Pass the Popcorn: David Fincher

Tuesday, September 13 2011 - Pass the Popcorn - by: jared_cm

I wrote a column a while back about the genius that is Chris Nolan. He’s one of the few directors that I will see a film of his solely based on the fact that he directed it. He could be releasing a movie tomorrow that I’ve never even heard about and I’d be there in the morning. Another director who fits that mold for me is David Fincher. Interestingly though, I feel like I’ve only recently put together how brilliant he is. He’s been making killer movies since 1995, one of them being Fight Club which ranks among probably my top 5 favorite movies ever, and another being Seven, which is in my top 10 ever. Why is it, then, that I never put together that the man is a master of his craft?

Part of it could be the fact that he’s spaced his films out a good bit. Since his directorial debut, the studio clustercuss that was Alien3, in 1993 he’s only directed 7 feature films to date. He’s filled his time between films making music videos for the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Aerosmith, and George Michael. Weird. Of Fincher’s feature films there’s only three that I actually haven’t seen (and not because I haven’t wanted to, just because of lack of time and such): The Game, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Alien3. The Game and Benjamin Button are well-known and have received heaps of praise so while I do want to see them, I kind of know what I’m getting into with them. I’m most intrigued by Alien3. From all I’ve heard/read, it’s pretty much a mess, but through no fault of Fincher’s. It was basically a studio (Fox) who kept making drastic cuts, including (apparently) cutting whole set pieces in half, futzing with the script, and generally wreaking  havoc with the director’s initial vision. Since then, he’s completely disowned the project. Nowhere in his official filmography or in his resume will he list it. It’s fascinating to me how something could go so awry in a way that is so out of the man who’s supposed to be in charge’s hands. I recently picked up the Alien Anthology on blu-ray so I’ll be checking that out soon.

Those are the three I haven’t seen, but what of the ones I have seen? How did I miss what a great director was involved in all of these? I mean Seven! That film is a masterclass on pacing and building suspense. And much unlike a lot of the other schlock serial killer movies we get now, he implied violence in a way that could never be matched by actually showing the violence outright. Then there’s Fight Club! This film is 12 years old this year, and you can STILL find things in there that you didn’t notice last time. The attention to detail is absolutely unparallelled, and granted it was an adaptation of a book, but the way the ideas are portrayed in that film still melt my face every time I watch it. It’s as beautiful as gritty can get. I guess it was his most recent output, The Social Network that finally woke me up (likely because they were actually marketing it as a ‘David Fincher film’ so finally I started putting the pieces together, because I’m smart like that). It was a beautiful film that took a subject that had no business being interesting and made it fascinating. The King’s Speech was also a beautiful movie, and I don’t have a problem with it winning the Oscar last year, but it also seemed like the obvious choice. I still think it probably should have gone to The Social Network.

So what’s next for Fincher? The man who’s always taken his time and spaced out his projects seems to be much more in-demand these days with that Oscar nomination. He’s got The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo coming out this December, which has one of the coolest trailers I’ve ever seen. Seriously, watch it. I get chills every time and I still have no clue what it’s about. Next year he’s Executive Producing and likely directing at least part of Netflix’s first original programming, a serialized drama based off a BBC mini-series called House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey. Then in 2013 he’s directing his version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I’m curious about that because he’s talking about using a lot of motion capture. I’ve talked a good bit about being on the fence about motion capture, but I think it can work well in the right hands, and those he has. I’ll leave you with an excerpt from the book Rebels on the Backlot by Sharon Waxman that pretty much sums up Fincher’s outlook. It’s an exchange between Fincher and Fox studio exec Arnon Milchan, just before greenlighting Fight Club.

About four weeks before production was to start, both the Fox bosses and Arnon Milchan began to panic. Milchan was sent on an errand to get Fincher to scale the movie back from $67 million to $62 million. Milchan invited Fincher to dinner at Les Deux Cafes, a French resteraunt in Hollywood, near the Egyptian Theater. They ordered a couple of glasses of wine and Milchan put an arm around Fincher and said, "David,Im going to tell you something and I know its not what you want to hear, but I think we're friends, and I think I can explain something that you may not have considered."

He paused before continuing. "Rupert Murdoch owns a baseball team, and he doesnt even like baseball," he explained. "He owns the Dodgers, and he doesnt care at all about baseball. He looks at it as an asset. This is something that can make money for him. And he looks at this movie as either an asset, or a bad investment. You are walking a very, very thin line here because you have taken a risky proposition and youve moved it over into becoming this ridiculously risky proposition. Rupert Murdoch doesnt care about movies, he doesnt own a movie studio because he likes movies. I dont know what to tell you. Youre going to have to either cut $5 million out of this budget, or theyre probably not going to make the movie."

Fincher thought about this for a while before responding. "Arnon, I completely understand what youre saying. It makes all the sense in the world to me. I understand Ruperts position, too. But my position is as follows: Im not making this movie for people who dont like movies. There are kids out there who go and wait in the sun and spend whatever allowance money they can to go to a Dodgers game, or to be outside the stadium when someone hits a home run. And they go there with their gloves that are oiled and wrapped with twine and run over by their parrents station wagons. And they are there to catch a fly ball because they love baseball. And thats who Im making this movie for."

Fincher took a beat before concluding. "I cant help you when it comes to cutting this number down, because its not going to come down. The budget is what it is. This is what we're going to spend. If you guys dont want to make the movie I completely respect that."

Milchan and Fincher remained on good terms throughout the production and release of FIght Club, despite the poor box office performance of the film. Every so often, he'd whine to Fincher about how much money he lost. Fincher would repond, "Dude, I have no sympathy for you. Ten years from now youll still be picking up chicks saying "You know, I was the producer of Fight Club."