After a fateful near miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Netflix Presents: Michael Fassbender “THE KILLER”
Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker
With Sophie Charlotte and Tilda Swinton
Casting: Laray Mayfield Sound Design: Ren Klyce Music: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Costume Designer: Cate Adams Editor: Kirk Baxter ACE Production Design: Donald Graham Burt Director of Photography: Erik Messerschmidt ASC Executive Producer: Alexandra Milchan Producers: William Doyle, Peter Mavromates Produced By: Ceán Chaffin p.g.a.
Based on the graphic novel series “The Killer” Written by Alexis “Matz” Nolent Illustrated by Luc Jacamon Originally published in the French language by Editions Casterman
Screenplay By: Andrew Kevin Walker
Directed By: David Fincher
Release Date: In Select Theaters October 27 / On Netflix November 10
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
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.”
It’s always an exciting time in cinema when a new David Fincher movie is on the horizon. The modern master of suspense, Fincher’s filmography ranges from chilling murder-mysteries such as Seven and Zodiac to the generations-spanning romance of The Curious Tale Of Benjamin Button, neo-noir The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and true-life tale The Social Network. Now, he’s about to unleash bold new thriller The Killer, a new kind of hitman movie starring Michael Fassbender (in his first role since 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix) as a meticulous professional assassin whose life spirals out of control when a job goes wrong.
The new issue of Empire features the most in-depth look at the movie you’ll find anywhere on Earth – including an access-all-areas on-set report from three locations across the globe, following Fincher and his crew and witnessing his precise, pulse-pounding filmmaking in action. We have brand-new interviews with Fincher and Fassbender from on set about what makes their mysterious eponymous killer tick, how they’re putting the audience inside his head, their process of working together, pulling off incredible stunt sequences and much, much more. And in a rare, revealing additional retrospective interview, Fincher looks back at some of the most stand-out shots from across his entire career – from Ben Affleck’s cringeworthy smile in Gone Girl, to Panic Room’s swooping long-take, and more – sharing the fascinating stories of how they came to be.
The newsstand cover for our David Fincher special is a moody, rain-splattered compilation of some of his most iconic characters – Morgan Freeman’s Detective Somerset from Seven,Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden from Fight Club, Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the Zodiac killer, Rosamund Pike’s Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, and Michael Fassbender’s new hitman protagonist – illustrated exclusively for Empire by Paul Shipper.
Fincher-focused delights aside, the stacked new issue also contains a deep-dive into the new Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes; a celebration of Gravity’s 10th anniversary with Alfonso Cuarón; a set report from Aardman’s stop-motion sequel Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget; we dig into the much-anticipated British indie How To Have Sex; there are fresh looks at anime series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Bradley Cooper’s musical biopic Maestro, Michael Mann’s racing drama Ferrari; and much, much more.
Trust us – this issue is all Killer, no filler. Empire’s David Fincher celebration issue, saluting the work of one of Hollywood’s biggest names, hits newsstands from Thursday 28 September.
The subscriber cover is a noir-ish vision of Michael Fassbender’s titular assassin from The Killer, stalking cobbled streets for his next target, decked out in tourist get-up so as to go unnoticed – illustrated exclusively for Empire by Corey Brickley.
What’s in the box? The new issue of Empire magazine, that’s what. Incredible, globe-trotting on-set access of The Killer, and brilliant writing, from Nev Pierce, who got up-close and personal with David Fincher, Michael Fassbender, and Tilda Swinton.
In absolute stillness, an unnamed assassin lurks in the darkness, surveilling his next target with an almost inhuman patience. But beneath his steely resolve is a man wrestling with his inner conscience. When a botched hit leaves the gunman with no choice but to retire from the world of professional killing, his shadowy past isn’t so willing to let him go – making him a target for his former employers, and his own demons. Teaming up with screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker for the first time since Se7en, David Fincher’s cold-blooded action thriller is a masterful work of icy precision, punctuated by meticulously executed, genuinely jaw-dropping action set pieces. Heading up a stellar cast, Michael Fassbender is mesmerising as the titular killer, his poise and physicality perfectly embodying a man losing the control that once defined him.
October 5, 2023 Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
October 6, 2023 Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
After a fateful near miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Netflix Presents: Michael Fassbender “THE KILLER”
Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker
With Sophie Charlotte and Tilda Swinton
Casting: Laray Mayfield Sound Design: Ren Klyce Music: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Costume Designer: Cate Adams Editor: Kirk Baxter ACE Production Design: Donald Graham Burt Director of Photography: Erik Messerschmidt ASC Executive Producer: Alexandra Milchan Producers: William Doyle, Peter Mavromates Produced By: Ceán Chaffin p.g.a.
Based on “The Killer” Alexis “Matz” Nolent Illustrator: Luc Jacamon
Anastas Michos ASC GSC reteamed with director David Prior to shoot the Emmy-nominated episode “The Autopsy” for Guillermo del Toro’s anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities.
In this version of Michael Shea’s short story, adapted with the help of screenwriter David S. Goyer, a small-town sheriff (Glynn Turman) is investigating a tragic mining explosion. One of the bodies pulled from the wreckage is given to pathologist Dr Winters (F. Murray Abraham) to examine, only to uncover a much more gruesome and macabre secret.
The episode, shot on RED Digital Cinema cameras, also received recognition with an ASC Award nomination earlier this year. Given the subject matter and their successful collaboration on Prior’s feature debut the horror film The Empty Man (2020) it was natural the pair should hook up.
“A director and cinematographer might not always see eye to eye but when they work together a lot you tend to challenge each other and that becomes part of the creative process,” says Michos. “You develop a shorthand which is paramount to getting through it all, particularly for TV. We shot this 58-minute episode in 15 days which astounded the both of us. Having the ability to understand what the director is trying to communicate is certainly useful.”
Knowledge of each other’s sensibilities proved advantageous when they arrived in Canada to shoot “The Autopsy” in 2021 during COVID since they were instantly confined to quarantine.
“We had about three weeks in our respective apartments which allows a lot of time to think. Our main reference for exteriors and tonality was The Deer Hunter (1978). In most projects, tonality is the first thing we try and decide.”
Executive Producer (and co-showrunner) J. Miles Dale joins us on the podcast to discuss the horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, which was recently nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Joining the conversation are nominees: Supervising Sound Editor Nelson Ferreira, MPSE, and Director of Photography Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC.
To avoid spoilers, be sure to watch “The Autopsy” before watching this podcast! But be forewarned, it is extremely dark — both thematically and visually — which was entirely by design. Anastas Michos:
“The genre is squarely within a horror/sci-fi mode. It is about what we don’t see in life. That’s what makes shooting horror films or thrillers so interesting. That we allow the audience to only see what we want them to see, and tease the rest of it into the blacks [of the image].”
Cinematographer Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC, takes us into the thrilling world of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities with “The Autopsy.” Michos’ mastery weaved an emotive visual narrative through skillfully dark color palettes, dynamic lighting, and expert composition, turning settings into characters and creating an immersive, unforgettable experience. Go behind the look, and learn about the choices Anastas made on “The Autopsy” that earned him a well-deserved Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.
Michos takes us Behind The Look: THAT SHOT of his favorite sequence of “The Autopsy” starting in the morgue.
“The Autopsy” is the third episode of Netflix‘s Cabinet of Curiosities. A seasoned sheriff investigates a dead body in the woods and calls on an old pal, a medical examiner, to help piece together a series of chilling events.
The Fincher Analyst 