David Fincher Articles
-
Notable Festivals: Cannes I’ve written before in my essays on Paul Thomas Anderson and The Coen Brothers about how 2007 was a watershed year in modern cinema. That specific year saw the release of three films that are widely considered to be the best films of the decade, the apex of efforts by specialty studio…
-
After the release of director David Fincher’s fifth feature, PANIC ROOM (2002), he took a five-year hiatus from feature work. However, this doesn’t mean he was lounging poolside with margaritas for half a decade. He was hard at work in other arenas: prepping a sprawling film adaptation of the infamous San Francisco Zodiac murders during…
-
The expansive, sprawling nature of FIGHT CLUB’s story meant that director David Fincher spent a great deal of the film’s production in a van traveling to and from the film’s four hundred locations. Naturally, he wished to downscale his efforts with his next project and find a story that took place in a single location.…
-
After the release of 1999’s FIGHT CLUB, director David Fincher’s feature career was well established. In theory, he had earned the privilege of never having to return to commercial and music video work again, but unlike a lot of filmmakers who followed this path, Fincher didn’t see features as the be-all-end-all of his career. So…
-
Notable Festivals: Venice 1999’s FIGHT CLUB was the first David Fincher film I ever saw, and it became a watershed moment for me in that it was absolutely unlike any movie I had ever seen. Granted, I was only in middle school at the time and hadn’t quite discovered the world of film at large…
-
Inducted into the Criterion Collection: 2012 Director David Fincher had built up quite a career for himself in the commercial and music video realm through his association with Propaganda Films. After the breakout success of his feature SE7EN (1995), Fincher was able to leverage this newfound clout into a collaboration with Propaganda for his third…
-
The proper film debut that should have come in 1992 finally arrived three years later when director David Fincher unleashed SE7EN upon an unsuspecting world. As he prepped his follow-up feature, 1997’s THE GAME, he found himself with very little time to indulge in the commercial and music video-making aspect of his career. In the intervening…
-
In the mid-90’s, a script by newcomer Andrew Kevin Walker called SE7EN (a stylization of “seven”) was making the rounds and generating excitement all over town. Readers and creative executives alike hailed its bold, original storyline and that ending. That audacious, coup-de-grace ending that nobody saw coming. That ending that could possibly never be put…
-
The abject failure of ALIEN 3 was director David Fincher’s first high-profile disappointment. It nearly made him swear off filmmaking altogether and he publicly even threatened as much— but when the dust settled, Fincher was able to slip back into commercial and music video directing with ease. Working once again in his comfort sphere, Fincher…
-
The runaway success of director James Cameron’s ALIENS sequel in 1986 turned the property into a major franchise for Twentieth Century Fox. Executives wanted to strike with a third ALIEN film while the iron was hot, but coming up with the right story proved tricky. Adding to the threequel’s film’s development woes, a revolving door…
-
Throughout the 80’s, David Fincher became a director in high demand thanks to his stunning music videos. As he crossed over into the world of commercials, his imaginative style and technical mastery began to command the attention of studio executives, who desired to see his visceral aesthetic to features. During the late 80’s and early…
-
The success of THE BEAT OF THE LIVE DRUM (1984), director David Fincher’s feature-length concert film for Rick Springfield, led to a very prolific period of music video assignments for the burgeoning auteur. In three short years, Fincher established himself as a top music video director, held in high regard and higher demand by the…