David Fincher

At 62 years old, David Fincher has this physical status:

David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director, film producer, television engineer, and music video editor.

Benjamin Button's Curious Case (2008) and The Social Network (2010), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and The Social Network (2010).

He received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the BAFTA Award for Best Direction for the latter. Alien 3 was his debut directorial film, and he has since produced many films in the thriller genre, including Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2005), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Gone Girl (2014).

He was also instrumental in the development of Netflix's House of Cards (2013-2019) and Mindhunter (2017-present) and has produced episodes of both series, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the first episode of House of Cards. In BBC's Top Films of the 21st Century, his films Zodiac and The Social Network have been ranked in the BBC's Top 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.

Early life

David Andrew Leo Fincher was born in Denver, Colorado, on August 28, 1962. Claire Mae (née Boettcher), a South Dakota mental health nurse who worked in heroin treatment facilities, was his mother. Howard Kelly "Jack" Fincher (December 6, 1930-2004), a writer and bureau chief for Life magazine, was a father from Oklahoma. The family moved to San Anselmo, California, where filmmaker George Lucas was one of his neighbors when he was two years old. Fincher was obsessed with filmmaking from the age of eight when he first started making films with an 8mm camera.

He has said:

Fincher migrated to Ashland, Oregon, where he attended Ashland High School in his teens. After school, he supervised sets and lighting and was a non-union projectionist at Varsity Theatre as well as a production assistant for Medford, Oregon's local television news station, KOBI. He supported himself by serving as a busboy, dishwasher, and fry cook.

Personal life

Fincher married model Donya Fiorentino in 1990 and divorced in 1995. They have one daughter together, Phelix Imogen, who was born in 1994. In 1996, he married producer Ceán Chaffin.

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Career

Fincher was employed as a production head at John Korty's studio while establishing himself in film. He became a visual effects producer, focusing on George Lucas' animated Twice Upon a Time (1983). In 1983, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) hired him as an assistant cameraman and matte photographer, and he worked on Return of the Jedi (1983) and Temple of Doom (1984). He left ILM in 1984 to direct a television commercial for the American Cancer Society that depicted a fetus smoking a cigarette. Fincher was quickly discovered by Los Angeles' producers, and he was soon given the opportunity to direct Rick Springfield's 1985 film, The Beat of the Live Drum. Fincher co-founded Propaganda Films and began directing commercials and music videos when focusing on directing. Other film makers, including Michael Bay, Antoine Fuqua, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Alex Proyas, Paul Rachman, Mark Proyas, Zack Snyder, and Gore Verbinski, all improved their Propaganda Films skills before going on to feature films.

Fincher produced television ads for several firms, including Levi's, Converse, Nike, Pepsi, Revlon, Sony, Coca-Cola, and Chanel, although he looted doing them. Fincher began his career in 1984, converting music videos to his own. He produced videos for various musicians, including singer-songwriter Rick Springfield, Don Henley, Martha Davis, Paula Abdul, rock band The Outfield, and R&B singer Jermaine Stewart.

Fincher's 1990 music video for "Freedom!

George Michael's '90' was one of his most popular series.' In addition, he produced Michael Jackson's "Who Is It," Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun" and Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love"; "Express Yourself," "Oh Father," "Vogue"), and "Bad Girl" were just a few of Madonna's hit music videos: "Express Yourself," "Vogue" and "Bad Girl" were among her memorable music videos. Fincher was credited as a producer for 53 music videos between 1984 and 1993. He referred to music video making as his own "film academy," in which he learned how to function effectively within a limited budget and time frame.

Fincher was hired by 20th Century Fox in 1990 to replace Vincent Ward as the director of Alien 3 (1992), his first film directorial appearance. It was the third installment of the Alien franchise starring Sigourney Weaver. The film was released in May 1992 to a mixed reception from critics, and it was seen as less dated than previous films. Alien 3 had been hampered by studio interference and several abandoned scripts from the start. Despite the "struggle of nine writers" and "studio meddling," Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called the film "bold and haunting." Best Visual Effects was nominated for an Academy Award by the film's best Visual effects. Fincher reacted with dissent and then disowned the film several years later. Fincher's Cut: Picturing Hollywood in the 21st Century, Fincher blames the producers for the lack of confidence in him. "No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me."

Fincher eschewed reading film scripts or directing another project after this critical disappointment. He returned to producing commercials and music videos, including the one for the Rolling Stones' "Love Is Strong" in 1994, which received the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Fincher took a foray back to film shortly. He read Andrew Kevin Walker's original screenplay for Seven (1995), which had been rewritten by Jeremiah Chechik, the director attached to the project at one point. Fincher expressed no interest in directing the updated version, so New Line Cinema decided to keep the old one running. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, and Kevin Spacey appear in this series, which tells the tale of two detectives who attempt to identify a serial murderer who bases his murders on the Christian seven deadly sins. Seventeen was lauded by film critics and became one of the year's top-earning films, grossing more than $320 million worldwide. "It's the most complicated and troubling entry in the serial killer genre since Manhunter," John Wrathall wrote for Sight and Sound, and Roger Ebert said that Seven is "one of the most brutal and merciless films ever made in Hollywood."

