PASADENA, Calif. (AP) – Ken Burns and Trent Reznor would seem two unlikely collaborators, but both describe their recent work on the upcoming PBS documentary on the Vietnam War as among the most satisfying of their careers.
Reznor, the Nine Inch Nails singer and Academy Award-winning film score composer with partner Atticus Ross, made the score for the 10-part series that debuts this fall.
They came into the project after Burns’ production partner Lynn Novick saw the movie, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Captivated by the film’s music, she stayed through the final credits to learn Reznor and Ross were responsible for it, and contacted the composers to see if they’d be interested in working on the Vietnam documentary.
A meeting was set up, and Reznor watched film footage they had gathered to tell about the war that divided Americans in the 1960s.
“For most of the clip, I’m trying not to start crying and wondering what my voice was going to sound like when the lights came up,” Reznor recalled on Sunday.