Tag: Interview

Austin Film Festival 2025: Andrew Kevin Walker on SE7EN

Andrew Kevin Walker Interview: Austin Film Festival

Brian Taylor
October 30, 2025
The Cine-Men

Brian: Hello, Andrew. This is the first day of the Austin Film Festival, and I’m glad to sit down with you. I wanted to talk to you about your writing in your career. The first question I want to ask you is about your origin story, what made you want to be a writer, and who were some of your favorite writers growing up?

Andrew Kevin Walker: I really focused on screenwriting in college. I knew when I was a young kid that I wanted to work in the film industry. I remember, I was just talking to somebody about it because it was Jaws fiftieth anniversary, because it was so influential for me, and it really made me realize what a director does, et cetera. I was really into film early on and nerding out, reading American Film magazines and stuff in high school. I went into college studying film at Penn State, I was probably thinking I wanted to be a director but I really focused on screenwriting. There was an amazing screen writing teacher that was there at the time, I think he may still be teaching at Temple, his name is Jeff Rush. It was at Penn State that I focused on writing. Some my favorite writer’s? William Goldman is probably my favorite screenwriter of all time. My favorite novelist is [William] Somerset Maugham, which is not too surprising, I guess, there’s a couple of Somerset Maugham references in Se7en. As far as screenwriters go, Waldo Salt and William Goldman, some of the guys who were writing real classics, you know. My favorite two movies are Midnight Cowboy and Lawrence of Arabia.

Brian: That covers a lot.

Andrew: That covers the city and the desert I guess (laughs).

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Se7en Q&A, with Andrew Kevin Walker

Andy Volk
May 6, 2026
Austin Film Festival’s On Story

This week on On Story, we’ll travel back to the 90s with a retrospective on the crime thriller Se7en, with its screenwriter, Andrew Kevin Walker. Directed by David Fincher, Se7en stars Brad Pitt as David Mills, an idealistic young detective with a short fuse, who’s still adjusting to the violence and apathy of life in the big city. Mills is paired with William Somerset, a jaded Detective Lieutenant who’s only one week from retirement, played by Morgan Freeman. Mills and Somerset are tasked with investigating a pair of homicides that are exceptionally depraved and theatrical. The detectives realize that the two murders are only the beginning of a sadistic killing spree where each crime will be based on one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust. Mills and Somerset begin a desperate game of cat and mouse as they try to get inside the mind of this depraved killer and catch him before he can carry out his plan.

The film was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Original Screenplay. Se7en was screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker’s first script to be sold. During Se7en’s three-year development period, Walker wrote the scripts for two horror movies: the sci-fi slasher Brainscan, about a troubled teen who’s seduced into committing crimes by a hypnotic interactive horror game, and the psychological horror Hideaway, about a man who survives a near-death experience and finds himself psychically connected to a serial killer. Walker has continued writing and producing in the crime thriller and sci-fi genres throughout his career. Walker wrote the script for 8mm, which follows a private detective investigating a snuff film which may depict a real murder. Walker collaborated with David Fincher again on the 2023 film The Killer, and on an episode of the animated series Love, Death & Robots. His writing credits also include Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, the animated comedy Nerdland, the crime thriller Windfall, and many more. AFF moderator Andy Volk sat down with Andrew Kevin Walker for a post-screening conversation on his experience writing Se7en based on a one-sentence logline, getting the script in front of director David Fincher, and working with the film’s production crew to craft a version of New York City lost in time.

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Bong Joon Ho on His Favorite Films, the Joy of Hosting a Q&A with David Fincher, “Memories of Murder”, and his First Animated Movie, “Ally”

Bong Joon Ho officially has 7 different ideas for his next live-action movie.

Steven Weintraub & Tamera Jones
April 20, 2026
Collider

Academy Award-winning writer and director Bong Joon Ho is busy with development for his first-ever animated feature, Ally, an animated ocean adventure co-written by Bong and Jason Yu, set to make a big splash worldwide next year.

However, after taking some time to celebrate his exhibit at the Academy Museum, where Bong got to pick David Fincher‘s brain, he spoke with Collider‘s Steve Weintraub about his favorite films from fellow filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, why his Q&A with Fincher was so meaningful, and what’s on the agenda for the rest of the year and beyond, including an exciting update on his next live-action film.

