NIN's Mexico Connection

In August, 1999, Nine Inch Nails took over two locations in Jalisco. They brought with them award-winning director, Mark Pellington, and immediately cast 250 local people as extras. This was the shoot of the 'We're In It Together' music video and the result was a stunning piece of dark cinema.



'We're in This Together' is a paranoid love song, about a couple trying to survive against an unknown force. In this dystopian world, something is out to get them, with hints of torture and attempted separation. The couple cling to each other, even when there is no hope.

You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow

It is never stated who, or what, is after them.

The video reportedly followed the plot of a nightmare, which was dreamt by NIN lead singer, Trent Reznor. It also paid homage to the 1927 cult film, 'Metropolis', with obvious similarities, including the black outfits of the the characters within it. The lady, to whom Trent Reznor so desperately wants to cling, is only alluded to in the seven inch extended version. She is glimpsed in a red dress, stark against the black and white of the rest of the footage, in a nod to 'Schindler's List'.

Filming took place between August 5th-8th, 1999, in downtown Guadaljara and in a dry lake, 100km (62m) south, near to the town of Sayula. The intersection of Independencia Norte and Hidalgo was widely used as a location, as was Mercado Mexaclatzingo and a local hospital for people suffering from extensive burns. The building, in which Trent Reznor sings alone, is on la Calsada del Independencia, one of the main highways running through Guadaljara.


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During the four days of filming, 250 Guadalajara men were employed, working 12 hours a day. They were all aged between 20 and 30 years old and made up the horde of black-clad people running with Trent Reznor. It's been suggested that they represented his loneliness and isolation in this world.

Francisco Gonzalez, a journalist for the local newspaper, Periodico Publico, reported at the time, "One of the curious things was that 95 percent of the people didn't know who Reznor was. They were only curious about the shoot, and not who the artist was."