(New York, NY; January 22, 2009) It was announced today that the original score for Defiance received an Oscar® nomination. The score, which was composed by the seven-time Oscar®-nominated Composer James Newton Howard, was released on Sony Classical and features violinist Joshua Bell. Directed by Academy Award®-winning producer Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond), the film stars Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Liev Schreiber (The Painted Veil) and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott). Paramount Vantage opened the film in New York and Los Angeles on December 31, 2008 and nationwide on January 16, 2009.

Composer James Newton Howard created a stark and compelling score for Defiance in which he reunites with Zwick after working together on Blood Diamond. Defiance is based on an extraordinary true story about three Jewish brothers who were responsible for saving over 1,200 Jews during WWII. Howard and Zwick decided to recruit the dynamic, young violinist Joshua Bell to play the score's haunting, evocative solos, in tribute to the many lost artists of Europe. "I wanted to have a score that was not only appropriate historically but also emotionally appropriate," says Zwick. "The sound of the violin is central to Eastern European Jewish culture; it is the sound of what was lost. And so it became the centerpiece, with everything else embroidered around it."

Focusing on the musical versatility of the violin was exciting for Howard. "The violin can express the complete range of human emotion. It can be joyful and jaunty or it can sound like it's moaning and crying. And it can express great longing and loss, which is so strong in this story," he says. I took a minimalist approach, with the score's melodies rooted in simple harmonies."

Howard especially enjoyed working with the renowned violinist, Joshua Bell, who played a similar role as the soloist for the Oscar®-winning The Red Violin. Says Bell: "I don't do a lot of film scores but this story was just so interesting. I come from a Jewish heritage - in fact my grandmother lived very close to where the story takes place - yet I was shocked that I'd never heard this story. It was eye-opening for me - and when they sent me some of James Newton Howard's music, it was just so beautiful, I was delighted to be asked to take part in it."

Bell agrees that the violin seems to suit the characters of Defiance in their strength and passion. "The violin is so central to Jewish tradition in that part of Europe and it's also a sound that goes straight to the heart," he observes. "What James and I worked on was a balancing act to strike just the right tone, powerful but not melodramatic." Howard was moved by the way in which Bell did just that. "He's one of our great living violinists and I felt he took the score and made it a thousand times better," says the composer.

Currently, one of the most versatile and in-demand composers, James Newton Howard has received seven Oscar® nominations, four Grammy® nominations, an Emmy Award, two additional Emmy nominations, three Golden Globe nominations and has been honored with ASCAP's prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. His most recent films include the critically acclaimed blockbuster The Dark Knight (with Hans Zimmer), the legal thriller Michael Clayton and the box office hit I Am Legend. To date, Howard has over 100 films to his credit. Among them are all of M. Night Shyamalan's films; five films for director Lawrence Kasdan; four Julia Roberts comedies including Pretty Woman and My Best Friend's Wedding and three animated films for Walt Disney Studios. Howard's other wide-ranging credits include The Fugitive, The Great Debaters, Blood Diamond, King Kong, Batman Begins, Peter Pan, Collateral, Outbreak, Primal Fear, Glengarry Glen Ross, and The Devil's Advocate among others.

An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Joshua Bell has captured the public's affection like no other classical violinist of his time. He came to national attention at the age of 14 in a highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A Carnegie Hall debut, the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and a recording contract further confirmed his presence in the music world. Bell's 2008-09 season kicked off with the September world-wide highly praised Sony Classical release of Vivaldi: The Four Seasons recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, his return to his alma mater - Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music as a senior lecturer, and the 10th anniversary DVD release of The Red Violin film featuring Bell on the Oscar®-winning soundtrack for Best Original Score.

For more information, please go to www.defiancemovie.com.

Tracklisting: Violin Solos by Joshua Bell ( except tracks 5 & 8 )

1. Defiance Main Titles
2. Survivors
3. Make Them Count
4. Your Wife
5. The Bielski Otriad
6. Bella and Zus
7. Exodus
8. Camp Montage
9. The Wedding
10. Winter
11. Escaping the Ghetto
12. Police Station
13. Tuvia Kisses Lilka
14. Nothing is Impossible
15. The Bielski Brothers/Ikh Bin A Mame