DARK REVELATION » Seven_1995 » Fight Club_1999 » The Game_1997 » Panic Room_2002 » Zodiac_2007 » The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction
Zodiac
Opening, 4
Summary, 64
Fincher, 6
Reviews, 68
Fincher Bio, 8
Interview, 72
Fincher Interview, 10
Summary, 16
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Reviews, 20
Summary, 76
Interview, 24
Reviews, 80
Se7en
Fight Club
Interview, 84
Reviews, 32
Dark Revelation
Interview, 36
Schedule, 90
Summary, 28
The Game Summary, 40 Reviews, 44 Interview, 48
Panic Room Summary, 52 Reviews, 56 Interview, 60
Map, 93 Seattle, 94 Entertainment, 96
INSPIRED FROM SAN FRANCISCO’S FILM NOIR FESTIVAL THIS FESTIVAL IS THE FIRST OF IT’S KIND.
Its’ creation comes from the want to celebrate the new contemporary version of the genre known as film noir coming out of Hollywood. It is also an opportunity to celebrate those who possess the ability to push the envelope creating some of the most compelling storytelling, use of emotional and provoking visual styles, and can successfully merge the lines between fiction and what is reality.
This year we will be celebrating award winning director David Fincher, and a collection of his work Seven, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fight Club, The Game, Panic Room, and Zodiac. Not only will this be a chance for you to view some of your favorite films, but there will also be a chance to meet and hear from the man behind this incredible talent, Mr. Fincher. At Dark Revelation will give you a chance to lose yourself in this brutally honesty, incredibly deceitful, and endless toying collection. This collection showcases his strong visual sensibility and his use of the neo-noir stylistic traits. They also all incorporate his themes of darkness, a journey into ones psychological psyche, and sense of obsession.
7 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
FINCHER I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH MOVIES SHOULD ENTERTAIN. TO ME, I’M ALWAYS INTEREST IN THE MOVIES THAT SCAR.
INTERVIEW December 23, 2011 Alex Billington
WHAT ARE THE DEFINING FACTORS FOUND IN THIS PROJECT AND THIS
TO ME, FROM WHAT I’VE OBSERVED AND FROM MY STANDPOINT, THAT
STORY, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THAT MADE YOU DECIDE
MAKES FOR BETTER FILMS, RIGHT?
TO DIRECT IT?
F: Not always. I mean, look, I look back on stuff that I
F: With Dragon Tattoo, do I need to make another serial
was… I can flip through channels and see on HBO a movie that
killer movie the rest of my life? No. But I had not seen
I did years ago and I look at it and I go, “aww I coulda
these two people, Mikael & Lisbeth. I hadn’t been asked
made that better. I could tell that story faster now.” It
to direct… A love story is too easy. A story of friendship
is a hard thing. I don’t know that final cut… it doesn’t
and personal intimacy, sexual intimacy, they are…
protect you from people saying to you, “You should look at this. You should really…” It’s not always that polite. I
SOMETHING YOU HADN’T SEEN BEFORE? OR IS IT JUST THE WAY…
do not think final cut protects you nor insulates you from
F: I’ve seen people take odd people from different sides
people’s opinions. You have taken tens of millions of
of the street to team up to solve a murder mystery. I hadn’t
dollars to make a movie. It is somebody else’s money. So
seen this one. I thought she, in conjunction with him, was
you’re going into it and you’re hoping that if you can
a team that was unlike anything that I prepared for. Then I
align this actor, and this actor, and this actor and get
saw the Swedish movie and I thought, “Interesting…The movie
this chemistry between this, then get to Sweden on time
I have in my head is different.” So I talked to screenwriter
before it’s suddenly 30 degrees below zero every day and
Steve Zaillian, he was halfway through a script, and when
the sun is only out for three hours, you have all those
he sent it to me, it was kind of what we had talked about,
things that are going on. I don’t know that final cut makes
which was: “Let’s bring them front and center. Is anybody
the movie better. Because when it gets right down to it,
really keeping track of the Vanger clan and who is in the
I did not have final cut for Fight Club. And that’s a movie
drawing room with a pipe? Or is all of this something
that you would expect a movie studio to step in and go,
else? An excuse for something else?”
“No, no, no, Mr. Fincher. Please.”
