Howard earns 7th Oscar nod for 'Clayton'

LOS ANGELES , Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Hollywood film composer James Newton Howard earned his seventh Oscar nod for penning the music for the acclaimed legal thriller "Michael Clayton."

"It's always a really exciting thing to get nominated," Howard told UPI in a recent phone interview. "It was particularly rewarding for this movie because I love the movie so much and we worked so hard on it and (writer-director Tony Gilroy) is a great guy."

Howard said the biggest challenge in writing the music for the dialogue-driven film was composing a score that didn't overwhelm the picture.

"There's lots of dialogue; it's a very quiet movie," Howard said. "The challenge there was to write a score that supported the characters, that kept the tension high, that told the story. ... But did all those things in a very quiet, understated way. I think, for me, what was particularly gratifying about getting recognized by the academy this time was that they chose a score that's very subtle, and that meant a lot to me because I worked very hard to get it to sound like it wasn't working very hard."

"Michael Clayton" is nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture.

The awards will be handed out Feb. 24.