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On Sunday night, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross both took home their third Golden Globes award — and rightfully so — for their immaculate work on the Challengers score which won Best Original Score. The clubby, horny soundtrack beat out heavy competition including the scores for Conclave (Volker Bertelmann), The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg), The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers), Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol, Camille), and Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer).
If you went out anywhere in summer 2024, it's likely you heard the film's kinky and propulsive techno-indebted score which sounds like if you went to play tennis at a gay night club (and honestly, that's not that far off from the actual plot of the film). Championed by everyone from Charli xcx to Shygirl — who I personally witnessed playing it at a rave with Björk — it quickly rose the ranks into a cult classic. Well, cult it is no longer.
Directed by Luca Guadignino, Challengers follows the friendship, love triangle, and ultimately, rivalry, between three friends Art (Mike Faist), Patrick (Josh O'Connor), and Tashi (Zendaya). Filled with close-up shots of sweat and isolated grunts, the film deftly also plays on and highlights the inherent eroticism of the sport. Per Reznor and Ross, they were specifically inspired by this point while crafting the score, which they say was influenced by '90s rave music and Berlin techno.
"The way [Guadignino] described ‘Challengers’ was on a one-sentence email. 'Do you want to be on my next film? It’s going to be super sexy.’ Two x’s," Ross told Variety of their initial brief. "It’s about the excitement and simultaneously there’s an order and a thoughtfulness to the score."
Keeping in the rave spirit, the soundtrack also received an official club remix by dance producer Boys Noize.
Outside of Nine Inch Nails, Reznor and Ross have fostered a fruitful second career as film scorers, winning previous Golden Globes for their work on The Social Network and Soul. The Golden Globes is often seen as a promising estimation of what might go down at the upcoming Oscars, which means the duo now might have a chance at taking home the golden statuette at this year's ceremony. Before that happens, revisit the soundtrack, below.
