He is one of the most important directors of the last decades.
His aesthetics and narrative skills are trendsetters in the film industry, and he’s a living
proof that it’s possible to make politically incorrect movies from within the core of Hollywood.
Today we’re going to find out how David Fincher became who he is today.
David Leo Fincher was born on the 28th of August of 1962, in Denver, Colorado.
His father, Howard Kelly “Jack” Fincher, was chief of the advertisement department
for Life magazine.
His mother, Claire Mae, was a nurse who worked on patients struggling with mental illness
and drug addiction.
Both would become a key component in their son’s creative exploriations.
Jack would take him to San Francisco to watch all kinds of movies, from adventure classics
to more experimental films.
He also taught him the value of moving images.
As for Claire, her work was like a rough look at the darkest moments of human beings.
In 1964, the Finchers moved to Marin County, in California.
David kept going to the movie theatre over there; and became obsessed with filmmaking
after watching Butch Cassidy.
After watching Paul Newman and Robert Redford as two anti-heroes fighting against the system
in some spectacularly shot sequences, Fincher decided he wanted to become a film director
himself.
At the age of 8, David started making short films with an 8mm camera that his parents
bought.
These were mostly clips of his family life, but with a very particular perspective.
He used to film his parents from under a table or from the highest steps of a ladder.
One of David’s earliest influences was one of his house neighbors: George Lucas.
The now acclaimed director was just starting production of his second feature, American
Graffiti.
David would see Lucas picking up the newspaper just as he was leaving for school.
The mere thought of a movie director living so close to him convinced a young Fincher
that he could make movies of his own.
Also during that time, David realized that the dangers of the real world could be closer
than he thought: his neighborhood was the area where the first Zodiac Killer murders
took place during the late sixties.
He even saw how police officers escorted a school bus that was thought to be the Zodiac’s
next target.
For him, it was like having a real monster nearby, which was as horrific as it was fascinating.
But the Finchers’ life changed when David turned 14 years old, and they had to move
to Ashland, Oregon.
This was devastating for David because he thought he would be leaving all his dreams
behind.
However, his passion for cinema did not disappear, and he found new ways to express it.
He worked as a projectionist in a local movie theatre, where he was able to watch films
like Klute, and All the President's Men, both by Alan J. Pakula several times.
Once he finished high school, David went back to San Francisco, commited to make a career
in the film industry.
He first enrolled in a summer film course, but realized right away that he wouldn’t
learn much there.
He noticed all his classmates wanted to become actors or directors, so he looked for work
as a focus puller or best boy.
He got his first job in the animation company Korty Films, where he worked as a production
assistant.
His high efficiency was quickly noticed, and got him involved in more important tasks around
the photo lab, on the animation desk, and also got him the role of assistant director.
In the 1983 feature film Twice Upon a Time he was head of the special effects department.
The experience Fincher earned in Korty Films allowed him to get a job at Industrial Light
& Magic, the special effects company founded by his admired George Lucas.
Over there he worked as an assistant camera for Return of the Jedi, also known as Star
Wars: Episode VI.
He then worked on matte painting, and was matte photographer for Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom.
He became used to working on big-budget productions and learned from directors such as Lucas and
Steven Spielberg.
During his stay on ILM, Fincher started directing TV commercials.
The first one was called “Smoking Fetus”, and showed a small fetus smoking just as the
title said.
This ad for the American Cancer Society stood out for its blunt message and the director’s
vision.
Fincher showed that he could combine well thought-out aesthetics with a strong subject
matter.
As a result, he received many more job offers in the advertising industry.
It didn’t take long for him to start working for the big brands like Levi, Coca Cola, and
Nike; where he got to direct talents like Andre Agassi and future stars like Angelina
Jolie.
His style became recognizable: vertiginous, with strong backlighting, and full of shocking
images.
His professional growth became exponential and, in 1986, he founded his own advertising
company called Propaganda Films, giving work to other new and upcoming filmmakers.
At the same time, Fincher conquered the world of music videos, which were at their peak
thanks to the success of MTV.
His first video was “Bop ‘Til You Drop”, by Rick Springfield, and just a few years
later, David had worked with artists and bands such as George Michael, Aerosmith, Sting,
and Billy Idol.
