Oscar-Eligible Songs Hit a Creative High Note: From Selena Gomez to Elton John
variety.comJon Burlingame It’s been a rough year for Oscar-eligible songs. First, Robbie Williams’ entry from “Better Man” was disqualified, then some of the best tunes on the shortlist (including those from “Wild Robot,” “Moana 2” and “Twisters”) failed to make the cut.
Now, producers have nixed song performances from the March 2 telecast. The final five: El MalEmilia Pérez This showstopping number from Jacques Audiard’s operatic drama is a three-minute tour de force for Zoe Saldaña as lawyer Rita Castro, a fantasy in which she dances around a room filled with the rich and powerful, decrying the hypocrisy of those responsible for the murders of thousands of Mexicans during the drug wars. “When the lights go down and Jacques gives you the impression that we’re inside her thoughts, that’s when she unleashes,” Saldaña told Variety.
Audiard is one of the three credited songwriters for the rock-plus-rap number, collaborating with Camille and Clément Ducol. The JourneyThe Six Triple Eight Songwriter Diane Warren’s 16th Oscar nomination (her eighth in a row) is for the closing moments of Tyler Perry’s film about a heroic unit of Black American women soldiers during World War II.
Producer Keri Selig brought her into the project and, Warren says, “walked me through every scene. I was like, ‘How did nobody ever tell this story before?’ “I came up with the chord progression and just started singing, ‘It’s the journey.’ That chorus kind of came out.
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