Strange news on the Oscar front today. Composer Hans Zimmer has taken himself out of eligibility for the Best Original Score Category. He offered this explanation:

As soon as you get nominated, and I don’t care who you are — there are certainly people of better character than me — it all goes crazy… You get the phone call at five o’clock and after that you have to do the interviews and then do the parties and meet all these people and do all these things. It’s disruptive, and I think it would be more interesting to observe it for a year. It does worry me that we have to stay relevant. Times are changing, very rapidly. Usually what I do when things are changing rapidly is stand still and observe.

This certainly shakes up the Original Score race as Zimmer’s inventive work in Rango was an early front runner. I’m also curious how this affects Rango in general as buzz around the film might dampen after this blow. I doubt voters will turn on the film but without Score in the race then Rango really only has Best Animated Film to look forward to. Time will tell.

Here’s a fun little track from the score that will not win on Oscar night: