Justin Jaeger and Tommy Metz
November 14, 2023
The Film Board (TruStory FM)
This month, The Film Board is taking on David Fincher’s latest, The Killer. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt sat down with Justin Jaeger and Tommy Metz III to talk about making the movie, how movies are made, and why David Fincher’s reputation in one important area is wildly overstated.
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Listen to the full podcast on The Killer:
Photograph: Frank Ockenfels/Netflix
The director is one of Hollywood’s most unpredictable film-makers. He discusses making a shamelessly pulpy ‘B-movie’, the misogynistic legacy of Fight Club – and the urge to film 100 takes
Steve Rose
October 27, 2023
The Guardian
For anyone who thought David Fincher’s last film, Mank, was the beginning of a new highbrow phase for the director, his latest offering will be something of a jolt. Whereas Mank – on the writing of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane – was a sumptuous, substantial, awards-friendly hymn to old Hollywood (it was nominated for 10 Oscars and won two), his new film, The Killer, is a pulpy, violent, almost wilfully two-dimensional hitman thriller adapted from a comic book. “I will never be a more mature film-maker. I will carry the 12-year-old me with me wherever I go,” he says proudly.
Rather than growing up, it looks like Fincher is having fun – albeit in a highly controlled, Fincheresque way. He is in a particularly relaxed mode when we meet at a hotel in London. He looks healthy and he is full of wit and energy, almost as if this isn’t the umpteenth interview he has done in his 40-year career.
Despite being one of the most renowned and distinctive film-makers in the business, Fincher is not comfortable with being described as an “auteur”, or even an artist. “There’s this fallacy that film directors come in and explain exactly what it is that they want to see and then they go to their trailer,” he says. “And then it’s presented to them and they make a few revisions, and then it’s trapped in aspic for all eternity. That’s just not it. It’s much more sock puppetry and daycare and plumbing – you know, pouring concrete. It’s a lot more physical labour than people probably imagine.”
Nevertheless, with The Killer, he says: “I just didn’t want to take it quite as seriously.” He describes the film as “like a good B-movie”: lean, gripping and, despite some bone-crunching action, surprisingly funny. Michael Fassbender’s lone‑wolf hitman is almost comical in his fastidiousness, from his defiantly un-Bond dress code (“like a German tourist”), to his reusable folding cup to take on jobs, to his playlist of Smiths songs. But his well-laid plans go off the rails, forcing him to break his own rule: “Anticipate, don’t improvise.”
El director de obras míticas como ‘Seven’, ‘El club de la lucha’ o ‘Zodiac’ regresa al escenario del primer con ‘El asesino’, un ‘thriller’ sobre un ejecutor profesional químicamente perfecto.
Luis Martínez, Venecia
25 octubre 2023
El Mundo
El asesino, el último trabajo de David Fincher (Denver, Colorado, 1962), es, ante todo, una película tremendamente moral. Sí, trata de la historia de un muy inmoral asesino a sueldo, pero, sobre todo, reflexiona sobre las consecuencias de los actos, sobre la ética del trabajo, sobre el arrepentimiento por los errores cometidos y, apurando, sobre la precisión con la que el mal, así en general, hace de las suyas. De paso, la película supone el regreso de su autor a la irrenunciable fascinación por el crimen en su más brutal y evidente crudeza.
De la mano de Michael Fassbender, se cuenta la historia de un asesino a sueldo que se ve obligado a intentar paliar los efectos siempre tremendos de una equivocación fatal. Nos recibe en Venecia poco después de la presentación de la película en la Mostra. En el Lido, precisamente, estrenó hace casi 25 años El club de la lucha.
Lee la entrevista completa / Read the full interview in Spanish
The retrospective supported by Netflix, Patron of the Cinémathèque Française (French Cinematheque), will open with a preview screening of The Killer followed by a discussion with Fincher. The next day, a screening of Zodiac will be followed by a Master Class with the director.
From October 13 to 22, 2023. Paris (France).
October 13:
October 14:
October 19:
October 20:
October 21:
October 22:
Opening date for reservations: August 22, 2023 – 11:00 a.m.
Zodiac / “David Fincher by David Fincher, a Film Lesson”: September 14, 2023 – 11:00 a.m.
Presentation of the retrospective by Guillaume Orignac (in French).
Eren Celeboglu (IMDb, Twitter, Instagram)
July 3, 2023
Because We Love Making Movies (Instagram, Facebook)
Because We Love Making Movies is an ongoing conversation with filmmakers who work behind the scenes to make the movies we love. These are the invisible warriors we don’t think of: Production & Costume Designers, Cinematographers, Editors, Producers, and the whole family of artists who make movies with their hands and hearts.
Today, I speak with Monika Gossmann (Instagram), an incredible actor, director, and acting teacher, who I first became of aware of after seeing her wonderful performance in David Fincher’s Mank. We discuss her collaboration with Fincher, Gary Oldman‘s inspiring professionalism and generosity, as well as the crucial role of Producer Ceán Chaffin in the creation of a nurturing working environment. We talk about how actors are storytellers and filmmakers, how she discovered her calling as an artist, and how she feeds her soul as an artist.
Listen to the podcast:
Desert island movies, David Fincher, and the poetry of color.
Vincent Taylor, Senior Colorist
May 19, 2023
MixingLight.com
Eric Weidt has worked as a Colorist on impressive projects such as Mindhunter and Mank. He spent 15 years in Paris working with fashion photographers and filmmakers (developing look-up tables) and has a BA in theatre arts.
