Golden Globes 2025: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win for ‘Challengers’ score
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took to the Golden Globes stage last night in Los Angeles to accept the award for ‘Best Original Score’ for the Luca Guadagnino film Challengers. It’s the third Golden Globe for the frequent collaborators, who previously won in 2011 for The Social Network and again in 2021 for Soul alongside Jon Batiste.
It was the only win for Guadagnino’s romantic comedy-drama about a love triangle centred around tennis. Zendaya was nominated for ‘Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy’ and the film was nominated for ‘Best Picture, Musical or Comedy,’ but lost to Demi Moore for The Substance and Emilia Pérez, respectively.
It wasn’t to be a double win for the duo, though. Ross and Reznor were also nominated for ‘Best Original Song’ for the track ‘Compress/Repress,’ but lost to ‘El Mal’ from Emilia Pérez.
The duo accepted their award from American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile and Elton John, who exclaimed, “Yay!” when Reznor and Ross’ names were read out. In his acceptance speech, Ross thanked Reznor, who he referred to as “my best friend, my musical partner, the great Trent Reznor,” and opened up about creating the electronic-heavy score that pulsates through the film.
“The music never felt like a safe choice, but it always felt like the right one,” he said (via Pitchfork). Turning his thanks to Guadagnino for giving them the creative freedom to make the score one of the boldest of the year, he said, “To be honest, we always thought we’d get the call, ‘Can you just turn it down a little?’ But it never came, and here we are.”
Challengers opened to the biggest box office numbers of Guadagnino’s career and became a surprise hit in the spring. Featuring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist in the lead roles, it quickly turned into a cultural touchstone, with social media set ablaze with churros and ‘I Told Ya’ t-shirts before ‘Brat Summer’ took hold.
Reznor and Ross are heavily tipped to receive an Oscar nomination for the score as well, which would add to their two previous wins for The Social Network and Soul, and their previous nomination for Mank in 2021.
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