Love & Mercy

Atticus Ross picked up good vibrations from the New York Film Critics Association for Use of Music for Love & Mercy (featuring the music of Brian Wilson) while Carter Burwell scored a double with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for both Carol and Anomalisa.

Much was made of the fact that Burwell — who has notched some great work over the years for the Coen Brothers — has never been nominated for an Oscar, but appears on track for a coveted slot this year. Ross shared an Oscar win with frequent collaborator Trent Reznor for 2010’s The Social Network.

Cate Blanchett in Carol

Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in the story of two women falling in love in New York in the 1950s, while Anomalisa is an animated film adaptation of a play directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, from a screenplay by Kaufman (under the pen name Francis Fregoli) and stars David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan. It was originally created for the Theater of the New Ear project.

The very busy Burwell also scored the 2015 release Legend, directed by Brian Helgeland, with Tom Hardy in the dual role of twin gangsters Reg and Ron Kray, darlings of the London tabloids in the 1960’s, as well as Mr. Holmes, directed by Bill Condon, starring Ian McKellen as an aging Sherlock Holmes. He is represented by First Artist Management.

Anomalisa

Ross, who is represented by CAA, has received high marks across the board for his deft handling of original score interwoven with Beach Boys tunes for the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, directed by Bill Pohlad, starring John Cusack, Paul Dano and Elizabeth Banks. His film work for 2015 also included Michael Mann’s Black Hat, and he made a splashy U.S. television debut, contributing the theme song to AMC’s prequel “Fear the Walking Dead.”

The LA Film Critics group also hands out “Runner Up” awards, which in this case went to veteran Ennio Morricone for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.

Hear Atticus Ross talk about his score with The Frame’s John Horn.

You can hear excerpts from Carter Burwell’s Carol score here, in a talk the composer did with ASCP’s Etan Rosenbloom, while Anomalisa music is embedded on the projects page of Burwell’s own website.

The film critics on both coasts unveiled their awards on Sunday, Dec. 6.