Trent Reznor scoring David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Trent Reznor has just announced on a live-streaming interview with the New York Times, that he has spent the last month and a half working on a score for David Fincher’s upcoming adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

This might not come as a huge surprise to some, with Reznor (frontman for the band Nine Inch Nails) having very recently scored Fincher’s highly-acclaimed 2010 film The Social Network. I don’t know why, but it just seemed that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be another good fit for Reznor’s music.

In the interview, Reznor stated that words such as “ice” and “frozen” have inspired the new score, and that it is performance-based, with him playing strings (violin, ‘cello, etc.) to the best of his abilities, and then placing those performances through various processing. It sounds interesting. The score for The Social Network used entirely electronic sounds and instruments. Reznor was due to perform / play some of the new music for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo during the interview, but unfortunately was unable to prepare for it and thus perform it, due to the passing away of his mother last Sunday.

Reznor’s score provided a unique vibe for The Social Network, and works as a cool electronic album in its own right. During the interview, a clip of the opening sequence and titles of the film was shown with the music that was originally in place; an upbeat Elvis Costello song. It made it look like a much more typical “college” film, and Reznor’s music managed to change this completely, making it much more contemplative.

There’s some beautifully atmospheric stuff in Reznor’s soundtrack, such as the first track, Hand Covers Bruise. And there’s also a climactically loud, synth-driven cover of In the Hall of the Mountain King. Who could say no?

Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a second adaptation of the 2005 novel by the late Stieg Larsson, following the Swedish 2009 film directed by Niels Arden Oplev. The Swedish versions of the films have completed the trilogy of books, with adaptations of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest having come out last year.

Fincher’s adaptation is due out on December 21st 2011, and stars Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright and Stellan Skarsgård. I can’t wait to hear Reznor’s score for it (disclaimer: I am a distustingly huge Nine Inch Nails fan).