Trent Reznor Reveals Exactly Why He Prefers Making Movie Soundtracks To The Music Biz, And He Does Not Hold Back: 'The Culture Of The Music World Sucks'
The Nine Inch Nails frontman shares his thoughts on movie music transition.
It’s certainly not everyday the lead vocalist of a rock band transitions into becoming one of the great movie composers of our time, but Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have done so with their careers in music. While the musicians initially gained fame for being Nine Inch Nails, since 2010, they’ve been scoring tons of movies, from The Social Network to two great 2024 movies, Challengers and Queer. While talking about their recent work, Reznor got honest about why he prefers making music for movies.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have managed to balance their work in Nine Inch Nails with their work in movies over nearly 15 years. Here’s what Reznor said about why he has a clear favorite between the music and movie industry:
While speaking to Reznor, IndieWire shared his frustration for the music industry, which has certainly changed quite a bit in the age of the internet and social media. The 59-year-old recalls a time when the music industry was centered on the art itself, but no longer feels that way anymore. While he ultimately deflected diving deeper into his thoughts on the topic, he clearly isn’t high on the state of things considering his flat-out “the music world sucks” comments.
While Reznor may feel out of place in the music industry, his and Atticus Ross’ work in Hollywood has definitely paid off. They’ve become well-known for their unconventional movie scores, such as for The Social Network which won Best Original Score in 2011. Reznor and Ross also earned their second Oscar in the category for Soul in 2021.
When it comes to their latest works, both in Luca Guadagnino films, Challengers is especially in conversation during awards season and could make for the team’s fourth nomination in the category of Best Original Score. When speaking about the making of it, Reznor said this:
By the time Challengers was brought to Reznor and Ross, the duo had worked with the director once before on 2022’s Bones And All. They said that along with Guadagnino wanting the movie’s bold music to be a character in the movie, he also directed them to club music out of Berlin to inform his vision. Considering our Challengers review and the score’s current momentum to go down as one of the best scores of 2024, we’d say it worked!
Reznor and Ross’s latest collaboration with Luca Guadagnino has arrived, with the Queer release date now here. Check it out in theaters and stream Challengers with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
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Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.