Why ‘Encanto’ Earned 3 Oscar Nods But None for “Bruno”

Disney Animation’s Colombia-set musical Encanto earned three Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, for best animated feature, original score for composer Germaine Franco and song for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Dos Oruguitas.”

For best animated feature, Encanto’s nominees are directors Byron Howard (an Oscar winner for Zootopia) and first-time nominee Jared Bush, and producers Yvett Merino, the first Latina nominated in the category, and Clark Spencer (Oscar winner for Zootopia and president of Walt Disney Animated Studios).

The first woman to score a Disney animated feature, Franco — who was the first Latina in the Academy’s music branch — is now the first Latina nominated for original score. Meanwhile, Miranda — who is an Oscar away from EGOT status — earned his second Oscar nomination for “Dos Oruguitas,” which was also the first song he had written in the Spanish language. (He was previously nominated for the song “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana.)

“It’s super unreal. I’m beyond excited, there are so many people who worked so hard,” said Bush. Speaking of their collaborators, Howard called Franco’s work “the most beautiful score. [She] created something so emotional and specific and wonderful that brings the sounds [of Colombia]” and related that he first worked with Merino on Tangled and “you could tell there was something special about her.”

But conspicuously absent from the song category was Encanto’s smash hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” Why? In short, Disney didn’t submit Lin-Manuel Miranda’s catchy tune for Oscar consideration. Instead, it submitted “Dos Oruguitas,” the ballad that is played during the film’s flashback revealing key details about Abuela’s life with her late husband.

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” — an ensemble number performed by Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto cast — is played in a scene during which Mirabel (Beatriz) asks her family members about a mysterious uncle that she never met. The catchy tune is currently sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the second week, a first for a song from a Disney animated movie. The only other such song to reach the top spot was Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle’s “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, which spent one week at No. 1 in 1993.

There’s no rule that says that Disney couldn’t have submitted multiple songs. In fact, the year that “A Whole New World” won the Oscar for original song, and the film’s “Friend Like Me” was additionally nominated in the category. Similarly, when Disney’s title song “Beauty and the Beast” won the category in 1992,  two additional songs from the film, “Belle” and “Be Our Guest,” were additionally nominated. Another example, Disney’s The Lion King early three category nominations for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” which won the Oscar, “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata.”

But in recent years, Disney has implemented a strategy of only putting forth one song from its animated musicals for consideration, in part to avoid potentially splitting the vote. The Hollywood Reporter learned that the decision to submit “Dos Oruguitas” was made with Miranda and because, from a narrative standpoint, the song appears in an emotional key scene in the story (submissions include the clip from the film). That decision was made before Encanto’s Nov. 24 release, as the submission deadline was Nov. 1.

Asked about the submission decision as they talked about their nomination, Howard said of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” “We’re happy to share this earworm” and added that “‘Dos Oruguitas’ was so critical to the storytelling. It’s the emotional core of the movie.”

“I wish they would let us nominate the entire album. … His music is having a moment. I’m so happy for him,” Bush added of Miranda and his songs. “Dos Oruguitas” currently sits at No. 38, and six additional songs from the movie also now rank in the Hot 100: “Surface Pressure,” “The Family Madrigal,” “What Else Can I Do?” “Waiting on a Miracle,” “All of You” and “Colombia, Mi Encanto.”