Jóhann Jóhannsson nominated for an Academy Award for second year in a row
The Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the film Sicario, which was directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro. This is the second year in a row that Jóhannsson has received a nomination for an Academy Award. Last year Jóhannsson was nominated for his score for The Theory of Everything. Jóhannsson recently received a nomination for the BAFTA award for Best Original Music for his score for Sicario.
Jóhannsson is up against Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight, John Williams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Carter Burwell for Carol and Thomas Newman for Bridge of Spies. All nominations can be found at the official website of the Academy Awards.
This is the third time that Jóhannsson and Denis Villeneuve have worked together – Johannsson also composed the scores to Villeneuve's previous film, Prisoners, and his upcoming film, Story of Your Life. Jóhannsson also scored Trapped, a new 10-episode TV series from creators Baltasar Kormákur and Sigurjón Kjartansson.
Last year Jóhannsson won the Golden Globe for his score for The Theory of Everything and received nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Over the years seven other Icelanders have been nominated for Academy Awards. In 1983 Sturla Gunnarsson was nominated for Best Feature Documentary for After the Axe. In 1992 Fridrik Thor Fridriksson was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for Children of Nature. In 2001 Björk and Sjón were nominated for Best Original Song for “I've Seen It All” from Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. The sound mixer Pétur Hliddal has been nominated twice – in 1996 for Best Sound for Batman Forever and in 2005 for Best Sound Mixing for The Aviator. In 2006 Rúnar Rúnarsson and Thor Sigurjonsson were nominated for Best Live Action Short for The Last Farm.