The song “Forbidden Road” by Robbie Williams, featured in the film Better Man and recently shortlisted for Best Original Song at the Oscars, has been disqualified, Variety has learned.
Sources report that the song “incorporates material from an existing track that was not written specifically for the film,” making it ineligible for the Academy Award. According to Academy rules, any song submitted for consideration must be entirely “original and written specifically for the motion picture.”
“Forbidden Road” is credited to Williams, Freddy Wexler, and Sacha Skarbek, and is also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. However, the melody of the track bears noticeable similarities to “I Got a Name,” a song written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel and performed by Jim Croce for the 1973 film The Last American Hero. Coincidentally, Fox is one of three governors of the Academy’s music branch.
A letter was sent this morning to the 400-plus members of the music branch, noting that the issue came to the attention of the executive committee earlier this week. The decision to disqualify the song was made yesterday afternoon.
The letter emphasized: “This decision honors our rules and protects the integrity of the Original Song and Score categories.”
Representatives for Paramount, which released Better Man, were unavailable for comment.
As a result of this disqualification, the Oscar original song shortlist will be reduced to 14 songs from the previous 15. Typically, no replacement song will be added in such cases.
Music branch voters will select from the remaining 14 songs when Oscar nominations voting begins on January 8.
