Batman: Nine Inch Knight

I am about as excited for the impending release of the new Batman: Arkham Knight video game as I get for anything these days… and I’m a Nine Inch Nails fan… so, needless to say, I was pleased as punch when YouTube elected to show me the below commercial a couple of weeks back; it was the first time I didn’t hit “skip” ASAP in I dunno how long.

Cool, right? I assumed, however, that the use of NIN in the ad was just a marketing decision; Reznor’s music worked wonders for the 300 ad campaign in 2006 and The Avengers ad campaign in 2012, so why not Bats in 2015, right? I mean, he is clearly the superhero most appropriate for Nine Inch Nails anyway, because, like Trent Reznor, he’s a moody, brooding rich guy with a flair for the theatrical and a love of black.

But according to Billboard, Reznor’s involvement in the game extends at least slightly beyond just accepting a licensing check:

“It turns out, Reznor acted as a ‘music consultant’ for the piece and got a shout out recently from the game’s Twitter account.”

https://twitter.com/BatmanArkham/status/602236531336548352

They also report that “fans are speculating that the NIN mastermind helped link in directors Tim Cronenweth and Jeff Cronenweth, with whom Reznor teamed scoring Gone Girl and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Which isn’t quite true; Tim didn’t work on either of those films (or, at least, he’s not credited as having worked on them), and besides, Jeff was the cinematographer on those movies, and the cinematographer and the composer do not usually work together all that much… if anything, I’d guess the Cronenweths pulled in Reznor (and may have had to call in a favor from mutual bud David Fincher to do so).

Regardless, it’s neat that Reznor was actually involved with this commercial’s creation, even if only a minor capacity. Did he contribute any music to the game as well? I guess we’ll find out when it’s released on June 23…

[via Metal Injection]