August 28 - David Fincher

 

Happy 58th Birthday, David Fincher! Born today in 1962 as David Andrew Leo Fincher, this American music video director, television producer, television director, film producer and film director is known for his stylish movies, which usually trended toward the dark and atmospheric. 

Fincher knew from a young age that he wanted to go into filmmaking. 

When he was two years old, the family moved to San Anselmo, California, where George Lucas was one of his neighbors. 

Fincher later moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he eventually graduated from Ashland High School.  

While there, he directed plays and designed sets and lighting after school. 

He was also a non-union projectionist at a second-run movie theater and a production assistant at the local NBC-affiliated television news station KOBI in Medford. 

Fincher also took on other odd jobs, such as fry cook, busboy, and dishwasher. 

Inspired by American film director George Roy Hill's ('The Sting') American Western drama/crime film 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', Fincher began making movies at age eight with an 8mm camera. 

Fincher was later employed by American film director and animator John Korty at his company Korty Films as a production head.  

Fincher then moved up the ranks and became a visual effects producer, working on the 1983 American animated fantasy comedy film 'Twice Upon a Time' under the direction of his former neighbor Lucas.  

Later that same year, Fincher, then twenty, accidentally landed a job with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) as an assistant cameraman and matte photographer. 

While there, he was an assistant cameraman on Welsh film director Richard Maquand's 1983 American epic space-opera fantasy/mystery film 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi'. 

The following year, Fincher worked on Steven Spielberg's 1984 American action-adventure film 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'. Afterwards, he received a Matte Photography credit. 

Later that same year, Fincher left ILM to direct a commercial for the American Cancer Society (ACS) that depicted a fetus smoking a cigarette.  

This quickly brought Fincher to the attention of producers in Los Angeles, California. He was given the chance to direct the 1985 American music/concert documentary film 'Rick Springfield:  Beat of the Live Drum'. 

In 1986, Fincher co-founded Propaganda Films, a production company of film and music videos. 

By 1990, the company was producing almost a third of all music videos made in the United States.

Like Fincher, a handful of directors had also honed their talents at Propaganda Films before moving on to feature films.  

Most notably, these included Spike Jonze ('Being John Malkovich', 'Adaptation'), Zach Snyder, Michael Bay, Gore Verbinski, Michael Gondry, and Antione Fuqua, among others. 

Though Fincher would continue to direct spots for Levi's®, Converse®, Nike®, Pepsi®, Revlon®, Sony®, Coca-Cola®, Chanel®, and other companies, he began to focus on music videos. 

Fincher later went on to work extensively with Madonna directing videos for "Express Yourself" (1989), "Oh Father" (1989), "Vogue" (1990) and "Bad Girl" (1992). Fincher also went on to direct Michael Jackson's "Who Is It" (1993).

Fincher's most notable music video included directing Billy Idol's music video "Cradle of Love" (1990).  

Fincher's music videos very rarely tell a story, focusing instead on conveying the mood of the song. 

In order to achieve this, the editing, the pans and close-ups of the camera closely follow the rhythms of the music and the lyrics in precise synchrony. 

Two years after making Jackson's music video, Fincher directed the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1995 American neo-noir psychological crime/mystery thriller film 'Seven' (stylized as 'Se7en').

‘Seven’ was the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year. On a budget of $33 million, it grossed $327.3 million worldwide. 

The film had been written by American screenwriter, producer, and script doctor Andrew Kevin Walker.  

At one point during production, the studio proposed several changes — which would later become a recurring theme throughout Walker's career — deeming it too dark for its target audience. 

However, both Fincher and Morgan Freeman (who co-starred) backed Walker's original script, and it eventually went unchanged. 

Upon release, ‘Se7en’ was met with critical acclaim and enormous box office success. 

It would also allow Walker to make a name for himself in the movie industry. 

The following year, ‘Se7rn was nominated an Oscar for Best Film Editing. However, it did not win. This occurred at the 68th Academy Awards in late March 1996. 

One month later, Walker earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. However, he did not win. This occurred at the 49th British Academy Film Awards in late April 1996. 

