There were few scores that sliced through the din like Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ music for Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers.”
When the movie, a romance involving three tennis pros (played by Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor) was released this spring, the soundtrack was quickly singled out as a highlight. This was full-on dance music from Reznor and Ross, which amped up the tennis sequences (breathlessly staged by Guadagnino) and the quieter domestic scenes alike.
“Challengers” was the second score that Reznor and Ross, who are also the principals in rock band Nine Inch Nails, had composed for the filmmaker, after 2022’s melancholic cannibal road movie “Bones and All.”