Best Known As: The director of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher went from being a director of flashy TV commercials and music videos in the 1980s and '90s to being one of Hollywood's best-known auteur filmmakers, with an Oscar nomination for 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher grew up in Marin County, California and started in the movie business with Industrial Light and Magic, the company owned by George Lucas. Fincher went into making TV commercials and music videos -- famously for Paula Abdul ("Straight Up"), Madonna ("Vogue"), and George Michael ("Freedom") -- then got his shot at directing a feature film, the ill-fated production of Alien 3 (1992, starring Sigourney Weaver). Since then he's had mixed results at the box office, but gained a loyal fan base and the guarded admiration of critics for dark and stylish thrillers that include Se7en and Fight Club (1995 and 1999, both starring Brad Pitt), The Game (1997, starring Michael Douglas), Panic Room (2002, starring Jodie Foster) and Zodiac (2007, starring Jake Gyllenhaal).
Fincher served as executive producer for the BMW series of short films known as The Hire (2001-02, starring Clive Owen).
First Major Screen Credit: Twice Upon a Time (1983)
Biography
With only a handful of credits tucked under his belt, wunderkind prodigy David Fincher became one of the most celebrated artists to scale the heights of Tinseltown during the late '90s and early 2000s. Although Fincher met with some derision early on, as the director of the critically excoriated Alien 3 in 1992, his work on Seven three years down the road won him critical approval and unanimous acceptance across the industry, and marked only the beginning of an influential, splashy career.
Born on May 10, 1962, Fincher originally hailed from Denver. Like one of his predecessors, the infamous Kenneth Anger, he stepped behind a camera at the tender age of eight and, particularly inspired by the work of George Lucas, reeled in his first major industry job ten years later at Lucas' own Industrial Light and Magic. After his four-year stint at ILM, during which he worked on such productions as Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Fincher helmed commercials and music videos for the likes of Aerosmith, Paula Abdul, and Madonna. Following the disappointment of Alien 3, his directorial debut, the filmmaker received Andrew Kevin Walker's screenplay for Seven, and almost immediately signed on to helm it; it reached cinemas in late 1995. A noirish, grimly atmospheric crime thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as detectives following the gruesome trail of a serial killer (Kevin Spacey), innumerable critics hailed the picture as one of the most innovative and unsettling of the decade, and duly established its director as one of Hollywood's most exciting and unusual new talents. Relentlessly grim and oozing with rancid cynicism, this A-budget feature strayed so far from the escapist fare that typically primes a film for mainstream box-office success that many insiders anticipated limited appeal, but Fincher's stylistic panache and inhibition-defying gutsiness turned Seven into a runaway smash, on both commercial and critical fronts. Because the acclaim surrounding Seven made the relatively unknown Fincher one of Hollywood's hottest young directors, considerable anticipation and buzz surrounded his follow-up, The Game. Released in 1997 and starring Michael Douglas as a soulless attorney who becomes caught up in the sinister, Kafka-esque machinations of the titular scheme, the work boasted almost as much feel-bad cynicism as Seven, but failed to resonate with audiences or critics who found it hopelessly convoluted and shallow.
The relative disappointment of The Game, however, did little to dim the excitement that accompanied Fincher's next project, a screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's apocalyptic, of-the-moment novel Fight Club. Featuring a sterling cast that included Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, and Seven collaborator Pitt, the 1999 film -- about a couple of depressed urban loners (Norton and Pitt), who vent their aggressions in ultra-violent street brawls -- was easily one of the most publicized of the decade and no less dynamic than either of Fincher's prior films. Fueled in equal measure by stylistic audacity and the spirit of disenfranchised machismo, Fight Club failed to become the incendiary hit both its fans and detractors predicted, although its pre-millennial nihilism influenced directors for years to come and garnered a passionate cult fan base. In spite (or perhaps because) of Fight Club, expectations were high for Fincher's next project, Panic Room, a thriller starring Jodie Foster, Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam, and penned by the prolific David Koepp (Bad Influence, Carlito's Way). As pure an exercise in suspense as could be expected from the director, the film ratcheted up tension as it told the tale of a newly single Manhattan mother (Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Kristen Stewart) who use a high-tech "safe space" to protect themselves from a particularly nasty trio of burglars. Calling to mind the brutality of Peckinpah, Panic Room was greeted by positive reviews and a healthy box-office take, and marked a successful return to the big screen for the two-years-dormant Foster. Dormancy would characterize Fincher's career in the five years following Panic Room, although his name would be bandied about in association with a slew of high-profile projects (including Mission: Impossible III and the feature-film adaptation of Lords of Dogtown). When he finally returned in 2007, it was with Zodiac, a period thriller that resembled, at least on the surface, his Seven salad days. Pairing the director with such young, in-demand performers as Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo to tell the true story of the cryptic serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the early '70s, the highly anticipated project was given a March berth similar to that of Panic Room.
