Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, now regular collaborators with director Luca Guadagnino, continue to shift focus from Nine Inch Nails to film scoring, with standout work on Challengers, Bones and All, and upcoming projects like After Hunt.
It has been a while since Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross started writing music for movies. Starting with the Oscar winning “The Social Network”, the the 90’s formed industrial rock Nine Inch Nails duo worked in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Gone Girl”. They were there for Netflix’s original flagship thriller “Bird Box” as well.
Reznor and Ross: What is the Duo up to Now?
Reznor and Ross have been working on a lot of Luca Guadagnino‘s works recently. They have worked together enough to be called the director’s most preferred choice while moving ahead with production. The duo first worked with Italian director Guadagnino for the romantic horror “Bones and All”. They also worked with Guadagnino for the 90s-club-inspired highly danceable soundtrack for “Challangers” and psychedelic drama “Queer”. The former has already been received well among critics and is a tough contender for the “Best Original Score” Oscar.
Trent Reznor said that beyond Nine Inch Nails, Atticus Ross and him do better as film composers. This is because it takes away certain concerns arising while doing their independent music. According to him, the duo flourished because they’re “working in service to something, where we’re not in control of the whole thing, and we’re working intimately with a director or small team to try and help realize a collective vision, solving that riddle without the burden of ‘how’s it going to be marketed?’ and all the things.”
‘Music feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else,’ explains Trent Reznor
“What we’re looking for [from film] is the collaborative experience with interesting people. We haven’t gotten that from the music world necessarily, for our own choice,” Trent Reznor explained. “You mentioned disillusionment with the music world? Yes. The culture of the music world sucks,” said a disappointed Reznor. “That’s another conversation, but what technology has done to disrupt the music business in terms of not only how people listen to music but the value they place on it is defeating. I’m not saying that as an old man yelling at clouds, but as a music lover who grew up where music was the main thing. Music [now] feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else. That’s a long, bitter story.”
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As Reznor explained their difference in work process, we could get a clearer picture. “Going back to ‘Bones and All,’ I think an acoustic guitar was the extent of his influence on the score,” he says. While for “Challengers” they had both agreed to choose dance music as the main theme. “There’s no question in my mind looking back that the best way to tell the story of ‘Challengers’ was the vessel of dance music,” said Reznor. Unlike “Bones and All”, Guadagnino was very straight and upfront with “Challengers” . “I want the audience to feel like they can dance in their seats to the whole thing like it’s a fucking rave,” he had said, stating clearly he wants it to be fun and aggressive.
Reznor and Ross will be scoring music for Guadagnino’s upcoming film “After Hunt” as well starring Julia Roberts. It is also speculated they will score for Guadagniono’s “American Psycho” re-imagining.
