David Fincher, Dark & Stylish-I
A bit of a movie trivia, what connects the music videos, Vogue(Madonna), Cradle of Love( Billy Idol), Straight Up(Paula Abdul), Who Is It(Michael Jackson), Jamie’s Got a Gun( Aerosmith)?
The answer is a certain David Leo Fincher, one of my favorite directors.
David has been the director for movies like Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room and his latest release The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will be hitting the market soon.
David initially started his career with Spielberg’s Industrial Light and Magic where he worked on blockbusters like Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom and Return of the Jedi. His experiences with ILM actually cultivated a respect for big budget movie making in him. After ILM, David branched out into music videos and commercials. David directed most of the music videos for Propaganda Films, which in fact was a sort of launching pad for many other directors like Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, Gore Verbinski(Pirates of Carribean) to name a few. David directed the above music videos mentioned, as well as a host of commercials, for Adidas, Apple( Iphone 3G), Coke, Levis, Nike and XBox. This experience of doing commercials, music videos would influence David’s highly stylized movie making.
David made his directorial debut with Alien 3, the 3rd part of the Alien trilogy. Alien 3 takes off from where Aliens had ended with the escape pod crashing into a space penal colony, inhabited by men only, who have double Y chromosomes. Ripley( Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor of that crash, and she is warned not to be visible to the inmates, who have embraced a cult that forbids sexual relations. Things take a turn when the Alien, begins to attack and kill the colony inmates.
*Spoiler Alert*
However the more horrifying truth, emerges later when its revealed, that the carrier of the Alien is Ripley herself.
Alien 3 was much more darker and more tragic compared to Alien and Aliens. But the movie was not much of a commercial success and critically too it received a mixed reaction. The major issue was that David Fincher was a totally unknown quantity compared to Ridley Scott and James Cameron, who directed the first 2 parts of the series. For Scott, Alien was his first major movie, and also being the first in the series, he did not have any baggage to carry, and when Cameron filmed Aliens in 1986, he already had made a mark with Terminator-I. So when Fincher was asked to direct, he had the unenviable task of living up to Scott and Cameron, both of whom had their own distinctive styles, as also reaching out to a dedicated fan base for the series. The major hurdle Fincher had faced was also the fact that when he was directing the 3rd part, the fan base would compare to the other 2 parts. And that included yours truly, i hated Alien 3, when i saw it first time, because at every stage i was comparing it to the other two parts. In fact to be honest when i first saw the promos for Alien 3, my reaction was David Who?
But problem with Alien 3 was more acute, it suffered from a clear focus on scripting. William Gibson who wrote the sci fi cult classic Neuromancer, was first approached to work on the script, came up with a story which was more graphic, more violent, but left it, as the movie producers dragged their foot on the story. Eric Red who wrote the cult horror movie, The Hitcher, was the next, and his screenplay had the concept of all the crew members being wiped out, and the aliens escaping to the colony, who would then face them. Renny Harlin( Cliff Hanger) who was assigned to direct Alien 3, however left because of his commitment to Die Hard 2. David Twohy, Vincent Ward and John Fasano, were the other people tried, before producers Walter Hill and David Giler, themselves wrote the screenplay.
Fincher was then taken in and while filming, he had to do a lot of chopping and cleaning up the final screenplay. The major problem was Fincher, was working on a movie with no proper bound script, something which he to date blames Fox for. Fincher made his debut straighta away with a major big budget movie, and he had to endure endless interference from Fox. And add to it, he had to live up to Scott and Cameron, two men who were already established giants. So upset was he by this experience that he vowed never to direct a movie for some time. As he said
“I thought I’d rather die of colon cancer than do another movie”
It was 3 years later in 1995 that Fincher’s second movie Se7en, came into the picture. This was the movie that would in a way liberate Fincher from Alien 3. Se7en was what established Fincher’s style in a way, dark, nihilistic and yet stylish. On the surface Se7en is a pretty straightforward thriller, about 2 cops William Somerset( Morgan Freeman), a veteran of the police force, worldly wise, and David Mills( Brad Pitt), a cocky, young, hot headed cop investigating a series of murders.
But if one actually takes a deeper look, Se7en is a more layered. If we take the very setting of the movie, we don’t know really kno
w where it is city, but through out the movie it has a very grim, dark setting, and throughout it was raining. Basically Fincher’s metaphor for urban decay and chaos, which he would explore more deeply in Fight Club. As he said later about it, he wanted to show a city that was
“dirty, violent, polluted, often depressing. Visually and stylistically, that’s how we wanted to portray this world. Everything needed to be as authentic and raw as possible.”
