Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson Enter Oscars Race for Original Song With Netflix Doc ‘American Symphony’ (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comClayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Matthew Heineman’s moving documentary feature “American Symphony” was recently acquired by Netflix after its debut at the Telluride Film Festival, cementing itself as one of the early frontrunners for the Oscars.
Its main subject, “Soul” Oscar winner Jon Batiste, will now be in the race for best original song with the track “It Never Went Away.” Batiste sings the emotional number, which he co-wrote with Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Dan Wilson. Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories. “‘It Never Went Away’ is a lyric detailing a love that outlasts any condition of the physical world,” Batiste tells Variety. “It probes the questions of our mortality while at the same time speaking to the enduring quality of our deepest callings and desires.
That part of us that stands in protest to the ills of the physical world is, in fact, evidence of our perpetual nature.” The film follows multi-instrumentalist Batiste beginning in early 2022, when he finds himself celebrated with 11 Grammy nominations, including album of the year.
Amid that triumph, Batiste is immersed in his most ambitious challenge yet: composing an original symphony for a performance at the storied Carnegie Hall.
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