Following Seventeen, Fincher produced a music video for "6th Avenue Heartache" by the Wallflowers and went on to direct his third feature film, "The Game (1997), written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. Fincher has also recruited Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker to assist and polish the script. The film, shot in San Francisco, follows an investment banker played by Michael Douglas, who receives an unexpected gift from his younger brother (Sean Penn), where he becomes involved in a "game" that integrates with his daily life, leaving him unable to tell the difference between game and reality. The ending was troubling, according to Almar Haflidason of the BBC, but the pictures were praised: "Fincher does a fantastic job of transforming ordinary city spaces into terrifying backdrops, where every corner turns into another step into the unknown." The film received generally positive feedback upon its debut in September 1997, but it did marginally at the box office. The Game was later included in the Criterion Collection.

Fincher decided to direct Fight Club, based on Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 book of the same name. After Alien 3's tumultuous production, it was his second film for 20th Century Fox. The film stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It's about a nameless office worker who suffers from insomnia, who meets a salesman, and that together they form an underground fighting club as a form of therapy. Fox struggled with the film's marketing, fearing that it would have a small audience. The film opened in the United States on October 15, 1999, to a polarized reaction and modest box office success; it grossed $100.9 million against a $63 million budget. Many commentators believed the film was "a violent and risky express train of masochism and aggression." However, in the years that followed, Fight Club became a cult favorite and attracted attention for its multilayered themes; academics and film critics have criticized the film as the source of critical analysis.

Fincher was shortlisted by Columbia Pictures as one of the potential directors to direct Spider-Man (2002), a live-action recreation of the fictional comic-book character of the same name in 1999. Fincher's pitch included an older, more mature, astute, and a more mature interpretation of the titular character from his childhood and the post-adolescent years of his life as a photographer and his crime-fighting double life as a vigilante with a more grounded, character-driven, and dramatic tone and direction. "I went in and told them what I might be interested in doing, and they looved it," Fincher later said of his pitch. Rather, Sam Raimi was selected as director.

Fincher appeared on The Hire, a collection of short films directed by BMW Motors, in 2001. In 2001, the films were released on the internet for the first time. Fincher returned to another feature film in 2002, a drama called Panic Room. During a three-generation home invasion, a single mother and her daughter are hid in a safe room of their new home. Jodie Foster (who renamed Nicole Kidman), Forest Whitaker, Kristen Stewart, Dwight Yoakam, and Jared Leto were among the many actors whose film was a month late, bringing critical acclaim and commercial success to critical acclaim and commercial success on March 29, 2002. The film in North America earned $96.4 million. It grossed $100 million in other nations for a global $196.4 million. The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle lauded the filmmakers for their "fair degree of ingenuity... for 88 minutes of awe" and Foster's convincing performance. Fincher praised Panic Room for being more mainstream by a film that reads, "It's supposed to be a popcorn movie"; there are no good, overriding implications." It's just about survival."

Fincher returned to Panic Room on March 2, 2007, with Zodiac, a thriller based on Robert Graysmith's books about a real life serial murderer who terrorized families during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fincher first heard about the venture after being approached by producer Brad Fischer; he was immediately intrigued by the tale due to his childhood personal experience. "The highway patrol had been following our school buses," he recalled. "There's a serial killer who has killed four or five people, and he's trying to... shoot the children as they arrived off the bus." Fincher formed a core cast of Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, and Brian Cox after extensive investigation into the matter with fellow producers. It was the first time any of Fincher's films was shot in digital with a Thomson Viper FilmStream HD camera. However, for specific murder scenes, high-speed film cameras were used. Zodiac was well-received, appearing in more than two hundred top ten lists (only No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood appeared in more). Nevertheless, the film struggled at the US box office, grossing $33 million, but overseas, earning $51.7 million. Zodiac's world-wide success was a modest success. Despite a Despite a Paramount Pictures advertising campaign, the film did not receive any Academy Award or Golden Globe nominations.

