January 9, 2024
EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival
Watch our interview with Erik Messerschmidt – famous cinematographer, who presented the film Ferrari directed by Michael Mann during this year’s edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival. We also discuss his collaborations with David Fincher in Mindhunter and The Killer.
Rian Johnson
November 15, 2023
Netflix: Behind the Streams
Director David Fincher and actor Michael Fassbender discuss making The Killer with moderator Rian Johnson at The Academy Museum in Los Angeles.
Watch The Killer on Netflix
Julian Mitchell, editor, media maker publishing
December 18, 2023
NAB Amplify
NAB Amplify caught up with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt just as he was about to fly to the Camerimage film festival in Poland, where Ferrari, his first film with director Michael Mann, was in competition. “An extraordinary experience, once in a lifetime,” was his on-the-spot reaction to the question, “How was it?”
But we wanted to talk to him about The Killer, a Netflix movie with an appearance in selected theaters at very selective times. Most people would wait for the stream and live with the Internet compression artifacts for the treat of a Fincher film, this time about a man who kills for a living. Cue Michael Fassbender, with sociopathic personality traits and an attention to detail that leaves nothing to chance; some reviews suggested that this man was a depiction of Fincher himself.
If you have seen previous films or television shows from the Fincher/Messerschmidt duo, especially 2018’s Mindhunter, you would be in a comfortable place from the get-go of The Killer: An avocado-colored LUT, exquisite scene management, and meticulous coverage. “Is this all you?” the DP was asked.
“It’s a thing that David and I do together. I enjoy the process of camera direction; I view it as sort of my principal job, really. It’s thinking about the structure of the film and of each scene. Every director’s interaction in terms of coverage and camera direction is different. It’s the first thing David and I discuss: structure and pacing. It’s almost an editorial conversation in terms of what we’re going to provide Kirk [Baxter, the editor] and how each scene breaks down in terms of the pace,” he said.
With six unique locations, grading The Killer was never going to be simple. Colourist Eric Weidt shares how he captured David Fincher’s meticulous hitman.
Katie Kasperson
January 2024
Definition
The latest film from David Fincher, The Killer, sees Michael Fassbender play the titular assassin – a Smiths-loving cynic who embarks on an international chase after a high-profile job goes awry. The story takes our anti-hero from hazy Paris to humid Florida to wintry New York, with each location taking on its own challenge – both for the Killer and the film’s colourist Eric Weidt.
GOING INTERNATIONAL
Based on Alexis Matz Nolent’s graphic novel series and inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai, The Killer combines a fast-paced plot with moody yet bold colours. “I think Fincher is a big comic book fan,” begins Weidt, “especially in the art of framing to impart the beats of a story. Working in film, he brings that to movement as well – he’s seeking a visual rhythm that makes you forget it is highly constructed.
“David likes to push and pull colours, but always strikes an unconscious balance,” he continues. Weidt began working on The Killer while it was still at the pre-production stage, developing lookup tables alongside cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ASC, who had previously worked with Fincher on Mank, for which he won an Academy Award.
Read the profile and the full January 2024 issue of Definition magazine
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC shoots two stories about men whose business and private lives spin out of control.
Patricia Thomson
January 2024
American Cinematographer
A pair of films shot by Erik Messerschmidt, ASC premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last August, and both were collaborations with leading directors: David Fincher’s The Killer and Michael Mann’s Ferrari. Messerschmidt recently spoke with AC from Spain about his work on each production.
The Killer | A Devil of a Job
Fincher and Messerschmidt didn’t discuss the look of The Killer as much as its tempo and structure.
Adapted from a graphic-novel series, the film follows a methodical, nameless assassin (played by Michael Fassbender) whose life spirals out of control after a job goes horribly wrong in Paris. He tries to restore a sense of order by punishing those responsible.
Messerschmidt won an Academy Award for Fincher’s Mank (AC Feb.’21), and his collaborations with the director span the Netflix series Mindhunter and the feature Gone Girl — with Messerschmidt serving as gaffer for Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (AC Nov. ’14) on the latter.
