Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross scored not one, but two Oscar nominations for Best Original Soundtrack this morning, for “Mank” and “Soul”. These films, along with their soundtrack for the HBO series “Watchmen”, end a series of “very disparate projects” for Reznor and Ross, and although the pair said the nominations are “humiliating” and “flattering”, they are really just looking forward to one thing: getting back in front of the crowd to act as Nine Inch Nails.
“Usually, when we finish touring, we both get tired of it,” Reznor told TheWrap on Monday. “Now that I can’t get out, it woke up the teenager in me who now desperately needs to get out, and I can’t wait to go back to complaining about the duration of a bus trip or complaining about the restrooms behind the scenes and everything. God, it looks good. “
Reznor and Ross are no strangers to Oscar; in 2010, the duo won the Best Original Soundtrack category for their work on David Fincher’s “The Social Network”. This time, they contributed spiritual and spatial sounds to Pixar’s “Soul” animation and vintage music inspired by the big band to the period drama “Mank” – but despite the contrast, the scores have more in common, you can imagine .
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“Whether it’s a synthesizer or an orchestra, they are tools for conveying emotion,” said Ross. “I can recognize a certain aesthetic in all the work, just because of their identity, in the way you are you and have your own experiences in the way you communicate. There is a profound similarity between just one person’s life experience ”.
Reznor added: “The magic, the part that makes us love what we do, is being able to immerse ourselves almost unconsciously in the story, the character and the feeling, and then explore that emotion using the tools we have already thought about. This feeling of connection is the same thing that we are trying to do when we are writing a song on Nine Inch Nails, which is to connect emotionally with you, to feel this thing, to bring it to life. This was very similar across all of these projects. “
“Soul”, in particular, was a special case for Reznor and Ross, who had been working on the soundtrack for years and knew early on that they wanted to collaborate with Jon Batiste (also nominated) in the film’s jazz arrangements.
Read too: Trent Reznor and more about a movie soundtrack during COVID: ‘Like Trying to Be Intimate in Hazmat Suits’
“Immediately there was a warmth and openness and a generous collaborative spirit where, ‘Hey, let’s share everything we do and see if something motivates or inspires each other and just keep up to date on how this is going on,'” said Reznor. “And Jon is an incredible musician. There is this innate understanding. This is rare in people, and if you find it, it is really inspiring – someone understands what you are trying to do without words and can, without even discussing it, put yourself in a piece of music and bring it to life. You can tell that they are bringing their own experiences and skills. Jon really has that and it is a pleasure to work with him. “
Reznor and Ross said they never go into a project thinking about awards, but admitted that it is certainly good to be recognized by their colleagues – even in a year in which “not everything seems real”.
“When we finished these films, we looked at each other and thought, ‘This is very good, we are proud of this work, we feel that we have done the best we can do here and we are surprised.’ And that moment, which happens long before anyone sees the film, is what we are looking for, ”said Reznor. “It is not a matter of the melody or the theme that comes up skillfully. It’s about you knowing when to get it right because you get goosebumps. I hope the director agrees with you, or he is wrong in that case. “