As Fincher made the media rounds for Zodiac, he was deep into production on the New Orleans-set The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, an adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story of the same name that reunited him with Brad Pitt, and co-starred Pitt's onscreen spouse from Babel, Cate Blanchett. When that film finally hit theaters, during the awards season of 2008, it rung up strong box office receipts, and garnered 13 Oscar nominations, more than any other film that year. In addition to Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay nods, the Academy handed Fincher his first nomination for Best Director. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
David Fincher was born on August 28, 1962 in Denver, Colorado to parents Howard and Claire Fincher. When Fincher was two years old, the family moved to San Anselmo in Marin County, California. Howard Fincher worked as a bureau chief for Life under the name Jack Fincher, and Claire Fincher was a mental health nurse who worked in drug addiction programs.[1] Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens where he graduated from Ashland High School. Inspired by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Fincher began making movies at age eight with an 8 mm camera. Fincher eschewed the film school route, getting a job loading cameras and doing other hands-on work for John Korty's Korty Films. He was later hired by Industrial Light & Magic in 1980, where he worked on productions for Twice Upon a Time, Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In 1984, he left ILM to direct a commercial for the American Cancer Society, that would show a fetus smoking a cigarette. This quickly brought Fincher to the attention of producers in Los Angeles and he was given the chance to direct the documentary The Beat of the Live Drum featuring Rick Springfield in 1985. Though he would continue to direct spots for companies like Revlon, Converse, Nike, Pepsi, Sony, and Levi's, Fincher soon discovered music videos and went on to direct many promos.
After directing several popular music videos, Fincher's feature debut was Alien³ (1992), which was at the time the most expensive picture ever made by a first-time director. While it received an Oscar nomination for special effects, the film was not well received by critics or moviegoers. Fincher became involved with several disputes with 20th Century Fox over script and budget issues, which eventually led Fincher to disassociate himself with the production in later years, as evidenced by his refusal to record a commentary track for the 9-disc Alien Quadrilogy box-set released in 2003 as well as having the film removed from his filmography sections on the DVDs for Fight Club and Panic Room. In "The Director's Cut",[2] he blames the producers for not putting the necessary trust in him. He has said that they were not interested in making a good film but instead wanted to exploit the franchise in the most profitable manner. Even after the film had already opened in the USA, a Japanese trailer still advertised a storyline that was not in the movie but which the producers would have preferred because of greater expected popularity at the international box office. After this, Fincher retreated back into the world of commercial and music video directing, earning a Grammy for the Rolling Stones' video "Love Is Strong" (1994).
Seven
In 1995 Fincher directed Seven. The film, based on a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, told the story of two detectives (played in the movie by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) tracking down a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. The film grossed more than $100 million domestically (over $300 million internationally).[3] The chairman of New Line Cinema, Arnold Kopelson, originally refused to allow filming of the shocking climactic scene. With the aid of Brad Pitt, who stated that he would not be involved with the picture if its ending were changed, Fincher was allowed to film the original scene and use it in the final cut.
The Game
After the success of Seven, Fincher went on to film The Game (1997), a Twilight Zone-style thriller which shared many similarities in style with Seven. The story focused on a closed off San Francisco businessman (played by Michael Douglas) who receives an unusual gift from his younger brother (Sean Penn), in which he becomes the main player of a role-playing game that takes over his life. It was well received by critics despite middling box-office returns.
Fight Club
Fight Club was a screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name about an insomniac office worker who opens up a club devoted exclusively to bare knuckle fighting for men. Featuring Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, and Seven collaborator Brad Pitt, the 1999 film was easily one of the most publicized of the year but was an early disappointment at the box-office and received mixed reviews. Fight Club was panned by several critics and alienated audiences leading to its box office failure in the United States.
However many critics and audiences later changed their perceptions and the film appeared on many 'best of the year' lists and soon developed a following. Entertainment Weekly, which had originally given the film a negative grade of D, later ranked the DVD #1 on its list of "The Top 50 DVDs You Need To Own."
