The 3 Times Paul McCartney Was Nominated for an Academy Award

Paul McCartney is a titan in the music industry, but many would be surprised to learn about his impact on several movies. He has contributed a few original songs to movies and provided excellent soundtracks to films he did with The Beatles. McCartney has been nominated for three Academy Awards for his cinematic contributions and has won the coveted award once. 

The Beatles won an Academy Award for ‘Let it Be’

McCartney is a Tony Award away from being an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner. Fortunately, The Beatles helped him secure his Oscar back in 1971. The Beatles won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Let it Be. The album accompanied the documentary of the same name, which featured behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles recording the album.

The album featured several memorable songs, including “Let it Be,” “Across the Universe,” and “Two of Us.” While it received praise from critics, the documentary behind the music is a sour note in the history of The Beatles. The band disbanded in 1970, and the footage shows the rising tensions between the band members that eventually led to the split. It was a bittersweet accomplishment when Paul McCartney won the Academy Award, as the band was no longer together.

Paul McCartney wrote the first James Bond song that was nominated for an Academy Award

One of McCartney’s biggest hits is “Live and Let Die”, the original song he wrote for the 1973 James Bond movie of the same name. He recorded the song with his second band, Wings, and the track has become a fan-favorite as he still performs it consistently. “Live and Let Die” was nominated for Best Original Song in 1974 but lost to Barbra Streisand for “The Way We Were.”

James Bond songs had always been a highlight of the movies, as they play over the lengthy opening credit sequences. However, “Live and Let Die” was the first to be nominated for Best Original Song. McCartney might have lost, but many other artists, including Adele, Sam Smith, and Billie Eilish, have won the Academy Awards for their recent Bond themes. 

McCartney wrote an original song for ‘Vanilla Sky’

Vanilla Sky is a 2001 sci-fi/thriller directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz. While the movie wasn’t a hit with critics and audiences, the film’s soundtrack received rave reviews. The highlight was an original song by Paul McCartney that was later nominated for an Academy Award. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, McCartney recalled Crowe asking him to write a song for the film. 

“He showed us about a half-hour of, and they look very intriguing with Tom [Cruise] acting his heart out,” McCartney shared. “I said, ‘What’s the title?’ He said, ‘Vanilla Sky’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s the nice title,’ and immediately you start thinking or rhymes with sky- fly… You know, it starts to kick off into something that doesn’t look too difficult.”

Unfortunately for McCartney, “Vanilla Sky” lost that year, as Best Original Song went to Randy Newman for “If I Didn’t Have You” from Monster’s Inc. Still, McCartney has won the illustrious prize. Now, he only needs a Tony now to achieve EGOT status.