Monday, March 7th 2011

News:  How To Destroy Angels

Trent Reznor Clarifies Rumors, Discusses Current Projects

By Johnny Firecloud

We went out on a limb last week, reporting the rumor that Trent Reznor would be appearing in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but confirmation has come directly from the horse’s mouth – as well as a few other details and updates on the Oscar-winning Nine Inch Nails nucleus’ plans for the immediate future.

As it turns out, the How To Destroy Angels album isn’t quite finished yet, but we now have evidence that Nine Inch Nails is “not dead,” and material is being worked on. Anyone else’s blood pressure rise after that line?

On the NIN.com forum, Reznor posted an entry entitled “Gold statues, silver bullets, tattoos and the continued destruction of angels”. Read it below:

What a surreal week, capping of an equally surreal few months! Thank you all for the support and kind words throughout. I need to once again point out the reason that score worked so well was David Fincher. We were simply executing his vision and it was an honor and an eduction working with him. Which brings me to:

The Girl WIth the Dragon Tattoo. Atticus and I are hard at work scoring David’s next film, which will be opening this Christmas. We’ve been composing quite a bit of music for this and have just begun to see some of what’s been shot. Trust me when I say this film (and of course the music!) will not disappoint.

Perhaps I misspoke on the red carpet or wherever it was I said the new How To Destroy Angels record is finished – it is not. We’ve been working since last summer on it and are due to mix it this summer for a fall release. We’ve spent a lot of time experimenting and finding our own sound and identity this time around and we’re very happy with the results. The three columns of things I’m currently funneling music into – HTDA, NIN and film work – I believe will start to make more sense to you (and me) as everything unfolds. By having a few different outlets for my work I’m finding more inspiration within each one. No, Nine Inch Nails is not dead and I plan to focus on that next.

And finally, I am friends with Timur Bekmambetov. He’s an interesting and very talented director that caught my attention with his film Night Watch (check it out if you haven’t). He asked me if I was interested in scoring his new film he’s doing with Tim Burton entitled “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. I was familiar with the book, read the script and it felt like an interesting challenge as a composer – very different from the Fincher films. While discussing the film with Timur he started gently pressing me to play a small role in the film. The idea was a cameo-esque role that would be kept under wraps and be a surprise around opening night. I was considering this when I awoke a few days ago to the news I am now STARRING in ALVH (which is obviously not true). Fuck. We both apparently forgot the internet existed AND THERE ARE NO SURPRISES anymore.

So… do me a favor and act surprised, OK?

Update: Trent posted the following today:

Don’t believe everything you read. As it turns out, I WON’T be working on (acting or scoring) ALVH after all. There’s no juicy story here, it’s just that when the news mysteriously leaked out about my involvement I hadn’t made up my mind completely, because various aspects of the project were changing. I felt the need to say something earlier this week because my inbox was filling up with speculation, and at that moment I thought I would be doing it. Confused yet? Apparently I am.

Bottom line, I wish them the best with the film and I’m sure it will still be great.

Also, in all the excitement of the last note I forgot to mention we’re still fully engaged with the Year Zero mini-series, writing away.

Thanks to Fernando for the heads up.