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Watch the full conversation between Bong and Fincher, and read the transcript

‘Zodiac’: David Fincher Won’t Deny The Obsessive Rap, Says It “Should Have Been Weirder” & Teases ‘Cliff Booth’ “Big Surprises”

Bong Joon Ho’s Academy Museum conversation with David Fincher turned into a sharp look back at Zodiac and a brief but revealing update on Netflix’s Quentin Tarantino-written Cliff Booth film.

Rodrigo Perez
April 20, 2026
The Playlist

Very few crime movies get more revered with age. David Fincher’s 2007 thriller Zodiac, written by James Vanderbilt and following the way the Zodiac killer case pulls inspectors, reporters, and cartoonist Robert Graysmith into a years-long spiral of obsession, did. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. anchoring that descent, the film opened as a chilly, meticulous procedural and has kept growing in stature over the years, less because it offered closure than because it turned uncertainty, fixation, and spiritual erosion into the point. So it made perfect sense that Bong Joon Ho would be the filmmaker hosting a 4K screening at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and a post-film conversation with Fincher recently as part of the museum’s A Weekend With Bong Joon Ho series.

Bong Joon Ho made that admiration plain right away. After recalling how immaculate Fincher’s office was—even down to the colored pencils arranged by shade—he got to the question underneath that story: whether Fincher’s obsessiveness really matched its reputation. Fincher did not deny it. If anything, he leaned into it, saying, “No, I mean… Look, I feel like you should do everything in your power to be as clear in what you’re trying to communicate as you can possibly be.”

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Watch the full conversation and read the transcript

A Weekend with Bong Joon Ho: “Zodiac” with David Fincher

April 11, 2026
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Since his feature debut in 2000, filmmaker Bong Joon Ho has become a crucial contributor to the tremendous growth of South Korean cinema and its globalization. Known for his inquisitive mind and meticulous eye for detail, Bong’s creations, which span both realistic and fantastical realms, continue to impact the evolving atmosphere of the South Korean film industry as well as art and culture around the world.

For one weekend in April 2026, Bong returned to the Academy Museum to create exhilarating memories on stage. On April 11, director David Fincher joined Bong for a conversation and screening of Fincher’s Zodiac (2007), a masterpiece thriller showcased via an original poster in the current exhibition, Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho.

Watch the full conversation and read the transcript

Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin: Eric Roth

Rick Rubin
March 4, 2026
Tetragrammaton

Eric Roth is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter best known for adapting Forrest Gump, for which he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has received additional Academy Award nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star Is Born, and Dune: Part One, and is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after writers. Roth co-wrote Killers of the Flower Moon with Martin Scorsese. He continues to work in films as both writer and executive producer. His latest project, the 2025 film The President’s Cake, is now playing in theaters.

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Guillermo del Toro and the Crew of Frankenstein in Conversation with David Fincher

January 10, 2026
Still Watching Netflix

Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro, and Costume Designer Kate Hawley, Composer Alexandre Desplat, Production Designer Tamara Deverell, Cinematographer Dan Laustsen, and Creature Design/Character Prosthetic Makeup FX Mike Hill discuss the making of Frankenstein with moderator David Fincher.

“The movie is exquisite. But it’s not just beautiful. Because “just beautiful” is a cop-out. You have a film that is an example of a hand-crafted personal expression. It is outstanding in that respect.”

David Fincher

Movies We Like: Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth on Blade Runner

A Legacy of Light and Shadow

Andy Nelson and Pete Wright
October 27, 2025
Movies We Like (TruStory FM)

Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth joins Movies We Like hosts Andy Nelson and Pete Wright to explore Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking 1982 film Blade Runner. As the son of the film’s original cinematographer, Jordan Cronenweth, Jeff brings a unique perspective on both the technical achievements and lasting influence of this sci-fi noir masterpiece. With his recent work on Tron: Ares hitting theaters, Cronenweth reflects on how Blade Runner continues to inspire filmmakers and cinematographers four decades later.

From early experiences on film sets with his father to becoming David Fincher’s go-to cinematographer on films like Fight Club, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Cronenweth has built a career focused on visual storytelling that serves character and narrative. He describes his approach as seeking human stories within any genre, whether period drama or science fiction. His transition from film to digital cinematography reflects broader industry changes, while maintaining his commitment to thoughtful, story-driven imagery.

