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UPDATED, 11:25 PM: Here’s what we know: The Hollywood community is mourning James Horner tonight, though his death has not been confirmed by his reps, family, law enforcement or aviation officials. There has been no official identification of the body found at the crash site of a small-plane crash near Santa Barbara on Monday. Horner’s attorney, Jay Cooper, told the Associated Press tonight, “It was his plane and if he wasn’t in it, he would’ve called.” Cooper is planning to release an official statement Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department told Deadline late Monday: “There is an active investigation at the crash site. The coroner has been on the scene today. We are waiting for the NTSB and FAA, who will be on site in the morning. We can’t confirm anything right now. We can’t confirm who it is. The coroner is going to have to confirm it in the morning.”
PREVIOUSLY, 7:44 PM: Media outlets are reporting tonight that a plane registered to Oscar-winning Titanic and Avatar composer James Horner crashed this morning near Santa Barbara and that its unidentified pilot was killed. The have not been confirmed by law enforcement or aviation official. An FAA spokesman contacted by Deadline would confirm only that a small plane has crashed in that area and that FAA investigators will be on site Tuesday morning.
Santa Barbara County Fire responded to a plane-down call at about 9:30 AM off Route 33 near Ventucopa, in the remote upper Cuyama Valley. The crash sparked a small brush fire.
Horner, a 10-time Oscar nominee and longtime aviation enthusiast, is among Hollywood’s go-to composers. He won a pair of Oscars in 1998 for Titanic: Best Score and Best Original Song for the No. 1 pop smash “My Heart Will Go On,” for which he penned the music. During his nearly four-decade career, he has composed the scores for more than 150 films including three Best Picture Oscar Titanic, A Beautiful Mind and Braveheart; Best Picture nominees including Avatar, Apollo 13 and Field Of Dreams; the upcoming Southpaw and The 33; 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and such classics as 48HRS., Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Glory.
Deadline has reached out to a number of sources and will update with any news.