Trent Reznor: Oscar Nom 'Amazing and Flattering'
Completely surreal" is how composer Trent Reznor describes his
best original score nom for "The Social Network," adding that he
almost missed the announcement thanks to some technical
difficulties at home. "It was panic this morning because somehow my
internet and TV had a complete media blackout at the crucial
moment, but it turned out all was well in the end," he tells The
Hollywood Reporter.
Given the dark, industrial work he's known for with his band Nine
Inch Nails, you might expect Reznor to dismiss something as
mainstream as an Oscar nom, but such is not the case. "I'm just
very proud to be involved with a film of this caliber and working
with these people. We got so close to this film - I've seen it
hundreds of times and I still really love it. I didn't realize it
would resonate with people as much as it has. It's been amazing and
flattering to see what's happened."
In light of the non-traditional approach he and co-writer Atticus
Ross took to the score, Reznor says he's as surprised as anyone to
be recognized by the Academy. "When we did this film, the concept
of an Academy Award was not even in my sphere of imagination," he
tells THR. "Atticus and I generated a bulk of music to send to
David Fincher and we felt that 50 percent of it was too much
because this isn't a movie about the end of the world - it's about
nerds in rooms and betrayal and internal emotion. But we were
surprised by what David responded to; we realized that he was
willing to take chances and let the music play a pivotal role in
the picture. When it was all finished I felt like we contributed a
lot. It's not a traditional score, and I'm proud of that."
So does Reznor see himself composing a more traditional Hollywood
score some day? "Absolutely," he says. "I'm interested in the
discipline and I'm interested in the challenge of working in the
more traditional sense. I look at working with (a traditional
orchestra) as something I haven't done yet and I've always been
intrigued by it. I would be up for that challenge."
