The big, grandiose orchestra pit returns. While absent the last few years, the orchestra is now back and headed up by conductor/composer Hans Zimmer. We can likely look forward to some more elegant playing off of longwinded speeches. In what should be an exciting partnership, Zimmer is also serving as a music consultant alongside producer/singer/designer/liquor-maker Pharrell.
It’s not the first time the two have paired up (they worked together on 2010’s Despicable Me), and it seems like they’re planning to have some fun with the night’s score — as much fun as can be had scoring the Academy Awards, anyway. “Hans and I have tried to keep it under wraps so there’s literally no expectation and people are excited about the stuff we’re cooking,” Pharrell told the New York Times. “We’re thinking beyond the usual standards.” If anyone could spice up the Academy Awards, it would be the N.E.R.D. frontman, so here’s hoping for some moments of brilliance.