Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who during their day job are the minds behind Nine Inch Nails, have announced they’ll be reteaming with director David Fincher for this fall’s “The Killer.” This is their fifth collaboration with Fincher after “The Social Network,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” and “Mank.”
“The Killer” is currently cloaked in secrecy (this is a David Fincher project, after all), but it is based on the French comic book series by Alexis Nolent (aka Matz). The project stars Michael Fassbender as the title character (his first role since 2019’s regrettable X-Men romp “Dark Phoenix”) along with Charles Parnell, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard and Sophie Charlotte in supporting roles. The movie was written by regular Fincher collaborator Andrew Kevin Walker and produced by his old buddy Brad Pitt.
Reznor and Ross announced their involvement in an official Nine Inch Nails newsletter. (You can also buy a deluxe version of their music for “Mank,” finally.)
Their score for “The Social Network” was the beginning of an unexpected second career for the duo. Previously, Reznor had contributed music to Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” and David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” and done music for the videogame “Quake.” But with “The Social Network,” Reznor and Ross created something unique and special, galvanizing the story of the creation of Facebook with an appropriately glitchy score.
Outside of their collaborations with Fincher, Reznor and Ross have teamed up with Peter Berg (for “Patriots Day”), Trey Edward Shults (for “Waves”), Jonah Hill (for “Mid90s”) and Pixar’s Pete Docter (for “Soul,” which they won an Oscar for). In 2022, Reznor and Ross scored Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal romance “Bones and All” and Sam Mendes’ Oscar-nominated drama “Empire of Light.” Later this year they’ll also provide the score for Guadagnino’s tennis romance “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.
Knowing, officially, that Reznor and Ross will be back for “The Killer” makes the wait for November 10 (when the film streams on Netflix) even more impossible. It’s downright deathly.