Martin Scorcese, often used New York as the motif for his movies on urban decay, but for Fincher, the location was only a means to show the moral decay. In fact John Doe, the killer, uses the 7 Deadly Sins as the reason for his murders. What Fincher did in Se7en was to create a world in absolute chaos and decay, and the dark, bleached tone of the movie only accentuated it.
Interestingly the technique used here is bleach bypass, which was also used in Saving Private Ryan and Minority Report later. What happens in this technique is that the bleaching process is either partially or completely skipped while processing a color film, so the effect is a kind of B&W over color. If you take a look at the famous Normandy landing scene in SPR, you can see that it haas that dull, grainy feel.
John Doe is a person who in fact is totally unapolegetic about his crimes. In a way he is like Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver, who feels he has a mission to clean the scum off the streets. And its not just Doe , Somerset wishes to retire and leave the horrors of the city. David’s wife Tracy(Gwyneth Paltrow) is pregnant, but she does not want to bring up her child in the city, repulsed by its horrors. Somerset’s calm and composed nature, is the only counterpoint which Fincher, brings to the otherwise chaotic, dark and nihilistic world. And of course the shocking end, which in a way is a logical culmination.
In the next part, will be covering Fincher’s work in The Game and Fight Club.
Tags: Alien3, Brad Pitt, David Fincher, Se7en
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They were interviewing David Fincher yesterday @ NPR radio.
Here’s the URL to listen to the interview. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98607117&ft=1&f=1008
Of course he is a great filmmaker. I really loved “Seven”, very dark and stylish movie. I never knew he directed my ever favorite music videos as well (Who is it? love the stylish treatment) and Vogue(which would be an all time favorite). I am looking forward to seeing “The curious case of benjamin button”.
Nice article.
GD, Yeah even i am looking to Benjamin Button, and from what i have seen on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie seems to have got a good rating. James Berardinelli, one of my favs, has given it a 3.5/4 , and has said its a darker version of Forrest Gump.
have been a Fincher fan ever since I saw Fight club, looking forward to your post on it. Do cover Zodiac also – its my personal fave (awaiting benjamin button)
Abhi sure, basically wanted to cover in this itself, but again found that most of Fincher’s movies are quite layered, and complex. So just staggering it out in a series.
Very well researched article.
There are directors who let the substance/subject govern the form of the movie. And then there are directors whose own vision dictates the form of the movie. I think Fincher belongs to the former category. The “look” of Se7ven is so dark and disturbing – which gels perfectly with its underlying dark subject.
I always thought that Se7ven was shot in Seattle (because it’s always raining in Seattle!).
By the way, I haven’t seen Alien 3 yet, so thanks for revealing the “horrifying truth”! Please put a spoiler warning, will you?
Vishal hmm maybe, but from what i heard, Fincher wanted it to be an anonymous setting. It was somewhat metaphorical of urban and moral decay. Yeah the dark look was deliberate, it was Fincher’s choice. Basically, i think he was emphasizing on the grimy urban life, and its downfall.
One interesting thing is Fincher had cut his teeth on mainstream Hollywood flicks, so he had a respect for them. In fact most of his movies have been described as blockbusters with an Indie sensibility. Another such director i can think of is Christopher Nolan, but then Nolan, started his career with indie features like Memento, before going into more mainstream stuff.
i dnt hv words to describe my curiosity fr Fincher’s films..they always bring out smth that is dormant in me..a thought,an idea..a POV..awaiting Benjamin Button ‘curiously’..tc..God Bless
Ratnakar, I have seen this site provide deeper analysis and insight into a filmmaker’s '³euvre. Sorry, but you seem to be rehashing wiki passages in most of your posts. Not copying but restating. I would do a wiki on Fincher or Burton to know who was first brought into write the script and who replaced him. Or that the city in se7ven was a metaphor for urban decay (totally wiki). Expect to to give more views than facts. Take this as a constructive suggestion.
Sreya – Really appreciate the feedback. Not to side a co-author but you will have to marvel Ratnakar who is currently the writing machine of PFC. I like most absolutely digg his article. His analysis and research and command on the subject is very tight yet lucid that gives tons of info for everyone – from a newbie to the more ingrained movie-goer.
As someone who shares a similar passion in writing, Ratnakar’s knowledge over the articles he chooses must come from the vast information he consumes day and night. And as someone who does this sub-consciously at times, a few references get curiously similar or get reiterated at times. But thanks for that honest feedback, its great to see such passionate and detail oriented readers!
Sreya- Thanks for the constructive feedback, would try to work on it. Basically as ravptor had pointed out, my writing style generally tends to be more research oriented. But yeah i know that i need to improve on the aspect u suggested, and am working on it.