It may have been hard to believe in the 1990s that a band best known for their provocative lyrics and jagged industrial-electronic edge would one day redefine the contemporary film and television music landscape. But that’s exactly what Nine Inch Nails — and specifically Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — have done in the new millennium.
Today, the duo are among Hollywood’s most sought-after composers, blending electronic and orchestral textures in ways that have reshaped the field. From their Oscar-winning score for The Social Network to their GRAMMY-winning collaboration with Jon Batiste on Pixar’s Soul, Reznor and Ross' work has become a model for contemporary screen music.
With Disney’s upcoming TRON: Ares crediting them under the Nine Inch Nails name for the first time, these 10 essential projects trace Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' filmic evolution.
The Social Network (2010)
GRAMMY winner and director David Fincher tapped longtime admirer Reznor — with Ross joining him — to score this drama about Facebook’s rise. The result redefined what a contemporary film score could sound like.
Mining the electronic minimalism of Ghosts I–IV, they created brooding cues like "Hand Covers Bruise" and "A Familiar Taste" that proved synths could carry the same dramatic weight as an orchestra. Their breakthrough earned them the Oscar for Best Original Score and positioned them as in-demand screen composers.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
For their second Fincher project, Reznor and Ross expanded to nearly three hours of music. framing the employing rare vocal cuts to both open the score and close it with Karen O’s "Immigrant Song" Led Zeppelin cover at the start, and Reznor’s wife and frontwoman of their band How to Destroy Angels, singing Bryan Ferry’s "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" for the closer.
Between those bookends lay a searing landscape of industrial aggression and warped orchestral textures that turned unease into spectacle. The project earned their first golden gramophone for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 2013 GRAMMYs, cementing them as more than a one-off success.
Gone Girl (2014)
When Fincher asked them for "spa music" to soundtrack this psychological thriller, the duo delivered something more sinister: delicate piano and ambient calm that gradually curdled into menace.
Tracks like "Sugar Storm" float with airy piano and Eno-like ambience before the spell breaks. Cues like "Consummation" and "What Have We Done to Each Other?" strip away the veneer, revealing the calculated menace beneath. Gone Girl proved the pair could weaponize wellness music as effectively as industrial noise, turning domestic tranquility into the perfect cover for psychological warfare.
"The Vietnam War" (2017)
Scoring Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s 18-hour documentary demanded rare discipline — music had to underscore decades of history without dominating it. Reznor and Ross delivered some of their most restrained and atmospheric work, layering droning synths, sparse piano, and weathered ambience to evoke a sense of timeless, haunted modernity.
"The Forever Rain" stands out as a signature piece, swelling from near-silence to a distorted-through-process stormy crescendo that mirrors the war’s endless cycle of escalation. Throughout, their understated approach supports the unfolding story with minimal yet deeply emotional gestures, demonstrating that they could adapt their sound to nonfiction with the same narrative force as in fiction.
Mid90s (2018)
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut needed intimacy, not bombast, and Reznor and Ross obliged with a brief but luminous 12-minute score. Written on the road during a Nine Inch Nails tour, pieces like "Big Wide World" and "Finding a Place" use warm synths and hushed melodies to echo the openness of a coming-of-age tale.
With hip-hop classics by A Tribe Called Quest and the Pharcyde anchoring the period soundtrack, Reznor and Ross’s score instead adds subtle emotional depth and narrative space. It’s a showcase of the duo’s flexibility and ability to evoke feeling with restraint, as well as their versatility outside of thrillers and epics.
"Watchmen" (2019)
Scoring HBO’s adaptation of "Watchmen" required Reznor and Ross to stretch their palette once again, and the duo responded with one of their most adventurous scores.
Across three volumes, they jumped from pulsing synthscapes to uncanny swing-era pastiche, with tracks like "Dreamland Jazz" and "The Way It Used to Be" sounding like authentic 1940s cuts. That ability to shift eras and moods in one project earned them an Emmy and showcased the breadth of their imagination.
Mank (2020)
For David Fincher’s black-and-white ode to 1940s Hollywood, Reznor and Ross abandoned electronics and recreated the lush sound of the studio era.
Recorded during the pandemic in home studios, the score uses big band swing and vintage instrumentation for historical authenticity. "M.G.M." opens with sweeping brass in the style of studio-era overtures, while "All This Time" adopts the gentle character of a swing-era jazz ballad. The music moves cleanly between bold and understated moments, demonstrating the duo’s flexibility and deep respect for the era’s film scoring traditions.
Soul (2020)
Unlike Watchmen or Mank, Pixar’s Soul didn’t require Reznor and Ross to abandon their sonic identity so much as refine it. With Jon Batiste handling the Earth-bound jazz, their job was to capture the ineffable: the sound of the "Great Before."
They leaned into their ambient instincts — glassy synths, airy textures, pulsing resonance — to create music that felt suspended between life and afterlife. Tracks like "Portal" shimmer with curiosity, while "Epiphany" distills Pixar’s emotional wallop into hushed, transcendent tones. The contrast between Batiste’s kinetic jazz and their spectral electronics gave Soul its dual heartbeat. The collaboration earned them both an Oscar and GRAMMY Award for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, cementing their place in animated storytelling as well as live action.
Challengers (2024)
Luca Guadagnino’s erotic tennis drama demanded sweat and intensity, and Reznor and Ross responded with a propulsive, techno-heavy score. Built from four-on-the-floor rhythms and abrasive synths, cues like "Compress / Repress" and "Brutalizer" throb with club-ready power, while minimalist piano motifs provide occasional relief.
The project blurred the line between film music and dancefloor set in its original form. Reznor and Ross also hand-picked GRAMMY-winning German techno producer and DJ Boys Noize to remix the entire album, too, and from that came the album Challengers [MIXED].
TRON: Ares (2025)
When Disney announced TRON: Ares would feature music by Nine Inch Nails, it marked a historic first: After 15 years of award-winning film work, Reznor and Ross would finally be credited under the NIN banner.
Following Wendy Carlos' pioneering synthscapes for the original TRON and Daft Punk's sleek, acclaimed soundtrack for TRON: Legacy, expectations are immense. "As Alive As You Need To Be" was released as a single over the summer, featuring Reznor's vocals and a driving techno edge that fits within both the franchise's electronic legacy and Nine Inch Nails' canon. There's likely to be more brooding electronics, orchestral heft, and textural detail, making this a full-circle moment. Nine Inch Nails, once seen as too abrasive for the mainstream, now sits squarely at the center of one of Disney's highest profile projects.