GHENT, Belgium, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- On the final night of the Ghent Film Festival, composer Hans Zimmer announced he plans to sit out this year's Oscar competition, saying he'd rather observe.
The eight-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner for "The Lion King" said he'd rather avoid the stress and obligations associated with a nomination, The Hollywood Reporter reported Saturday.
"As soon as you get nominated, and I don't care who you are -- there are certainly people of better character than me -- it all goes crazy," he said. "You get the phone call at five o'clock and after that you have to do the interviews and then do the parties and meet all these people and do all these things. It's disruptive, and I think it would be more interesting to observe it for a year."
Zimmer, who is currently working on a score for "The Dark Knight Rises," said his decision is partly because he didn't do much original work this year, having worked mostly on sequels.
The death of his longtime publicist Ronni Chasen was also a factor.
"I don't want to make a big thing out of it, but I just thought 'no Ronni -- I'll take a break,'" Zimmer said.
