Darkness Audible

6:00 AM PST 12/13/2011 by Shirley Halperin

Oscar winner Trent Reznor's evolution from a rock nihilist and addict who once wrote his own (quite vulgar) epitaph into the musical, brilliant -- sometimes even smiling -- soulmate of director David Fincher.

While working on the score for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor had to block out the sway of palm trees outside his Beverly Hills home, draw the shades, turn up the air conditioning to meat locker temp and think: Winter. Conveying the sounds of a seaside town in northern Sweden -- the clank of icicles and bells, the drones of motorcycles and European floor buffers -- without having traveled to the location set where director David Fincher was filming presented both a challenge and an opportunity for the composer and his production partner Atticus Ross, and they were ready for either scenario.