Nothing sends the message “Hurry up and get out of there!” quite like the Jaws theme. The menacing orchestral music from 1975’s Steven Spielberg-directed film was the 85th Academy Awards’ choice to gradually play out the more verbose acceptance speeches.
Its use so far: at least two such winners got to hear the John Williams-composed piece, which won an Oscar for best original score, gradually get louder. Among them: Searching for Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul, just as he was crediting the music doc’s star, Rodriguez.
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To be fair, all nominees are instructed to limit their thank-yous to 45 seconds. At the Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon on Feb. 4, they also were advised to prepare a speech in advance, whether they think they’ll win or not. That’s the surest way to avoid the dreaded “ums” and “uhs” that can tongue-tie even the most experienced actor.
Winners of the technical awards seem more prone to fall victim to the sonic cane, but as the show runs ever longer, the outro inevitably becomes less discriminating.
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You could say the same of the reaction on social media, where the prevailing sentiment seemed to be: No matter who is at the microphone, Jaws is an especially harsh soundtrack — and also a hilarious one.
“If your acceptance speech includes ‘uhhmmm’ more than three times, they’re playing the Jaws theme,” tweeted Funny Or Die. “Jaws theme is making me laugh louder and louder each time – hysterical idea,” wrote Piers Morgan. Jabbed Entertainment Weekly‘s Dalton Ross: “I realized I am a horrible person once I started secretly rooting for them to bust out the Jaws theme during the In Memoriam segment.”
Where do you stand on the issue?
Twitter: @THRMusic
