LOS ANGELES  - "Completely surreal" is how composer Trent Reznor describes his best original score nomination for "The Social Network," adding that he almost missed the announcement thanks to some technical difficulties at home.

"It was panic this morning because somehow my internet and TV had a complete media blackout at the crucial moment, but it turned out all was well in the end," he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Given the dark, industrial work he's known for with his band Nine Inch Nails, you might expect Reznor to dismiss something as mainstream as an Oscar nomination, but such is not the case.

"I'm just very proud to be involved with a film of this caliber and working with these people. We got so close to this film - I've seen it hundreds of times and I still really love it. I didn't realize it would resonate with people as much as it has. It's been amazing and flattering to see what's happened."

In light of the non-traditional approach he and co-writer Atticus Ross took to the score, Reznor says he's as surprised as anyone to be recognized by the Academy.

"When we did this film, the concept of an Academy Award was not even in my sphere of imagination," he tells THR. "Atticus and I generated a bulk of music to send to David Fincher and we felt that 50 percent of it was too much because this isn't a movie about the end of the world - it's about nerds in rooms and betrayal and internal emotion. But we were surprised by what David responded to; we realized that he was willing to take chances and let the music play a pivotal role in the picture. When it was all finished I felt like we contributed a lot. It's not a traditional score, and I'm proud of that."

So does Reznor see himself composing a more traditional Hollywood score some day?

"Absolutely," he says. "I'm interested in the discipline and I'm interested in the challenge of working in the more traditional sense. I look at working with (a traditional orchestra) as something I haven't done yet and I've always been intrigued by it. I would be up for that challenge."