It was recently announced that Clint Mansell‘s soundtrack to the
forthcoming Black Swan movie would be ruled out of the race to pick up an Oscar, because it is based on existing music.
Officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected 77 film scores for members to vote on before January 14th, but Mansell’s work was just one of the omissions.
The theme music to the film has been worked around Tchaikovsky‘s Swan Lake.
And speaking to Classic FM, the English composer revealed that he had remained surprisingly calm throughout the writing process, despite having to take influences and make changes to such an iconic piece of music.
“I didn’t feel any pressure really… I think to a degree you’ve got to start off brutally so you don’t end up just polishing it [Tchaikovsky’s original music],” he told the news provider.
“You want to achieve something with it, but something in keeping with the
original work. So that if someday it crossed Tchaikovsky’s path he’d say ‘yeah, those guys did something good with that’.”
Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a psychological thriller that tells of an obsessive ballet dancer who strives for perfection to the detriment of her physical and mental heath.
Ahead of its release a number of film commentators have been split as to the actual genre of the work, something Mansell said highlights the even greater role that music plays in within it.
“It is an incredible challenge … [the music] has to work for the film in question … I grew up watching a lot of films with my dad at home, and I was always affected by film music, which can bring you into contact with a lot of genres of music,” he added.

Officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected 77 film scores for members to vote on before January 14th, but Mansell’s work was just one of the omissions.
The theme music to the film has been worked around Tchaikovsky‘s Swan Lake.
And speaking to Classic FM, the English composer revealed that he had remained surprisingly calm throughout the writing process, despite having to take influences and make changes to such an iconic piece of music.
“I didn’t feel any pressure really… I think to a degree you’ve got to start off brutally so you don’t end up just polishing it [Tchaikovsky’s original music],” he told the news provider.
“You want to achieve something with it, but something in keeping with the

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a psychological thriller that tells of an obsessive ballet dancer who strives for perfection to the detriment of her physical and mental heath.
Ahead of its release a number of film commentators have been split as to the actual genre of the work, something Mansell said highlights the even greater role that music plays in within it.
“It is an incredible challenge … [the music] has to work for the film in question … I grew up watching a lot of films with my dad at home, and I was always affected by film music, which can bring you into contact with a lot of genres of music,” he added.