel Award.
Gladiator II
Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams
“It’s inspiring to work with Ridley Scott because he’s a true artist,” Gregson-Williams told Gold Derby. “He really believes in what he’s doing, and he allows us as his craftspeople to shape our contribution around the narrative of his film, and he makes his team feel that he values them.” He adds, “ [Scott is] building a unique world, which will immerse the audience. And it’s really inspiring to contribute to that sonically.”
Gregson-Williams’ previous collaborations with Scott include Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, and The Last Duel. He has been nominated for two Emmys, two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy, and he and Scott are receiving the Society of Composers and Lyricists’ Spirit of Collaboration Award.
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1
Composed by John Debney
“Writing the score for Horizon: An American Saga was a thrilling experience,” Debney explained to Gold Derby. “As a lover of classic Western scores, I strove to weave a multi-layered tapestry of stirring music representing the lives of the many colorful people and the settling of the American West.”
Debney was previously nominated for an Oscar for scoring The Passion of the Christ (2004). He also won an Emmy in 1997 for his compositions for the series The Cape. This year, Horizon‘s score earned a nomination from the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
Inside Out 2
Composed by Andrea Datzman
“It was a great responsibility here, not just with the film’s message and representing that musically in the most authentic way possible but also with the torch I was carrying forward,” Datzman recently told Gold Derby. “The film is about demolition in some ways – and right from the start, they let you know that the world is changing inside of Riley, and they want to reflect that musically. So it was a great responsibility, but there couldn’t have been a more meaningful film for me to come in on. I worked on the first film as score coordinator and helped to get every note of that score recorded. So Inside Out was in my bones, and I felt very ready to take it on.”
Datzman has not been nominated for an Oscar before. Still, her score for Inside Out 2 has already earned her nominations at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards and the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.
Nosferatu
Composed by Robin Carolan
“For Nosferatu, when it came to the score, I was primarily inspired by the tragedy at the heart of the story, something Robert Eggers brings to the forefront, possibly more so than in any other version,” said Carolan to Gold Derby. “It’s Ellen’s story [the character played by Lily-Rose Depp] that’s emphasized here, so it was important to me that the score communicated her melancholy, her loneliness, and ultimately her tragic but necessary triumph.”
Carolan has yet to be nominated for an Oscar but won a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score – Horror/Thriller Film for Nosferatu.
The Room Next Door
Composed by Alberto Iglesias
Iglesias is a four-time Oscar nominee for The Constant Gardener, The Kite Runner, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Parallel Mothers. He’s also a three-time BAFTA nominee, a three-time European Film Award winner, a two-time Best Composer winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and a two-time Golden Globe nominee. His Room Next Door score won him Best Original Score – Independent Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
Sing Sing
Composed by Bryce Dessner
“As the composer and producer of Sing Sing’s original score, I was very inspired by the story of the incredible ensemble cast, most of whom are playing themselves in the film, and their experience in the RTA program,” Dessner told Gold Derby. “When director Greg Kwedar showed me an assembly of the film’s opening 20 minutes, I felt the movie had an operatic and orchestral scope. I was immediately drawn to composing the score for orchestra while still featuring several solo instruments (cello, horn, clarinet, saxophone) as a mirror to the ensemble’s beautiful individual performances … I recorded the score at AIR studios in London with the amazing London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Robert Ames, who have worked on many of my scores and albums (including my score for Fernando Mereilles’s The Two Popes, and the recent albums I have orchestrated by The National and Taylor Swift).”
Grammy winner Dessner has yet to be nominated for an Oscar, but his Sing Sing score was nominated for Best Use of Music at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards.
The Six Triple Eight
Composed by Aaron Zigman
“My approach to the score for The Six Triple Eight was to give these incredible women a sense of American elegance by using brass, woodwind, and string orchestration with a sense of power and resolve, yet I did not want over to use the military aspect of my musical approach,” Zigman told Gold Derby. “Additionally, I used a few cello solos and piano solos to support the emotionality. I wanted to be mindful and never delineate the tension or be manipulative. My biggest task was to support the film’s great performances of this great cast. I wanted to be conscious to not musically overpower many of the scenes that already have such great structure”
Zigman has composed scores for films such as The Notebook, Sex and the City, and The Proposal, as well as multiple films by The Six Triple Eight director Tyler Perry. His score for these films earned him a nomination at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. He also won an Emmy for his original song from the daytime program Crown Heights.
Wicked
Composed by John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
“The grammar of [Stephen Schwartz’s] harmonic language was very sophisticated. It doesn’t matter that he used drums, bass, guitars, etc. It’s still an extremely tight harmonically, emotionally-strung set of cordal and melodic leaps,” Powell said to IndieWire. “When you leap like that, you’re searching for something. I think that language was built into Stephen’s language — if you go back and look at Godspell, it has that searching and optimism.”
Powell earned an Oscar nomination for composing the How to Train Your Dragon score. Schwartz has won three Oscars for his Pocahontas score, Pocahontas song “Colors of the Wind,” and The Prince of Egypt song “When You Believe.” Schwartz also won a Grammy for the original Broadway cast recording of Wicked. The film adaptation of Wicked earned them a Society of Composers and Lyricists nomination for Best Original Score for a Studio Film.
The Wild Robot
Composed by Kris Bowers
“From our first conversation, [director] Chris Sanders envisioned music as a character, carrying the heart and soul of the story through stretches of little to no dialogue,” Bowers said in a statement to Gold Derby. “This challenge aligned with my passion as a composer: creating clear, powerful melodies that become inseparable from on-screen emotions — a craft central to the greatest film scores. I blended futuristic synths for Roz with unorthodox, ASMR-like percussion and raw, natural sounds for the wilderness, crafting every note to picture in the tradition of intentional scoring. Ultimately, this score became deeply personal, reflecting everything I’ve learned as a musician and the love, joy, fear, and wonder of being a new parent.”
Bowers is best known for his musical compositions. Still, his two Oscar nominations were for documentary shorts: A Concerto is a Conversation and The Last Repair Shop, the latter of which won. His Wild Robot score has been nominated for the Critics Choice Awards, the Annie Awards, the Golden Globes, the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards, and the Black Reel Awards. He won Best Original Score – Animated Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
Young Woman and the Sea
Composed by Amelia Warner
“It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of this incredible story and to bring Trudy’s story to the world,” Warner told Gold Derby. “It is long overdue. I wanted to create a score that could stand alongside some of the incredible scores Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer have brought into the world. Something bold and powerful that reflected Trudy’s remarkable achievements. The score is full of melody and themes and was a joy to write; the sports theme feels propulsive and exciting, and her family theme is the emotional anchor to her story.”
Warner has no previous Oscar nominations, but Young Woman and the Sea earned her a World Soundtrack Award nomination.
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