But his biggest collaboration was with Madonna, for whom he made “Express Yourself”, “Oh
Father” and “Vogue”.
These music videos perfectly illustrate Madonna’s transformation during the early 90s.
And it was precisely Madonna who offered him the chance of directing the feature film Truth
or Dare, a documentary about her Blond Ambition World Tour.
But Fincher declined the offer: despite the fact that he wanted to make a film really
bad, he decided to wait for a better opportunity.
He then received another proposal from 20th Century Fox, as they were looking for a director
for Alien 3.
Fincher loved the franchise and liked the script for the third movie because it reminded
him of horror classics and haunted houses.
But production of Alien 3 was problematic to say the least.
Producers Walter Hill, David Giler, and Gordon Carroll, took ideas from many rejected scripts
and created a mix of many stories set in a space refinery turned into a prison.
Ripley, the main character, lands on this ship and unknowingly carries a queen alien
inside of her.
Regardless of this complicated storyline, the then 27 year old David Fincher accepetd
the challenge.
He stated it would be an ominous, violent, nihilistic and rough film, but with a higher
aesthetic sense.
One of his main influences would be the russian director Andrei Tarkovski.
Fincher also wanted the alien character to be a faster and disgusting beast.
Executives loved the idea.
The relation between Fincher and the cast also seemed promising: during their first
meetings, actress and co-producer Sigourney Weaver asked him how he pictured Ripley.
Fincher understood she was testing him and answered: “Bald,” for he wanted this new
incarnation of the heroin to have that look.
The actress noticed the director had a unique approach and agreed to shave her head as long
as the producers would pay her a million dollars more.
Fincher, also wanted to rewrite the script he was given, and called novice writer Rex
Pickett.
However, the contract stipulated that the last version of the script would be written
by Hill and Giler.
The shooting of Alien 3 took place at Pinewood Studios in London, and from then on it became
a complete chaos.
On the first day, Fincher and his team only had a few pages of the script at hand.
Two weeks in, cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, who also worked in Blade Runner, had to take
a step back due to health issues.
He was soon replaced by Alex Thompson.
Fincher also had to put up with the studio executives, who didn’t share his vision
and forced him to make changes.
One of those was the origin of the new alien.
It was first supposed to come out of a dog, but it was later changed to an ox, just to
be later changed back to the dog.
20th Century Fox was going through a delicate financial period, and had already spent millions
in preproduction.
As they desperately needed a hit, they took a shot with Alien and moved the release date
to summer of 1992.
Although the pressure from the studio was tough, Fincher managed to work the best he
could and stayed true to himself.
He even shot illegally, when the Fox higher-ups were not around.
One of the scenes that was shot in secret was the iconic one where Ripley is about to
be eaten by the monster.
Fincher’s dedication and courage impressed his cast and crew, who defended him every
time someone threatened to fire him.
As if things on set weren’t hard enough, the situation got even worse when postproduction
began.
Fincher lost all authority, and Fox took care of editing the material as they pleased.
Alien 3 premiered in May of 1992 with devastating reviews.
Most of them said that it was confusing and lacked spirit.
The financial outlook wasn’t good either: it costed 50 million dollars and barely earned
55 in the United States.
International ticket office was a little better, but it was far from the huge success Fox was
expecting.
Fincher was very disappointed with the experience.
He even said: “A lot of people hated Alien 3, but no one hated it more than I did.”
Nevertheless, the movie would gain a following over the years and showed how Fincher could
manage to capture his own vision even inside such a conflictive environment.
But soon after Alien 3, the director went back to advertising and music videos.
He directed “Bad Girl”, by Madonna, and “Love is Strong”, with the Rolling Stones.
The opportunity to make another movie seemed distant.
In fact, he even said during that period that he’d rather die of cancer than doing another
big studio feature.
But everything changed when he was offered a script from New Line Cinema.
It was titled Se7en and was written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote it while living in
New York and working in Tower Records.
Fincher read it and was immediately captivated by the story about two detectives chasing
a psychopath who commits crimes according to the seven deadly sins.
He could easily understand the darkness that Walker put on the pages and was sure he was
the one who could capture it on the screen.
