For the last two years Clint Eastwood has released heavy-hitting dramas (Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima) in the final voting moments of the Oscar season. This year his last minute submission isn’t one he directed; rather it’s one he’s scoring.

Grace is Gone was bought by Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s Weinstein Group at Sundance for $4 million. An indie tearjerker starring John Cusack, the film tells the story of a father who loses his soldier wife in Iraq. Before telling his two daughters their mother is gone, he heroically decides to take them on a road trip –- one last happy memory before their world changes.

According to the LA Times' Gold Derby, Clint Eastwood’s score is set for delivery right before the film plays the New York Film Festival in September. Eastwood's score is replacing that of relative newcomer Max Richter. Eastwood has scored many of his own directorial projects, including Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby, both of which were favored by the Academy.

Written and directed by James C. Strouse (writer of the Steve Buscemi-directed Lonesome Jim), Grace is Gone won the Sundance Audience Award and Scriptwriter’s prize. Now with Eastwood’s score, Weinstein Co. is hoping Grace is Gone will offer them another shot at their first Oscar since they split with Miramax.