Two longstanding institutions have added new — or “newer” — music-makers into their fold. Pharrell Williams has been tapped as a music consultant to the Oscars, as has Hans Zimmer; and the duo best known as Underworld has been appointed music director of the London-hosted 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
Zimmer’s addition is little surprise, considering he’s an Academy Award winner (and nine-time nominee, jeez). In addition, his hands may be a little free at the moment: as HitFix’s In Contention blog pointed out, the “Rango” composer kept himself off the ballot for the year. Dude wants to relax, OK? Zimmer helped inform “Tron” composers and international dance superstars Daft Punk on their electric adventure, so may he with Neptunes production wunderkind Williams.
Pharrell headed up the villainous and buoyant soundtrack to 2010’s “Despicable Me,” which at least thwarted the pitfalls of cloying cuteness and gooshy sentimentality that sometimes plagues animated features. The Grammy winner’s insight may add an contemporary upbeat feel to the Oscars, while Zimmer will obviously have the timing down.
The 84th annual Academy Awards take place on Feb. 26.
Meanwhile, Underworld have warned of “unexpected” results for their ceremony score, but they’re paired with a predictable partner. The three-hour event is headed by director Danny Boyle — who featured their song “Born Slippy” in his film “Trainspotting,” collaborated with the duo for his stage adaptation of “Frankenstein” last year and tapped them for work on movies like “The Beach” and “Sunshine.”
The Olympics gig “is very slightly bigger than anything we’ve ever done,” Underworld’s Karl Hyde told Billboard. “We knew that, with ‘Frankenstein,’ we’d been locked down for several months living at the theater and developing that project, and with something like this would equally require us to be focused 100 percent on it. But when Danny asks, we will say yes, because he takes us on an amazing journey.”
The Summer Games opening ceremony is on July 27.