Jennifer Walden
December 13, 2023
Mix
Join Mix’s Jennifer Walden as she speaks with the audio pros behind director David Fincher’s action thriller, ‘The Killer.’ Discussing their work on the film are:
Presented by Netflix.
Clarence Moye
December 14, 2023
AwardsDaily
Netflix’s The Killer marks sound designer Ren Klyce’s 13th collaboration with David Fincher on a project spanning film and television. Their creative partnership resulted in Klyce receiving six Academy Award nominations, most recently for 2020’s Mank. (Klyce also received three other Oscar nominations for Disney-based work.) His work with Fincher excels creatively based on a shorthand gained from decades of idea sharing and artistic challenges that often redefine the relationship between sound design and the audience.
Fincher’s creativity and way of looking at a scene differently can still strike fear in the hearts of his filmmaking partners.
Take the climactic fight sequence in The Killer between Michael Fassbender’s Killer and Sala Baker’s Brute. Traditional filmmaking and sound design would have incorporated fight-based vocalizations (grunts, etc.) within the audio.
But Fincher had different ideas for the scene.
November 30, 2023
From the Frame
David Fincher’s films have often been analyzed for their visual style – the exacting cinematography, precise editing, muted color palette, and meticulous construction of the frame. But with the release of The Killer, people are starting to take note of another aspect – his evocative use of SOUND. However, you can’t really discuss the sonic landscape of a Fincher film without talking about his longest creative collaborator – sound designer Ren Klyce. From Se7en to The Killer, and every project in between, Klyce’s mixes have provided a crucial aural backdrop, frequently blurring the line between sound and music. They both build a textural ambience that sets the tone of the film while also allowing us to access the subjectivity of the characters on screen. So let’s explore how a David Fincher film sounds.
CHAPTERS:
0:00: Intro
1:33: Se7en & Ren Klyce
2:43: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5:01: Zodiac & Musique Concrète
8:15: Role as Re-recording Mixer
10:33: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
11:43: The Social Network & Expressionistic Sound
SOURCES:
December 12, 2023
Netflix: Behind the Streams
Sound Designer Ren Klyce discusses his work on The Killer with director David Fincher.
The Killer is now playing on Netflix
Ray Richmond
December 5, 2023
Gold Derby
You wouldn’t think that Ren Klyce would have a whole lot more to learn about his job as a sound professional on movies. He’s been at it for nearly 30 years, going back to “Se7en” in 1995 and presiding as director David Fincher‘s designated sound guy ever since. He’s earned nine Academy Award nominations for his sonic work, including on Fincher’s “Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Mank.” And yet while discussing his latest collaboration with his favorite director, Netflix‘s “The Killer,” he asserts, “I learned a lot on this film. I think I learn every time. I always think, ‘Oh, I’m finally figuring out how to do my job.’ You get a new project and you realize that you’re learning a whole new set of skills. I like the idea that there’s still sort of a beginner mentality to the approach, and I think that’s actually a healthy way to do any type of work, honestly.”
December 9, 2023
Netflix: Behind the Streams
Director David Fincher, Editor Kirk Baxter, Sound Designer Ren Klyce, Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, and Stunt Coordinator Dave Macomber break down the fight sequence between The Brute and The Killer in The Killer.
The Killer is now playing on Netflix
Ren Klyce, Richard King, Ai-ling Lee, and Johnnie Burn are among are greatest artisans working today. Here’s why.
Chris O’Falt, Sarah Shachat, Jim Hemphill, Bill Desowitz
December 8, 2023
IndieWire
George Lucas once said, “The sound and music are 50 percent of the entertainment in a movie.” It’s a quote you hear many pay lip service to, but the reality is that’s not how we think about movies. If it was, then sound masters like Ren Klyce, Richard King, Ai-ling Lee, and Johnnie Burn would be household names in the filmmaking world.
There is one group, though, that lives by Lucas’ words: fellow great directors. Filmmakers like David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Glazer, Greta Gerwig, and Bradley Cooper think of their movies in terms of sound and build it into their process, from conception through post, and seek out aural masters like Klyce, King, Lee, and Burn.
In reviewing the year in sound design, the IndieWire craft staff was near unanimous on the year’s very best, quickly zeroing in on these five titles.
Gina McIntyre
December 6, 2023
Netflix Queue
For his muscular new thriller, David Fincher worked with many of his closest collaborators to develop inventive approaches to the film’s cinematography, with Erik Messerschmidt ASC, editing, with Kirk Baxter ACE, sound, with Ren Klyce, and score, with Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.
Kirk Baxter and David Fincher enjoying some downtime at Miraval Studios.
Iain Blair
December 6, 2023
postPerspective
David Fincher’s The Killer is a violent thriller starring Michael Fassbender as an unnamed hitman whose carefully constructed life begins to fall apart after a botched hit. Despite his mantra to always remain detached and methodical in his work, he lets it become personal after assassins brutally attack his girlfriend, and soon he finds himself hunting those who now threaten him.
The Netflix film reunites Fincher with Kirk Baxter, the Australian editor who has worked on all of Fincher’s films since The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and who won Oscars for his work on The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I spoke with Baxter about the challenges and workflow
How did you collaborate with Fincher on this one?
I try not to weigh David down with too many background questions. I keep myself very reactionary to what is being sent, and David, I think by design, isolates me a bit that way. I’ll read the script and have an idea of what’s coming, and then I simply react to what he’s shot and see if it deviates from the script due to the physicality of capturing things.
The general plan was that the film would be a study of process. When The Killer is in control, everything’s going to be deliberate, steady, exacting and quiet. We live in Ren Klyce’s sound design, and when things deviate from The Killer’s plan, the camera starts to shake. I start to jump-cut, the music from composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross comes into the picture, and then all of our senses start to get rocked. It was an almost Zenlike stretching of time in the setup of each story then a race through each kill. That was the overarching approach to editing the film. Then there were a thousand intricate decisions that we made along the way each day.
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)
The Fincher Analyst 