Three years later, Fincher directed the second film of which he is best known. This was the 1999 American drama/thriller film ‘Fight Club’. It had been based on American novelist and freelance journalist Charles Palahniuk’s titular 1995 satire fiction novel. 

Fincher was selected as director because of his enthusiasm for the story. He had developed the script with American screenwriter Jim Uhls and sought screenwriting advice from the cast and others in the film industry. 

Fincher and the cast had compared ‘Flight Club’ to ‘Rebel Witout a Cause’ (1955) and ‘The Graduate’ (1967), with a theme of conflict between Generation X and the value system of advertising. 

Studio executives did not like the film, and they restructured Fincher's intended marketing campaign to try to reduce anticipated losses.  

However, ‘Fight Club’ failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office, and received polarized reactions from critics. Nonetheless, it was cited as one of the most controversial and talked-about films of 1999.  

The Guardian saw it as an omen for change in American political life, and described its visual style as ground-breaking. 

The film later found commercial success with its DVD release, establishing ‘Fight Club’ as a cult classic and causing media to revisit the film.  

On the tenth anniversary of the film's release, The New York Times dubbed ‘Fight Club’ the "defining cult movie of our time.”

Also that same year, Fincher appeared in American filmmaker, photographer, and actor Spike Jonze's ('Adaptation') 1999 American comedy/fantasy film 'Being John Malkovich'. 

In the film, Fincher appears as Christopher Bing. However, he went uncredited.  

In the late 2000s, Fincher directed the third film of which he is best known. This was the 2008 American romance/fantasy drama film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

The film is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's titular 1922 short story.  

The following year, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ was nominated for thirteen Oscars. This included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Brad Pitt), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Taraji P. Henson). 

However, the film won three Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. This occurred at the 81st Academy Awards in late February 2009. 

One year later, Fincher directed the fourth film of which he is best known. This was the 2010 American biographical drama/history film ‘The Social Network’. 

Written by Aaron Sorkin, the film was adapted from American author Ben Mezrich’s 2009 biographical book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. 

On a budget of $40 million, the film went on the gross $224.9 million at the box office. 

The following year, ‘The Social Network’ won three Oscars for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Music (Original Score), and Best Film Editing. This occurred at the 83rd Academy Awards in late February 2011. 

Later that same year, Fincher directed the fifth and final film of which he is best known. This was the 2011 American/Swedish/Norwegian psychological crime mystery/thriller film ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. 

The film was based on Swedish journalist and writer Stieg Larsson’s titular 2005 mystery, thriller, suspense, Nordic noir crime fiction novel. 

On a budget of $90 million, the film went on to gross $232.6 million at the box office. 

The following year, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ won an Oscar for Best Film Editing. This occurred at the 84th Academy Awards in late February 2012.

Among his other credits, Fincher is known for directing 'Alien 3' (stylized as 'ALIEN³'), (1992), 'The Game' (1997), 'Panic Room' (2002), 'Zodiac' (2007), and 'Gone Girl' (2014). 

Fincher also served as an executive producer and director for two acclaimed Netflix shows. 

These included the American political thriller web television series House of Cards (2013–2018) and the American crime thriller web television series Mindhunter (2017–present).  

For the latter, Fincher won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode.    

According to his approach and style, Fincher likes to map out camera movements with computer-generated imagery, commission intricate sets, get heavily involved in post-production, and re-shoot footage after the principal photography has wrapped. 

However, he does not normally use hand-held cameras when he shoots a film, preferring cameras on a tripod. 

One cinematic technique favored by Fincher is the wide-angle shot. He uses wide shots (also known as full shots or long shots) to display a character's environment and situation. 

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 1990s and early 2000s. 

Fincher focuses on serial killers, robbers, brawlers, and murderers alike. 

Audiences might also know that he has a reputation for being an exacting, obsessively technical director.  

However, dark subjects and visual meticulousness belie Fincher’s overlooked secret weapon: his ability to connect with actors on a human level to draw out authentic and defining performances.  

This humanity, this messy warmth, doesn’t simply transcend Fincher’s bleakness and robot-like technical rigor: it exists because of it.  

Fincher has been active from 1980–present. 

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