Dune 2 director Denis Villeneuve is ‘against’ the Academy’s decision to exclude Hans Zimmer for Best Score at the Oscars 2025.

While the Oscar nominations for 2025 will be revealed on January 17, we already know that Hans Zimmer, a two-time Academy Award-winning German music composer, did not receive a Best Original Score nomination this year for his outstanding work in Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster sci-fi epic Dune 2. According to SlashFilm, Denis has objected to the Academy’s decision.

“I am absolutely against the decision of the Academy to exclude Hans, frankly, because I feel like his score is one of the best scores of the year. I don’t use the word genius often, but Hans is one,” said Denis at a screening of Dune 2 at the Directors Guild of America in New York. He joked that while he’s not “here to complain,” he argued that the score of Dune 2 is “rooted” in the first part because there is a “continuity” since the Dune franchise is like “one big movie that is cut in half.”

Since 1989, Hans has had 12 Academy Award nominations in the same category. His nominations include Barry Levinson’s 1988 road movie Rain Man, Penny Marshall’s 1996 Christmas fantasy The Preacher’s Wife, James L Brooks’ 1997 romantic comedy As Good As It Gets, Dreamworks Animation’s 1998 musical The Prince of Egypt, Terrence Mallick’s 1998 war epic The Thin Red Line, Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical action epic Gladiator, Guy Ritchie’s 2009 period mystery film Sherlock Holmes, Christopher Nolan’s 2010 sci-fi epic Inception, his 2015 blockbuster I

Hans earned Oscars for Disney’s 1994 animated musical The Lion King and Dune.