Trent Reznor Is Now a Tony Award Away From EGOT Glory

The PRP reports that Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won an Emmy Award last night (Thursday, September 17), in the category of Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score), for their score to “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice,” the premiere episode of HBO’s Damon Lindelof’s Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

This means the duo now have an Emmy, a Grammy (for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and an Oscar (for The Social Network). If they can figure out a way to get involved with a Broadway musical and win a Tony, they will be in the rarified strata of EGOT — people who have won all four major awards. As of this writing, only sixteen people have ever accomplished this feat, including Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and John Legend.

And on the one hand, it’s hard to imagine how Reznor and Ross would ever wind up involved with a Broadway musical. On the other hand, not too long ago, it would have been hard to imagine how Reznor and Ross would ever wind up involved with a Pixar movie, so… anything is possible.

(And before you ask — no, Reznor couldn’t win a Tony if someone mounted a so-called “jukebox musical” of previously-existing Nine Inch Nails songs, because the material wouldn’t be original. This would have to be a whole new thing, like Sarah Bareilles’ Waitress, and not just a greatest hits package, like Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill.)

Interestingly, Reznor and Ross’ Emmy is not the least-expected award they’ve won in the past year: last November, they scored a Country Music Association Award for “Old Town Road,” because that megahit uses a banjo sample from the Nine Inch Nails song “34 Ghosts IV.”