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Nomination reaction: Trent Reznor

Best original score, 'The Social Network'

By Rachel Abrams for Variety on January 25, 2011

While Nine Inch Nails rocker Trent Reznor had never scored a film before "The Social Network," it didn't take much more than a call from helmer David Fincher to convince him to get on board.

"I've reached a point in my own career with my band, Nine Inch Nails, when I realized it was time for a change (from) the cycle of putting a record out, touring, putting a record out, touring, taking chunks out of your life at each juncture," Reznor said. "I made a decision to force my hand into whatever I found exciting artistically. And out of the blue, David contacted me and asked me. The planets kind of lined up for this."

Reznor said that he and Atticus Ross did most of the scoring without seeing images from the film, basing their music more on what they thought Fincher had in mind.

"I've never done this before and I thought the best strategy was to try to get inside David (Fincher's) head and figure out exactly what he was wanting for this picture," he said. "I really thought the key was doing what was best for the picture was figuring out what the guy pulling the strings had in mind. And then I went off with Atticus and generated what turned out to be the bulk of the score."

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