A still from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Los Angeles:
John Williams, one of the most prolific film score composers, earned his 50th Oscar nomination with the
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Mr Williams has been nominated for Best Original Score for
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film earned a total of five Oscar nominations but mostly in technical categories and it was passed over for best picture.
Mr Williams, 83, has won Academy Awards five times in his previous 49 nominations.
His Oscars included the theme of the original 1977
Star Wars. The others were for
Fiddler on the Roof and three of Steven Spielberg's films -
Jaws,
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and
Schindler's List.
Mr Williams, who has worked on most of Mr Spielberg's movies, is known for his grand neo-romantic scores in the fashion of Wagner, a contrast to the modern fare prevalent among many contemporary composers outside of Hollywood.
He will compete against several other prominent composers of Hollywood.
Thomas Newman, who is versatile with his musical directions, received his 13th Oscar nomination for
Bridge of Spies.
It is the first film by Mr Spielberg in 30 years to have a composer other than Mr Williams, who left
Bridge of Spies due to health concerns from which he has recovered.
Italian composer Ennio Morricone, 87, received his sixth nomination for his work on
The Hateful Eight.
He has never won the Oscar for his previous nominations which include the musical score for
The Untouchables. Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson, known for his sparse electronic works, received his second Oscar nomination for
Sicario.
The only first-time nominee is Carter Burwell for
Carol. He is best known for his work with a number of art house filmmakers including the Coen Brothers, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.
The separate category of best original song brought nominations for a number of pop stars.
Sam Smith, the big winner at last year's Grammys, was nominated for the theme to the latest James Bond thriller
SPECTRE and rising R&B star The Weeknd enjoyed a nod for a song from
Fifty Shades of Grey.
Lady Gaga was nominated for a song in
The Hunting Ground, a documentary on sexual assault at US universities, while Antony Hegarty, singer of acclaimed dark choral group Antony and the Johnsons, was in the race for the documentary
Racing Extinction about how homo sapiens have caused the decline of other species. (Also Read:
Oscars 2016: Complete List of Nominees)