Trent Reznor Slams ‘Bird Box’: Scoring Movie Was a ‘F*cking Waste of Time’
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It was just one year ago that “Bird Box” was the biggest movie sensation around the world. The Netflix thriller, directed by Emmy winner Susanne Bier and starring Sandra Bullock and Trevante Rhodes, debuted December 14, 2018 on the streaming platform and exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist over the holidays thanks to word of mouth and viral memes. Netflix announced “Bird Box” was streamed by 45 million accounts over its first seven days, a then record for the company. But not everyone who worked on “Bird Box” enjoyed the experience.
In a new interview with Revolver, musician Trent Reznor slams “Bird Box” for the way it handled his original music score. Reznor composed the “Bird Box” score with his frequent collaborator Atticus Ross. The two men won the Best Original Score Oscar for their work on David Fincher’s “The Social Network” and their additional credits include “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” “Waves,” and most recently HBO’s “Watchmen.” As for “Bird Box,” Reznor looks back at the experience and calls it a huge waste of time.
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“When we got immersed in it, it felt like some people were phoning it in. And you’re stuck with a film editor who had real bad taste,” the composer said. “That’s kind of our barricade to getting stuff in the film. And the final icing on the shit cake was we were on tour when they mixed it. And they mixed the music so low, you couldn’t hear it anyway. So it was like, that was a … [Laughs] That was a fucking waste of time. Then we thought, no one’s going to see this fucking movie. And, of course, it’s the hugest movie ever in Netflix.”
“Bird Box” was adapted by “Arrival” screenwriter Eric Heisserer from Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel of the same name. The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where invisible monsters roam the earth and cause people who look directly at them to kill themselves. Bullock stars as a woman who finds herself protecting two young children against the monsters.
Next up for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are the film scores for Pixar’s “Soul” and David Fincher’s Netflix movie “Mank.”
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