Remember how we went on about how the song, “Falling Slowly” from “Once” was not ineligible for an Oscar, despite the fact it was already released on two albums before the film came out and despite your grumblings that if that was eligible, why wasn’t Jonny frickin’ Greenwood eligible, remember?
Then we pointed out how the Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova-penned song was written for “Once,” waaaaay before the film found is proper U.S. release, but that director John Carney had to still write a firmly-worded letter to the Academy to convince them?
But we weren’t the only ones doubting or questioning the authenticity of the “Once” songs. The New York Times and other media outlets also started making a fuss about it and kicking up similar questions on its eligibility claiming at one that the song would go under reinvestigation and reevaluation. Which it kind of did and prompted the following statement (could you imagine if after the Oscars were nominated they would have pulled the song from Oscar contention and picked a back up song?)’
“We needed to address whether the song was written specifically for the the film and the second issue was whether it had been played prior to the inclusion in the film — did this constitute a reason to ineligible-ize it,” Academy music branch executive committee chairman Charles Bernstein said. “The first issue was satisfied by a sworn statements attesting to the fact that it was written for the film along with a chronology, and the second issue was settled by the fact that it had only been performed in Europe and the Czech Republic and not in a way that would have given it advantage or influence here.”
The New York Times ran a separate piece that revealed that the original eligibilty for “Falling Slowly” came at the 11th hour (as they were questioning it themsevles to begin with).
According to the Times, members of the executive committee of the music branch of the Academy actually met at the zero hour before the ballots were shipped to potential Oscar voters to decide the song’s fate as they had too had questions about the song’s “validity.” Basically at the very last minute (day before it sounds like?), the song was made eligible. According to the Academy’s statement on the ruling:
The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of “Falling Slowly,” the writer-director of “Once” and Fox Searchlight.
The genesis of the picture was unusually protracted, but director John Carney and songwriter Glen Hansard were working closely together in 2002 when the project that became ‘Once’ was discussed. ‘Falling Slowly’ began to be composed, but the actual script and financing for the picture was delayed for several years, during which time Mr. Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song’s eligibility.
So yeah, people were almost actievly campaigning to get “Once” off the Oscar ballot they were so convinced it legitimacy shouldn’t of flown. Fox Searchlight and Hansard’s heart must have skipped a beat, but in the end they got in there by the skin of their teeth.