Oppenheimer Composer Ludwig Goransson Now Has The Same Number Of Oscars As Hans Zimmer
Who could've imagined "Community" launching the careers of so many big-name artists? From the Russo Brothers to Donald Glover and Alison Brie, Dan Harmon's cult-favorite comedy series was a breeding ground for then-budding talents, perhaps none more so than composer Ludwig Göransson. Over the last 15 years, Göransson has cemented himself as one of the best music-making millennials in the business, along the way picking up an Oscar for the sick Afrofuturistic beats of his "Black Panther" soundtrack (although his Oscar-nominated score for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" was just as impressive). He's now landed a well-deserved second Academy Award for his electrifying work on "Oppenheimer," placing him in some reputable company when it comes to the Oscars.
Specifically, this gives Göransson just as many Oscars as Hans Zimmer. It's actually kind of mind-boggling that the legendary composer doesn't have more than that, considering just how many iconic movie scores he's crafted since the 1980s (including his own collaborations with "Oppenheimer" director Christopher Nolan). Yet, for as much as his leitmotifs for "The Thin Red Line" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films are now permanently burned into our collective consciousness, Zimmer's only ever taken home the Oscar gold for "The Lion King" and "Dune: Part One." Compare that to John Williams, who has five Oscars in total and even broke two of his own Oscar nomination records this year courtesy of his nod for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."
In fairness, Williams just turned 92 while Zimmer is only 66 years young. You can still catch up to him, Hans!
This is the way
The fact that Göransson has already tied Zimmer for Oscar wins at this point in his career is a testament to just how much further he could end up going professionally. It's even more remarkable when you remember that Göransson has so far divided his efforts between TV and film, scoring "Community" and the long-running sitcom "New Girl" on top of establishing the Samurai-adventure-meets-space-Western vibes of "The Mandalorian" (plus the epic blend of mythic humming and cowboy music that is the "Book of Boba Fett" theme). That makes him a little like the modern Bernard Hermann, the Alfred Hitchcock maestro who also composed part of "The Twilight Zone" and "Rawhide" (among other television classics).
To this day, Alfred Newman remains the most awarded composer when it comes to the Academy, having taken home nine Oscars in total (including wins for "Camelot," "The King and I," and "With a Song in My Heart") and secured many more nominations for his film scores. It's a vastly different and arguably more competitive field now than it was when Newman was alive, to the degree that artists can craft magnificent scores yet still walk away empty-handed when Oscar nominees are announced. That's especially true when it comes to animation, as we saw earlier this year when Daniel Pemberton ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"), Joe Hisaishi ("The Boy and the Heron"), and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross ("Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem") all got shut-out of the conversation.
All that aside, it's clear that Göransson is only getting started. Whatever the future holds for him, we're excited to see what he does next.