Person
David Fincher
3 titles
- Date of Birth: 1962-08-28 (age 64)
- Nationality:
United States - Place of birth: Denver, Colorado, USA
David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly thrillers, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director.
Mini Bio
David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly thrillers, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Fincher was interested in filmmaking at an early age. He directed numerous music videos, most notably Madonna's "Express Yourself" in 1989 and "Vogue" in 1990, both of which won him the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. He made his feature film debut with Alien 3 (1992), which garnered mixed reviews, followed by the thriller Seven (1995), which was better received. Fincher found lukewarm success with The Game (1997) and Fight Club (1999), but the latter eventually became a cult classic. In 2002, he returned to prominence with the thriller Panic Room starring Jodie Foster.
Fincher also directed Zodiac (2007), The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Mank (2020). For The Social Network, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and BAFTA Award for Best Direction. His biggest commercial successes are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Gone Girl (2014), both of which grossed more than $300 million worldwide, with the former earning thirteen nominations at the Academy Awards, and eleven at the British Academy Film Awards.
He also served as an executive producer and director for the Netflix series House of Cards (2013–2018) and Mindhunter (2017–2019), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode of House of Cards. Fincher was the co-founder of Propaganda Films, a film, and music.
Backstage
- Turned down the offer to direct Catch Me If You Can (2002), opting to do Panic Room (2002) instead.
- Turned down the offer to direct 8MM (1999), opting to do Fight Club (1999) instead.
- Like one of his main influences Stanley Kubrick, he demands a high number of takes for each scene in attempt to familiarize the cast with the film sets and dialogue as well as deconstructing their carefully constructed performances in favor of a more genuine performance.
- It was the 1969 feature film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) that inspired him to pursue a career in cinema.
- While growing up in Marin County, one of his neighbors was George Lucas. He later worked on the special effects crew of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), produced and written by Lucas.
- Turned down the offer to direct Batman Begins (2005).
- Has been close friends with Brad Pitt ever since working together on Seven (1995).
- Fincher has stated that the shock twist ending in the script for Se7en (1995) was not intended for him to read, and was sent by accident. He insisted on the twist ending, but the studio preferred a happier ending. The support of Brad Pitt led the studio to relent. Fincher also stated Pitt was instrumental in securing Kevin Spacey's involvement in the film.
- Directed 7 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Brad Pitt, Taraji P. Henson, Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara,Rosamund Pike, Gary Oldman, and Amanda Seyfried.
- Jake Gyllenhaal publicly expressed the difficulty of David Fincher's working style, mentioning the challenge of doing numerous takes only to have Fincher order the deletion of many of the previous takes.
- Since directing Zodiac, he has become a major proponent of digital cinematography. He has used digital cameras to shoot all of his films since 2007. In the documentary Side by Side, he expressed his affinity for the greater control and fluidity of the film-making process it grants him.
- His favorite films include: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Dracula (1931), Rear Window (1954), Being There (1979), Jaws (1975), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 8½ (1963), Alien (1979), American Graffiti (1973), Citizen Kane (1941), Cabaret (1972) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).
- Was originally considered to direct Hannibal (2001).
- Was originally set to direct Mission: Impossible III (2006), but dropped out.
- With eight nominations, he has received more nominations for the MTV Video Music Award than any other director in history. 7 of the 8 nominations occurred in a 3 year span (1989 to 1991). He also sets the record of nominations in three consecutive years.
- Was originally considered to direct Spider-Man (2002).
- Met his partner, Ceán Chaffin, in the early '90s when she produced a Japanese Coca-Cola ad he was directing.
- He is a big fan of Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula.
Awards
His films, mostly thrillers, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director.For The Social Network, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and BAFTA Award for Best Direction.His biggest commercial successes are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Gone Girl (2014), both of which grossed more than $300 million worldwide, with the former earning thirteen nominations at the Academy Awards, and eleven at the British Academy Film Awards.He also served as an executive producer and director for the Netflix series House of Cards (2013–2018) and Mindhunter (2017–2019), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode of House of Cards.