Fincher was attached to a film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, but Fincher said the film will not go forward due to script issues. Benjamin Button's Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), an extension of F. Scott Fitzgerald's eponymous 1923 short story about a man who is born as a seven-year-old boy and ages in reverse, was his next project. Fincher's third collaboration with Brad Pitt, who plays Cate Blanchett, was reflected in the romantic-drama. The film's budget was expected to be $167 million, with some of Pitt's scenes using expensive special effects. In New Orleans, filming began in November 2006, profiting from Louisiana's film grant. The film was theatrically released in the United States on December 25, 2008, to a commercial success and a warm reception. Claudia Puig writes for USA Today, praises the "graceful and poignant" story despite the fact that it is "overlong and not as emotionally involved as it should be. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Fincher, Best Actor for Pitt, and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson, as well as three others for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.

Fincher produced The Social Network, a biographical drama about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his court struggles in 2010. Aaron Sorkin, who adapted it from the book The Accidental Billionaires, wrote the screenplay. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Zuckerberg, as well as Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, and Max Minghella. Principal photography began in October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a year later, the film was released. The Social Network was also a commercial success, with 2294.9 million around the world. The film received eight nominations and three awards at the 83rd Academy Awards; soundtrack composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross received Best Original Score for Best Original Score, and Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing were given. At the 68th Golden Globe Awards, the film also received awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Roger Ebert, a writer, praised the film for having "spellbinding dialogue," according to writer James Coveney. It makes an untellable tale more comprehensible and revealing."

Fincher continued with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a psychological thriller based on Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's novel. Steven Zaillian, a screenwriter, spent three months researching the book, writing notes, and deleting sections in order to obtain a good running time. It stars Daniel Craig, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist and Rooney Mara became Lisbeth Salander in Blomkvist's quest to find what happened to a woman from a wealthy family who disappeared four decades ago. The film was mainly shot in Sweden to maintain the novel's setting. A. O. Scott of The New York Times characterized the soundtrack as "unnerving and strong." According to review aggregator Metacritic, reviews were generally favorable upon the film's launch in December. "Mr. Fincher creates a persuasive atmosphere of political uncertainty and moral skepticism," Scott says. The Guardian's Philip French lauds the "authentic, peculiar detail" and faithful translation. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Mara, and Best Film Editing. Fincher signed a first glance contract with Regency Enterprises in 2012.

Fincher appeared as an executive producer on Netflix's House of Cards, a political drama about a congressman's quest for revenge, of which he also produced the first two episodes. The series received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series. For the first episode, Fincher received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. For the first time since 2005, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z's "Suit & Tie" directed a music video, which received a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Fincher considered turning Columbine, Dave Cullen's book that was turned into a play in 2014, but the decision was shelved due to its delicate nature. Fincher also signed a three television series - Utopia (an adaptation of the British series, to be written by Gillian Flynn), Shakedown, and Videosyncrazy, the same year. Budget discussions with him and the network halted production in August 2015. In 2018, Amazon Studios acquired Utopia, with Gillian Flynn as the creator.

Gone Girl (2014), Fincher's sequel to Gillian Flynn's book of the same name, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, was directed by Fincher. Before a director was chosen, he even met with Flynn to discuss his involvement in the initiative. The story begins in Missouri as a mystery about Nick Dunne (Affleck), who is the prime suspect in the abduction of his wife Amy (Pike). The film, which was a critical and commercial success, earned $369 million worldwide against a $61 million budget, making it Fincher's highest-grossing work to date. "All the technological command of image, sound, and production design for which Fincher is just as well known is here," Andrew O'Hehir writes in Salon magazine. In a variety of categories, Gone Girl received accolades and nominations; Pike earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and Fincher; and Fincher received his third Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Director.

Fincher has produced, produced, and appeared as showrunner for another series, crime thriller Mindhunter starring Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff since 2016. On October 13, 2017, the series, which was based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, premiered on Netflix worldwide. Paramount Pictures' Jim Gianopulos reported in June 2017 that a sequel to World War Z was "in advanced development" with Fincher and Brad Pitt. Fincher's Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, along with producer Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, announced that it would premiere in June 2019. Paramount also cancelled the project in February 2019. Fincher also works as an executive producer for Love, Death & Robots, an animated science-fiction web series for Netflix, as of 2019. Fincher opted to direct Mank, a biopic about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, in July 2019. On November 13, 2020, Mank's limited theatrical release came out, and Netflix announced it on December 4. Gary Oldman portrayed Mankiewicz, and the film received ten Academy Award nominations, two for Best Cinematography and Best Production Design.

Fincher also worked as an executive producer on a Netflix series titled Voir (2021). Fincher directed an episode from the third season of Love, Death & Robots in 2022. The episode is called "Bad Travelling" and was written by Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker.

Fincher began writing a television prequel to the 1974 film Chinatown with its screenwriter Robert Towne, and he has also expressed concern in making a third season of Mindhunter, which has been put on hold in 2020.

Fincher will produce a Netflix adaptation of The Killer's graphic novel The Killer was announced in February 2021, with Andrew Kevin Walker directing the screenplay and Michael Fassbender as the lead.

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