Image Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty ImagesHe was coy when speaking to EW last month, but Trent Reznor finally revealed this weekend in a New York Times livestream conversation that he has in fact been working on the soundtrack for David Fincher’s upcoming Girl With the Dragon Tattoo adaptation, due in theaters this December.
Reznor seems to be developing a partnership of sorts with Fincher; last year, he and co-collaborator Atticus Ross paired with the director on The Social Network; earning a Golden Globe nomination for their dense, atmospheric score.
Reznor and Ross have completed some four weeks of work on Dragon Tattoo, which Reznor says is “coming great”: “We started recording things in a different way that was all based on performance, nothing programmed. And that would be my limited skills at stringed instruments, and trying passages that we would get that and then we would process them in a way that would give us a real organic, layered feel that felt like something we’d never done before.”
“This one’s a bit different [of a process],” he continued. “Well, different in some ways. The movie is coming out Christmas of this year, and they’re still doing principal photography. So, I had read the book, I had not got the script yet and I heard a few buzz words like ‘ice’ and Fincher writing [to me], ‘I can’t write anymore my fingers are frozen.’ And we spent — Atticus and I are going to work on this again — three weeks generating, with a new set of rules, it was completely blind with no feedback from David … Because the way David works is that he’s the high-tech guy of filmmaking, and when he’s shooting digitally it’s also being sent back to his editors, and within a couple of days he can see mock-ups of scenes he just shot. And those guys are always looking for temp music to put in there, so I thought it would be a nice present to have — we sent them two hours of music.”
Reznor also spoke of initially turning down the Social Network score, preparing a deluxe reissue of his 1999 release The Fragile, jettisoning a planned project with Zach de la Rocha, and more; find the full interview here on the NYT site.
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More from EW.com:
Trent Reznor on his Golden Globe nomination, what’s wrong with the Grammys, and what it really means to be ‘independent’: An EW Q&A








Shame on Hollywood for remaking this. The Swedish version is excellent, even with the sub-captions! There was no need for a remake.
Agree TT! The Swedish films rock and Noomi Rapace IS Lisbeth Salander. She is perfection!! There is no improving on or even coming close to that extraordinary performance.
So, let me get this straight: Fincher is filming on location in Sweden, using an international cast, speaking English. I sooo want this to work, but I don’t know !
This idea that subtitles do not present any problem is ridiculous. While I watch many foreign films and the subtitles don’t stop me, a movie’s story is told in images. When you’re busy reading the words at the bottom of the screen, you can’t focus as much on the director’s carefully constructed shots and the actors’ performances.
Think of it as multi-tasking. Stay focused, and don’t think of it as a chore.
All you do is pick English Subtitles and it is all voice over, which to me honest is beleivable. You do not have to read anything! LOL
Plus, David Fincher is brilliant, I have total trust in him. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the best movies I saw this year, Noomi Rapace’s performance was brilliant, but the film wasn’t perfect. I think Fincher can give us something better.
Agreed my husband rented the first and we loved it, already saw the second and looking forward to the third. Loved Lisbeth so much that I actually thought of using it as a middle name for my daughter.
Agree on the remake, but am not surprised and the Swedish version is ok…
The Swedish movie was good and enjoyable……but it was a not masterpiece. I love foreign films, but there is a tendancy with film snobs to think just because a movie is foreign it is superior.
Sorry, you can call my shallow and un-cultured if you want (it wont keep me up at night), but I have never enjoyed a foreign film.
It is the only valid reason for a re-make, in my opinion
No, I wouldn’t call you “shallow and un-cultured,” the term “narrow-minded” seems to fit better.
“Unfortunate” is a good word for you, Jay. You’ve missed out on a amazing aspect of film. Fellini, Truffaut, Kurosawa…the list goes on.
Great news about Reznor.
sweet! even more reason to see the movie!!
I thought “shame” at first too — but Fincher is the absolute perfect choice to make it worth while. And it should be just as good as the first make.
The remake for let the right one in sure was crap. The swedish version has a great cast. Where as the american version was definetly too hollywood.
This film needs no American remake. The Swedish versions are perfect and stay true to the book. And that’s a terrible pic of Reznor.
no…the swedish remake did not stay true to the book. It was a very simplified verison of the book. Which is understandable…changes have to be made, but I cringe a little when I hear how faithful the original was.
I doubt a US remake with mostly American actors can be more faithful to a Swedish book than a Swedish movie starring Swedes.
It’s “Reznor”, not “Renzor”, like the headline says.
fincher and renzor could colaborate for a remake of “showgirls” and i would see it.
*reznor (damn you, headline, for making me think i was spelling it wrong!)
Anything with Trent’s name attached is worth a watch.
Just because the originals are swedish doesn’t they’re better.
Hell, being faithful to the books doesn’t make them good movies.
Films are about directing, the screenplay, the editing, aomng so many other, not the “literary value”.
Fincher is a great director and can’t imagine how this will NOT BE BETTER than the originals, that apart from the Noomi Rapace, have almost no real cinematic value, imo.
And I will always love Trent Reznor, that’s a fact…
Tattoos has become a trend in the modern era of high fashion. Numerous people on a daily basis get either their hands, legs, or some parts of their body tattooed with some form of artistic flair.