Froilan Fuentes
Jim Hemphill
November 9, 2023
West Coast POPCast (YouTube)
The Egyptian Theatre re-opened in Hollywood with a special screening of The Killer, followed by a Q&A with Director David Fincher and Sound Designer Ren Klyce hosted by Jim Hemphill.
TheWrap magazine: The sound teams on those three movies had to conjure up car wrecks, a plane crash and some assassinations.
Steve Pond
December 15, 2023
The Wrap
Over the last few years, the Oscar sound category has recognized war movies like “All Quiet on the Western Front,” science fiction movies like “Dune” and musicals like “West Side Story,” among others. There’s no formula for how to use sound effectively, but three of this year’s gems do share a sense that their sonic palette puts us in dangerous places: On the racetracks of 1950s Italy, in the frigid expanses of the Andes and inside the unsettling cranium of Michael Fassbender.
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.
The Fincher Analyst 