“David is fastidious,” he says. “He is very prepared, but very collaborative and considerate of what it is everyone’s bringing to the project. He shares his goals for the film with you, and he shares the techniques that he wants to use in a really elegant way. So, you begin to understand quite quickly what he’s looking to achieve on a given shot, a given scene or even on a given film.
“On this film, David was particularly interested in exploring The Killer’s state of mind through the camera’s perspective,” recalls Messerschmidt. “The Killer in his natural state is very much in control of his environment — nothing surprises him, and we wanted the audience to immediately connect to his confidence.”
Read the full double feature in the January Issue of American Cinematographer
Vincent Frei
December 18, 2023
ART of VFX
Wei Zheng (VFX Supervisor) began his career in visual effects in 1998 at ILM. He then worked at Digital Domain and joined Artemple Hollywood in 2012. He has worked on various shows including Minority Report, Zodiac, Mindhunter, and Mank. Today he talks to us about his new collaboration with David Fincher.
Yabin Morales (VFX Supervisor) has been with Ollin VFX for over 15 years and has worked on projects such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Boys, and Outer Range.
With over twenty years of experience in visual effects, James Pastorius (VFX Supervisor) has worked on many films such as Gone Girl, Jumanji: The Next Level, Uncharted, and Ferrari. In 2007, he founded his own studio, Savage VFX.
Read the full interview
Jake Ratcliffe, Joe Cannon
December 8, 2023
CVP
Leitz SUMMILUX-C lenses and RED V-RAPTOR and RED Komodo cameras.
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November 27, 2023
Adobe
See how award-winning editor Kirk Baxter and his team, First Assistant Editor Ben Insler, and Colorist Eric Weidt, used Adobe Premiere Pro to break the rules of traditional editing in The Killer, a neo-noir thriller directed by David Fincher.
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Kirk Baxter and David Fincher enjoying some downtime at Miraval Studios.
Steve Hullfish, ACE
November 23, 2023
Art of the Cut (Boris FX)
Today on Art of the Cut, we’re talking with Kirk Baxter, ACE, about editing David Fincher’s latest: The Killer, which is now on Netflix.
Kirk’s been on Art of the Cut before – for Gone Girl and for Mank. He was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He won an Oscar, a BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for The Social Network. He was nominated for an ACE Eddie and won an Oscar for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Was nominated for an Emmy for House of Cards. Was nominated for an ACE Eddie for Gone Girl. Was nominated for an ACE Eddie for Mindhunter. Was nominated for an ACE Eddie for Mank and won an ACE Eddie for Love, Death and Robots.
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Follow Steve Hullfish, ACE, and the “Art of the Cut” podcast on Ex-Twitter. Buy his book “Art of the Cut. Conversations with Film and TV Editors” (Routledge, 2017).
Read the transcription of this interview:
Kirk Baxter, ACE, director David Fincher’s long-time editor, talks about the power of believing in the process, pacing, and voiceover changes on the action-packed thriller.
Steve Hullfish, ACE
November 23, 2023
Art of the Cut (Boris FX)
Jazz Tangcay
November 17, 2023
Variety
‘The Killer’ Cinematographer on the Opening Scene of David Fincher’s Thriller and Making Michael Fassbender’s ‘Nest’
Valerie Wu
November 18, 2023
Variety
How do you get into a killer’s head?
It starts with situating yourself within their perspective, as “The Killer” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt says.
That perspective was firmly established in the film’s opening sequence where subjectivity was key. The Parisian opening scene features the titular character — the assassin known only as “The Killer” played by Michael Fassbender who readies himself to kill a target in the building across from him.
Messerschmidt who sat down with Variety expressed that his familiarity and previous work with “The Killer” director David Fincher shortened the process of bringing the script to life. For Messerschmidt and Fincher, the goal was to hone in on the core themes of the story, and then start delving into the details from here.
The Fincher Analyst 