David Fincher: a creative biography of one of the brightest directors in Hollywood

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

David Fincher (full name David Andrew Leo Fincher) is an American director, born August 28, 1962 in Denver, Colorado.

As a child, David ran daily to the nearest cinema, where he watched the same films several times. And after watching the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, an eight-year-old teenager began to ask his father to buy him a movie camera. Given a simple 8mm camera as a gift, David set about making his own films. The hobby soon grew into creativity, close to professional, amateur shooting of a young cameraman became more and more interesting. And when Fincher started shooting still scenes, he realized that this required a special system of machines and supports. And the future director decided to gain experience from professionals.

Stagehand

David took a job as a worker at a short film studio so he could be closer to the filming equipment. His duties included the installation and dismantling of film cameras, as well as all technical equipment, including the director's chair. The diligent young man soon became an indispensable assistant for the entire film crew, including the director himself. Cameramen willingly shared the secrets of their profession with the inquisitive David, and he studied filmmaking techniques on the spot.

Idol George Lucas

In 1980, George Lucas' Star Wars was released, and Fincher stayed in the theater for days on end. He decided at all costs to get acquainted with the famous director and in 1982 went to work in a company that produces special effects for films, which belonged to Lucas. Thus, David managed to take part in the production of the films "Return of the Jedi" and "Indiana Jones". Subsequently, the films of David Fincher will be somewhat similar to the work of George Lucas.

Commercials

In 1984, Fincher had the opportunity to work independently, where he could already apply his knowledge and skills. And although these were just commercials for television, David took up filming. The overflowing creativity of the director immediately drew attention to him, orders poured in. All Fincher's projects were distinguished by the novelty of their solutions, and most importantly, they were professional from a technical point of view. Companies like Nike and Revlon, Lewi's and Coca-Cola lined up for the director.

Music videos

Two years later, David Fincher got a job at Propaganda Films, which produced expensive music videos. The director's first video was "Janie's Got AGun" for Aerosmith. This was followed by the video "Love Is Strong" commissioned by the Rolling Stones and "Freedom" for George Michael. And when Madonna approached David with a request to make two video clips for her hits "Vogue" and "Bad Girl", he was flattered. The clips for the singer turned out stylish and imaginative.

Debut in a big movie

However, while doing music videos, David Fincher planned to do film projects in the near future. And in 1992, the director made his debut in a big movie. It was approved for the film "Alien 3", which was a direct continuation of the fantastic action movie "Alien" directed by Ridley Scott and "Aliens" directed by James Cameron. Fincher's debut was not without a showdown with the management of the 20th Century Fox film studio, in which they considered that the director was treating the script too seriously, and David Fincher himself declared the weakness of this script. As a result, having quarreled with the management of the studio, Fincher left. Filming was somehow completed without him, but the film was not a success and narrowly avoided a box office failure.

The director's triumph

The director decided to take a break from his difficult debut in a big movie and returned for a while to music videos. He directed short films and commercials until 1995, when New Line Cinema offered him the director's chair to work on a psychological thriller called Seven. David Fincheragreed after much deliberation, but made a film about seven days in the life of two detectives chasing a serial killer. The film was Fincher's triumph, grossing more than ten times its budget at the box office. The plot revolves around John Doe, a serial killer who punishes his victims for the deadly sins that are mentioned in the Bible. Even the absence of the traditional happy ending, so loved by the Americans, did not hurt the film. The name of director David Fincher has become known to every moviegoer.

Game

In 1997, David Fincher, whose The Game is a classic example of a thriller film, starred Michael Douglas. The picture, as it were, continued the line of the previous story about a serial killer. Michael Douglas' character does not kill anyone, but risks dying in a game invented by the devil himself. Nicholas Van Orton, a successful man who has everything, only lacks spiritual support in life, is predisposed to death. His father committed suicide at the age of 48, and Nicholas is 48 years old, and he too feels an irresistible desire to go to the other world.

The director's controversial films

Fincher's most high-profile and controversial film project is the film "Fight Club", directed by the director in 1999 at the 20th Century Fox film studio. The main role was played by Brad Pitt, with whom David had already managed to make friends. The hero of the film, Tyler Durden, opposes himself to society and wages an uncompromising struggle with it, often by illegal means. The director himself helps in this character,turned on the full power of his satirical talent. As a result, Fincher was accused of promoting violence and destructive vandalism. The negative reception of the film affected home distribution and partly in theaters. And again there was a small dispute with the managers of the studio, who made claims to the director in excess of the budget amount. Nevertheless, in general, "Fight Club" found its audience, and later the situation with video cassettes evened out, their sales increased.

Disputes with the financial corps of the film studio "20th century Fox" eventually got tired of Fincher, and his next film, a thriller called "Panic Room" starring Judy Foster, he decided to shoot at a different studio, but in strict accordance with the budget, which earned the praise of accountants, but caused dissatisfaction with ordinary viewers, as the anemic production became noticeable. The moviegoer, accustomed to the scope of special effects, did not want to put up with the gray reality of the new picture. However, the dissatisfaction continued exactly until the moment when the frames made using computer technology appeared on the screen. Everyone really liked the camera travel through walls or penetration through the keyhole. The heroine of the film fit well into the new style of the picture and was one with the events taking place in the room.

Detectives and science fiction

At the beginning of 2007, a new film "Zodiac" was released, directed by David Fincher and based on real events that took place in San Franciscoat the end of the sixties. The film tells about a serial killer nicknamed the Zodiac, a prudent and ruthless criminal who committed about forty murders in 12 years. The case was extremely complicated, the police could not attack the trail of the Zodiac in any way, although he did not hide much. In addition, after each attack, the killer sent a kind of report on his actions to the newspapers. Fincher, driven by professional interest, spent a year and a half in the archives, trying to figure out every murder. However, he did not manage to learn anything new, and in the end the director made the film based on the most known facts.

David Fincher then began production on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which premiered in December 2008. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett played the lead roles in the film, which is an adaptation of the Scott Fitzgerald story of the same name. The hero of the film, Benjamin Button, is getting younger every year, his biological clock has fallen into disrepair and now he lives life on the contrary, does not grow old, but becomes young. Again, the production used the latest computer technology, and since it was not easy to find actors similar to Brad Pitt, his face was superimposed on all the doubles, and there were several dozen of them. David Fincher coped with the task, he was helped by the experience of the clip maker, because once the director did similar tricks with characters in commercials telling about popcorn. The film collected an unprecedented number of awards and nominations, onlyThere were 13 Oscars.

Director's own style

Currently, David Fincher, whose filmography already contains about 20 films, is preparing new film projects for shooting. The director has his own unique style. His style of making films can be compared with the literary style of the American writer William Faulkner, who, starting the story, immediately lays out a whole network of plot branches, and no matter which branch the reader enters, he will certainly be in the center of events. So it is with Fincher - the director weaves a web, and the actors are unaware of this, they just do their job, and then it turns out that this work looks like thin lace woven from the thinnest plot thread. This is the true art of a true artist, which is David Fincher, a director from God.