In 2006 the British magazine Total Film voted Fight Club number four in the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, beaten only by Jaws, Vertigo and Goodfellas at 3, 2 and 1 respectively.[4]
Panic Room
In 2002, Fincher followed up with the thriller Panic Room. Though the film impressively pulled in over $92 million at the U.S. box office, it was not as well received by critics as Seven, Fight Club or The Game. The story follows a single mother (Jodie Foster) and her daughter as they hide in a safe room of their new house, away from criminals (Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam and Fight Club collaborator Jared Leto) bent on finding a missing fortune. Fincher acknowledged Panic Room as a more mainstream thriller, describing the film as "[basically] a date movie" and a "really good B movie" about "two people trapped in a closet" on the DVD's audio commentary.
Zodiac
Five years after Panic Room, Fincher returned on March 2, 2007 with Zodiac, an adaptation of Robert Graysmith's books about the hunt for the Zodiac Killer that starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, and Brian Cox. The vast majority of the film was shot digitally on a Thompson Viper Film Stream Camera. It was the first of Fincher's films to be shot digitally. However, it was not entirely digital: High-speed film cameras were used for the Blue Rock Springs and Presidio Heights murder scenes for the slow-motion shots.[5] It was originally to be released in the fall of 2006 but was pushed back after Fincher refused to cut 20 minutes off the film.
Zodiac was one of the best-reviewed films of that year, with only two other 2007 films appearing on more top-10 lists (No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood).[6] However, the film struggled at the box office, earning only $33 Million in the U.S.[7] Despite an aggressive campaign by the studio, expectations surrounding Robert Downey Jr.'s supporting performance, Fincher's direction and Vanderbilt's adapted script, the film did not earn a single Academy Award nomination.[8]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A story about life and death, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is Fincher's latest film. It is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of the same name. The film was Fincher's third with Brad Pitt. The film started shooting in November 2006 in New Orleans, before moving on to the Virgin Islands, Montreal, and L.A.. Both Zodiac and this film are co-productions of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. The budget for the film was estimated at $150 million, partly due to the CGI effects used to reverse the aging in Brad Pitt's character. The film is the first PG-13 film directed by Fincher. It received 13 nominations at the 81st Academy Awards, including Fincher's first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.
Ness
On September 5, 2008, Firstshowing.net reported that Matt Damon is in talks to play Eliot Ness in Ness with Fincher lined up to direct, as well as being attached to direct an adaptation of the graphic novel Torso by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko, and that the producers were looking for locations in Cleveland, Ohio.[9]
The Killer
On November 1, 2007, Variety reported that Fincher was attached to do an adaptation of a French graphic novel called The Killer by Alexis Nolent, which was optioned by Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, with Pitt attached to star in the film. Scripted by Allesandro Camon, the film is about a top assassin, with his conscience getting the better of him, and a cop on his tail.[10]
Black Hole
On February 20, 2008, Variety reported that Fincher was set to direct an adaptation of the Charles Burns comic book, Black Hole. The film, set up at Paramount Pictures, is set to follow sexually active teens who begin to transmit a 'bug' sexually, which causes strange mutations. As of now, no production timetable has been set.
The Goon
On July 2, 2008, it was announced that Fincher has optioned Eric Powell's award winning comic, The Goon. BLUR STUDIO is to develop as a CG animated feature film with Dark Horse Entertainment for Universal Pictures.[11]
Heavy Metal
Variety reported that Paramount Pictures will make another animated film with David Fincher, based on the Heavy Metal comics. Fincher is set to direct one of the film's eight or nine segments, which will also feature other directors such as animator Tim Miller and magazine owner and publisher Kevin Eastman directing another. The film is envisioned as being an animated, adult-themed R-rated film.[12] On July 14, 2008 Paramount Pictures announced the movie is put on hold.[13] On September 4, 2008, it was announced the film was to be made by Columbia Pictures, and a few of the directors attached to make a segment each includes Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and Guillermo del Toro, as well as James Cameron.[14]
Chef
In November 2008, Production Weekly announced Sony picked up the rights to a comedy entitled Chef with Keanu Reeves in a starring role. Fincher told MTV "It's like a celibate sex comedy if that means anything. It's really about the creative process," the filmmaker explained. "It's truly an aromatic art-form, making food. I love that idea. And I love Keanu's passion for that world." Written by Steven Knight, the project is now set up at Paramount Pictures with Fincher set to direct, a project he has planned for many years.[15]
