OVP: Best Original Score (2001)
The Nominees Were...
John Williams, AI: Artificial Intelligence
James Horner, A Beautiful Mind
John Williams, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Randy Newman, Monsters, Inc.
My Thoughts: And so we arrive at D-Day. I have been dreading this category so much that I honestly avoided doing 2001 for an OVP write-up longer than I needed to just so I wouldn't have to decide. In the OVP categories, there have only been three ties in the history of the Academy (1931 Best Actor, 1968 Best Actress, and 2012 Best Sound Editing). If I only got to do three ties in the history of the Academy, this would be the first time in our Oscar Viewing Project I would lay down one of those cards, I so want there to be two winners. But I feel like that's cheating, and so we are going to have the great Howard Shore vs. John Williams competition today.
It's worth noting before we dive in that this is a great lineup even without these two. The film's score is undoubtedly the best part of A Beautiful Mind. That gorgeous, wandering sea of strings, piano, and vocals feels the most at-home in grounding us into the incredible brain of John Nash, and it's the best friend to Russell Crowe's performance. Horner is one of those composers who came of age in the wake of John Williams, and one of the few to occasionally approach him. This score does, giving us a deep, haunting piece of music to go with a movie that maybe doesn't always deserve it.
Monsters, Inc. is from the string of scores that Randy Newman did for Pixar films when he became the sound of the studio. Considering how close he made this to Toy Story, it's incredible how memorable he still makes this. The score zips, feels different than Toy Story, using brass instruments and the theme from "If I Didn't Have You" to give a sense of whimsy. Oftentimes the film uses a New Orleans jazz band motif, with horns blaring and giving us a sense of not just the movie, but what the vibe of Monstropolis is.
And of course, 2001 didn't have one John Williams nomination, it had two. The film uses opera and piano in a way you don't usually get from a Williams score. I think it's also sadder, which helps in a melancholy tale that does end on a deeply bittersweet moment. I think "Where Dreams Are Born," the theme of the film captures the spirit of where David is going in this movie, understanding that there's a childlike wonder underneath his tale. I love this score-I think Williams, known for bigger moments, finds a way to heighten without it feeling alien to the film (and leaning back when another composer would've gone for the bombast).
Which brings us to the big two. If you look at the My Ballot series (where I pick my favorites from each year, regardless of Oscar's nominations), between the two franchises the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies have gotten an astounding fifteen citations for Best Score, and so far they've won four medals...but none of them are gold. I follow the rule that you only judge what's in front of you, so I couldn't fudge even if I wanted to without breaking the ethos of this project, but given that these two film scores would both make my Top 5 personal movie scores of all time, the idea that one of the series are going to be completely shut out of a gold as a result of tough competition in their silver medal years (both franchises have gotten at least one second place to date) is weighing on my mind.
Let's start with Fellowship of the Ring. The sounds of this movie, with gorgeous strings, invite us into an epic tale. Howard Shore's genius here is that he plays the early scenes in this movie really well, giving us an introduction to hobbits, elves, & dwarves, but also starting with recurring themes that would carry across all of the movies. There's already a bit of minor chords at the beginning, as he knows that he'll be able to use these as callbacks during moments of sadness later on. Part of what makes judging this so difficult is that Shore's compositions really need all three films to get the full picture of his genius, which is why he didn't get my gold medal in either 2002 or 2003, because it felt like it was only 33% of a masterpiece. But it's all there even if you just stick to Fellowship, the fullest of the three scores, containing a sense of world-building few movies can equal...
...except for Harry Potter. Chris Columbus called up his old friend John Williams to deliver, and man does he deliver. There's a reason that a movie that has very little to do with Christmas seems to invite comparisons to the holiday, it's so full of trumpets, violins, and flutes (you half expect Bob Marley to walk down Diagon Alley). Williams gives a grandiose theme for Harry. There are hints of what he's done before (specifically Home Alone in some moments), but largely this is original, and quite wondrous. There's a reason that his music blares as you crisply walk into Universal Studios Hogwarts...he basically has become the voice of Harry Potter in a way even JK Rowling couldn't master. Both Shore & Williams, with two different batons, became the voices of my all-time favorite film franchises...somehow starting in the same year. Agh!
Other Precursor Contenders: The Grammys eligibility window for the best film score nomination is not the same as Oscar's so oftentimes you'll see films from two different years getting citations. All five of these nominees, in fact, would get cited, AI in an earlier year (along with Danny Elfman's Planet of the Apes, the only non-Oscar 2001 film the Grammys noticed) while the latter would contain the remaining four, with Fellowship of the Ring winning. The Globes gave their statue to Moulin Rouge! (which Oscar deemed ineligible) against Ali, AI, A Beautiful Mind, The Fellowship of the Ring, Mulholland Drive, Pearl Harbor, and The Shipping News (I have no idea why it had so many nominations either), and BAFTA did the same, though here Amelie, Fellowship, Mulholland Drive, and Shrek lost to Oscar. I know it's tempting to assume Mulholland Drive was in sixth place, but Badalamenti, despite many opportunities, never got an Oscar nomination and I think just wasn't AMPAS's cup-of-tea. Therefore, I think it's probably Hans Zimmer for Pearl Harbor who just missed.
Films I Would Have Nominated: This is such a fantastic year, I think Oscar should be commended. If I'm getting picky, I'd swap in Badalamenti's Mulholland Drive, which has a sense of drama that this field could use.
Oscar’s Choice: By 2001 it had gotten downright embarrassing that Shore hadn't even gotten a nomination, much less a trophy. Given Horner had just won and Shore had made a classic, this was an easy place to welcome him into the club.
My Choice: 3rd-5th is going to be A Beautiful Mind, AI: Artificial Intelligence, and Monsters Inc, all of which are fine pieces of music, and doing Oscar proud. I'm dead serious that I think this should be a tie-I would choose a different winner many days, and am on record, in fact, as having done just that in a previous awards show years ago. But I can't shake what Shore is doing here, giving us themes that feel at-home in Fellowship even if they get their best moments carrying into The Two Towers and The Return of the King. That combined with just a hint of stealing from Home Alone in his Harry Potter score is why I'm going to give this to Shore over Williams. But that is picking at straws with two of the best scores in movie history. Both deserved the statue.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Oscar & I picked Fellowship of the Ring, but oh how I wish that I could've picked Harry Potter too...where do you land? In terms of personal awards, do you ever allow ties? And why do you think Angelo Badalamenti never got an Oscar nomination? Share your thoughts below!
Also in 2001: Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2001
Past Best Score Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
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