Fincher’s ideas were well-received by New Line Cinema.
His concept of a gray city where it always rains was a metaphor for the decay of its
own citizens.
Production designer Arthur Max and Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji took care of
the gritty look the film would have.
The main influences for Se7en came from Klute and The French Connection, especially the
handheld camera scenes.
Fincher had a leading couple who also were his principal allies: Morgan Freeman and Brad
Pitt.
Freeman played William Somerset, a seasoned detective ready to retire, and Pitt played
David Mills, a young and impulsive agent.
Back then, Pitt was considered the new Hollywood’s biggest star, and this film was a big challenge
for him.
Meanwhile, Kevin Spacey was called to be John Doe, the wicked mind behind the murders.
To keep his presence in secret until the third act, Fincher didn’t add his name to the
opening credits.
And talking about that unsettling intro, the director used a remix of the song “Closer”,
by Nine Inch Nails as the soundtrack.
This marked the beginning of a long-time collaboration between David Fincher and Trent Reznor, who
was the lead singer of said band.
As an enthusiastic perfectionist, Fincher was aware of every detail in Se7en, and was
able to shoot several takes.
However, New Line Cinema executives were not pleased and wanted to cut the ending with
—spoiler alert— the head in the box and the confrontation between Mills and John Doe.
Unhappy with the idea of reshooting the final scene, Fincher convinced producer Arnold Kopelson
by telling him that the contents in the box would be a topic of conversation in meetings
and parties.
While he convinced New Line to keep the box scene, producers where still not happy with
such a perverse and depressing ending.
In this case, it was Brad Pitt’s intervention that helped, since he fought alongside the
director to keep the film as it was.
In the end, Fincher got away with it, but the company still asked him to add a brief
epilogue with encouraging words from Somerset.
Premiered in 1995, Se7en costed 33 million dollars and earned 327.
It was also praised by the critics, who emphasized on Fincher’s creative work.
After Se7en, David Fincher became a respected and famous filmmaker.
A visionary with a powerful style, capable of high precision filmmaking and obsessed
with the darkest sides of human psychology.
His work greatly mirrored some existential fears that American citizens started feeling
during the nineties.
His career on movies received a huge boost that he most certainly deserved.
After Se7en, and with all the critics’ eyes on him, Fincher directed The Game, where Michael
Douglas plays an arrogant multimillionaire who starts being followed by a mysterious
organization.
For the director, the movie was about the loss of control and ego.
Reviews were mixed and it didn’t earn as much money as Se7en did.
But with time it gained more respect and love from newer audiences, and confirmed the some
of the director’s trademarks: characters in dreadful environments, criticism to the
status quo and unexpected twist endings.
But Fincher’s career reached an even higher point in 1999 with Fight Club.
Chuck Palahniuk’s novel could have been adapted by directors like Peter Jackson, Bryan
Singer and Danny Boyle.
But Fincher managed to get the job and knew exactly how to strengthen the satiric and
extravagant tone of the book.
He took the book’s visual style and subversive characters to the limit and made a film that
wasn’t too popular when it premiered, but soon became a cult feature and is now considered
as one of the most representative films of the 90’s.
From that moment on, Fincher established himself as first-rate director.
He showed us the struggle of a mother and her daughter trying to survive in Panic Room.
He went back to the field of serial killers with Zodiac, about the search of the criminal
who scared him as a kid.
He then explored his more sensitive side with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which
gave him a first Oscar nomination for Best Director.
He got also nominated for The Social Network, a film about Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg,
and directed an adaptation for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the successful
detective novel by Stieg Larsson.
Fincher was also one of the pioneers in creating original content for streaming platforms.
More precisely, Netflix.
He was the executive producer of House of Cards, for which he directed the first two
episodes, and was the creative force behind Mindhunter.
He also produced the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots, and directed the movie Mank,
about Herman J. Mankiewicz, Citizen Kane’s screenwriter.
This last film also meant some sort of closure for the director, as it was actually written
by his father before he passed away.
David Fincher managed to turn his passion for cinema into his profession, by means of
hard work and perseverance.
Although he had to rough start on the industry and had to fight hard to keep his vision,
he never stopped outdoing himself with each film, and defined an incredibly unforgettable
body of work.