Eric has worked exclusively with director David Fincher since 2015. We delve into his relationship with the famous director and explore his process for his incredible Black & White work in the motion picture ‘Mank’. We even talk about the one film he would watch if he only had one choice (stuck on a desert island with electricity).
Eric Weidt: “I’m remastering some of his old classics right now. Like, I remastered The Social Network [in 4K], I’m in the process of remastering Panic Room, and I’m also just starting on Seven“.
Listen to the podcast:
MixingLight.com
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Producer: Kayla Uribe
Executive Producer: MixingLight.com
Supporting Sponsor: FilmLight
Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm
April 6, 2023
Life in the Credits
Life in the Credits is an educational podcast where hosts Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm learn about the entertainment industry from the people who work in it. They discuss the guest’s career, a feature film, and play a game. For anyone who dreams of working on movies, wants to learn about film-making, or loves watching shows.
Danny González, Gaffer, joins Susan and Ben to discuss Mank, a 2020 biographical drama. Danny shares what it’s like having a career in the lighting department for movies, TV, and commercials. He discusses the process of building a lighting design for a show, the difference between lighting on a sound stage versus on location, executing a particularly difficult scene on the set of Devotion, and filming on Hawaii on the deck of Queen Anne’s Revenge from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides during a huge storm. We also get a behind-the-scenes look into Danny’s work on the Oscar-winning film Mank. Danny plays our “Fincher’s Familiar Films” game.
Listen to the podcast:
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Follow Danny on Instagram or IMDb.
Find out about our guests and upcoming events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, contribute to our Patreon, or shop at our webpage.
Life in Our Credits:
Executive Producer: Michelle Levin
Logo Art: Melissa Durkin
Music Composer and Performer: Steve Trowbridge
Mouloud Achour
March 8, 2023
Clique TV (Canal+)
The immense director David Fincher granted us a 90-minute exclusive interview with Mouloud Achour. This new Clique X is a masterclass from the American genius about the secrets of his filmography that has become so emblematic over the years: Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network…
In English with subtitles in French.
Glasgow Film
February 15, 2023
After making his name creating iconic music videos for some of the biggest pop stars of the 20th Century, including George Michael, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, David Fincher made his feature film debut to mixed results, directing the third installment in the Alien series in 1992. Our celebration of this exacting filmmaker’s work begins with the film that came next, Se7en (1995), an unforgettable serial killer horror whose influence in style and tone is still felt across film and TV today.
Fincher’s subsequent films have made him one of the most sought-after and critically acclaimed (and occasionally divisive) directors working today. With his new film The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, scheduled for release in late 2023, we are delighted to offer audiences a chance to dive into Fincher’s dark world on the big screen through March and April at GFT. The season includes several screenings on 35mm, our first chance to screen Fincher’s Oscar-winning Covid-era release Mank, and a special discussion around one of his most enduringly beloved and controversial films entitled ‘Yes, We Are Going to Talk About Fight Club’.
Se7en: 15 – 19 March
Fight Club: 21 March – 26 March + panel discussion
Panic Room: 5 April
Zodiac: 29 March – 2 April
The Curious Benjamin Button: 9 – 10 April
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 23 April
The Social Network: 16 – 19 April
Gone Girl: 26 April
Mank: 30 April – 3 May
CineMasters: David Fincher Ticket deal
Buy tickets to 6 or more different titles in the season and get one of those tickets free. Add all tickets in one transaction and the discount will be automatically applied to your basket at checkout.
The Fincher Analyst Reporter-at-Large, Joe Frady, will attend and cover the whole season.
nin.com
Release date: February 2, 2023
The critically acclaimed score for David Fincher‘s Mank from Academy Award™ winners Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. Featuring 90 minutes of new compositions in the style of orchestral, big band, and foxtrot music of the 1940s.
3xLP pressed on 180-gram vinyl in a deluxe hinged box set. Foil-stamped canvas spine.
Tracklist
Side A
1. Welcome to Victorville
2. Trapped!
3. All This Time
4. Enter Menace
5. First Dictation
6. A Fool’s Paradise
7. Once More unto The Breach
8. About Something
9. Glendale Station
10. What’s at Stake?
11. Every Thing You Do
Side B
12. Cowboys and Indians
13. Presumed Lost
14. (If Only You Could) Save Me
15. Means of Escape
16. All This Time (A White Parasol)
17. M.G.M.
18. A Respectable Bribe
19. I, Governor of California
20. A Leaden Silence
21. San Simeon Waltz
22. Time Running Out
Side C
23. Mank-Heim
24. Lend Me A Buck?
25. You Wanted to See Me?
26. In Your Arms Again
27. The Dark Night of The Soul
28. Clouds Gather
29. Way Back When
30. An Idea Takes Hold
31. Marion’s Exit
32. Absolution
Side D
33. Scenes from Election Night
34. Election Night-Mare
35. All This Time (Dance Interrupted)
36. All This Time (Victorious)
37. I’m Eve
38. A Rare Bird
39. Look at What We Did
40. Menace Returns
41. Forgive Me
42. Final Regards
43. Where Else Would I Be?
Side E
44. The Organ Grinder
45. All This Time (Not No More)
46. Costume Party
47. Dulcinea
48. Shoot-Out at The Ok Corral
49. The Organ Grinder’s Monkey
50. An Act of Purging Violence
51. All This Time (Happily Ever After)
52. A Rare Bird (Reprise)
Order the Mank (Original Musical Score) Deluxe Edition 3xLP
Mank marked the fourth collaboration between Fincher, Reznor & Ross.
They will reunite again for The Killer, out November 10 on Netflix.
The Fincher Analyst 