The conversation explores how Blade Runner created its influential neo-noir aesthetic with remarkably limited technical resources, including just three xenon lights for its iconic beam effects and borrowed neon lights from Francis Ford Coppola’s One from the Heart set. Cronenweth shares insights into the film’s production challenges and creative solutions, from practical lighting techniques to Ridley Scott’s visionary production design. The discussion examines how the film balances its high-concept science fiction premise with intimate character moments, creating a template for genre storytelling that continues to resonate. Cronenweth also offers a perspective on the various cuts of the film and its 2017 sequel.

Through this engaging conversation, Cronenweth illuminates not just the technical mastery behind Blade Runner, but its enduring impact on cinema. His unique connection to the film through his father, combined with his own distinguished career, offers viewers fresh insights into this landmark work of science fiction and its continuing influence on visual storytelling.

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Shot Talk: Weapons, with Director Zach Cregger and Editor Joe Murphy

Oren Soffer
December 5, 2025
Shotdeck

Cinematographer Oren Soffer sits down with director Zach Cregger and editor Joe Murphy for an in-depth conversation about Weapons. From Zach’s meticulous pre-planning with photoboards, to Joe’s work shaping the tone of Gladys in the edit, to the rare opportunity to receive feedback from David Fincher, the duo breaks down the creative process behind the acclaimed supernatural horror film.

Along with the interview, we’re also releasing a bunch of great shots from the film, so you can start adding them to your decks and getting inspired right away!

But before you dive in and watch the filmmaking mini-masterclass above… make sure to go check out Weapons, streaming now on HBO Max.

Sign up for an account at ShotDeck, the world’s first fully-searchable film image database. It’s an invaluable research and educational resource that makes life easier for anyone in Film, Media, Advertising, and Education.

If you are creative, Shotdeck is the place to get inspired and discover new films and talented artists through our meticulously tagged database of still images, all while saving you time.

Search by film title, keyword, location, color, or a dozen other criteria to quickly find the exact “shots” you need to communicate your vision for your next project.

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‘The blight seeped into your soul’: How SE7EN reflected fears in the US in the 1980s

David Fincher’s gritty thriller commented on the urban blight and religious conservatism of the Reagan era. But it also predicted our obsession with true crime today.

Tom Joudrey
November 17, 2025
BBC

Thirty years after its release, David Fincher‘s Seven is now celebrated as the zenith of neo-noir crime thrillers. It raked in a whopping $327m (£250m) at the box office on a $34m (£26m) budget and earned raves from most critics when it came out in 1995. Still, the persistent argument against the film is that it relies too heavily on shock-and-awe gruesomeness to distract from its paper-thin ideas and shopworn crime tropes. A Washington Post critic lambasted Seven for disguising “formulaic writing” with gratuitous “bloodletting”, while a New York Times reviewer lamented that “not even bags of body parts… keep it from being dull”.

Three decades on, however, it’s clear that some critics missed a different layer to the film – namely, how it interpreted the US’s social crises of the 1980s. There was a worldwide recession at the start of the decade, and this coincided with high urban crime rates, a crack cocaine epidemic and the spread of Aids. The US’s new president, Ronald Reagan, responded to these issues with talk of being “tough on crime”, and his high-profile supporters included various influential Christian figures – leaders of what was known as the Christian right or the religious right – who preached the importance of traditional family values.

All of this fed into Seven. On one level, the film is an exquisitely well-made thriller about a psychopathic serial killer, but beneath its noir-style veneer lies a fascinating take on the way the US responded to some of its most divisive social issues.

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“Fight Club” Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth ASC on his Career, Working with David Fincher, Shooting “Tron: Ares,” & More

Jordan and Jeff Cronenweth on the set of Francis Ford Coppola‘s Gardens of Stone

Mike Valinsky
October 25, 2025
The Making Of

In this episode, we welcome two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC. Jeff has shot films including Fight Club, One Hour Photo, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hitchcock, Gone Girl, Being the Ricardos, and Tron: Ares. In our chat, Jeff shares his origin story, experiences working with David Fincher — and all about his latest movie, Tron: Ares. He also offers extensive insights and recommendations for today’s cinematographers and filmmakers.

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