I think that the modernity, the thing that made it a new
And yet, you know, because producer Laura Ziskin, may she
take on the locked room mystery, was not the foundation of
rest in peace, and Bill Mechanic were people of their word,
socialism on the Third Reich war profiteering… That is
and because all discussions we had upfront about, “Here
perfectly good and that is perfectly understandable, but
is what we are trying to accomplish, and here is why it is
that’s what—author—Stieg Larsson was about and what he
seditious, and here’s why it should be done at this kind
was up in arms about. He certainly was talking about the
of scale rather than at this lesser scale. You know, there’s
dark black liquid underbelly of this other… Sweden is
a great place in the pantheon of risk takers if you go
still - I still saw it on the list the other day of the top
with this. There were many things that people… there were
10 countries for women to live in. It was number three or
concessions that were made. This idea that a director is
something. And yet, Larsson would say, and there are many
only really a director if he’s stomping his feet, crossing
reports that would say to you, that there is a dispropor-
his arms, and holding his breath, it’s bullshit.
tionately high rate of rape in this country. I wrote this, actually, to Sony executive Michael Lynton So all those thing were interesting to me, but that’s all
at one point because we were disagreeing about something. I
backdrop. I love Chinatown. I am not really that interested
said to him, “I am smart enough to know that these ideas
in how water was brought to the San Fernando Valley, except
are going to be attributed to me whether they are mine or
in this case it’s a very interesting sort of thematic way to
not. If you come up with a good idea, I want to take the
hold this investigation together, and worthy of its place
credit for it.” I believe that. I mean, I honestly believe
in the pantheon of movies. But the thing to me, ultimately,
if you show me something that I want take whatever I will
that was fascinating in the story was him—Mikael—and
fucking run with it. You know what I mean? I am not a dummy.
her—Lisbeth.
What I do not want is those ideas that I know are not a reflection of any of the thinking that went into the making of this thing. I don’t want that stuff reflected. I don’t want it to reflect on me because it can be confusing. Look, nobody wanted to say “The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas.” Everybody thought it was coy. I laughed. I did it as a joke initially. And when I saw it on the screen, I thought, “Well, we are counter-programming because this movie does have a lot of…it is sinister and
12 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
it has a lot of sodomy.” People are treated badly in this movie. That does not mean that it is not worth the journey
Yeah! That’s my job. Light, to me, makes a mood. So the mood can either be an appropriate one or inappropriate.
because it’s harrowing. And as I watched the trailer over and over again, I thought to myself, “You know, it is the feel bad movie of Christmas.” That is a great sort of expression of what we want to say about it. And, in the end, there was a lot of resistance. And, in the end, to their credit—Sony execs—Amy Pascal, and Michael Lynton said, “Okay. You want to do that. We’ll do that. We’ll go there for you.”
I’VE ALSO HEARD THAT YOU ARE CONTROLLING ON THE SET IN TERMS OF MAKING SURE EVERYTHING IS PERFECT. LIGHT IN CERTAIN AREAS… F: I’m not controlling. I am…
WELL, SPECIFIC. F: Sometimes it’s right to be inappropriate. Sometimes if you want to have a shocking murder take place, like in Zodiac, the fact that it happens at three o’clock in the afternoon on a bright, sunny September afternoon, that can be... that’s what was shocking about the murder. That’s what was shocking about what took place Lake Berryessa, is that it happened in broad daylight. And here were these people screaming for their lives and you go, “How is that really possible?” Well, I mean, it was not
designed to be that, it just
simply was that. And you could look at it and say, “Well, maybe it should take place at… maybe the sun should be setting and maybe it should be more idyllic. Perhaps it should be big puffy clouds with a pink sunset…” But, to me, the thing that was kind of blatant, and raw, and scary about it was here they are and they’re going, “What is that man all dressed in black for? What is he doing?”
13 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
MUCH CARE YOU PUT INTO EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. HAS THAT, OVER
So it’s not… “Final cut” is a little bit of a misnomer.
YOUR CAREER, BECOME SOMETHING THAT IS A CHALLENGE EVERY TIME
Final cut doesn’t mean that you are hermetically sealed away
YOU MAKE A MOVIE?
from people’s disappointment or people feeling that the
F: Well, look, I think originally… I mean, when you’re
movie is too long, or people feeling that the story can’t be
27 making a movie, it’s a different thing than when you’re
better told a different way. Final cut just means that, at
49 making a movie. When you’re 27 and saying, “I really
a certain point, you have the ability to end the discussion.
want the camera to be here,” there is all kinds of people
You have the ability to say: “I understand. I see what you
going, “Really? Don’t you think it’s a little too… ” And
are saying. I do not think it is a better version. This is
now I say, “I want to put the camera here,” and people go,
what I believe in. This is what I want to put my name on.”
“Let us get it there. If you will excuse us, we’ll put it
And there’s nothing that you can put in a contract that is
where you want it.” So, obviously, that changes. But that is
going to make people like it when you do that. So you
not to say that you don’t… you can’t stay sharp without
haven’t really circumnavigated any of the interpersonal.
friction. You need a certain amount of friction. I don’t believe in being the guy that everybody kowtows to.
YEAH! HOW ARE YOU GETTING THIS DONE? AND WHY DON’T WE SEE
But I do believe in being able to say, “Here are the things
THIS ELSEWHERE? IT’S ONE OF THOSE THINGS, TO ME, I LOVE—REAL
that I hold important in this,” and that people commit that
HACKS, REAL TABBING, EVERYTHING.
to memory. Not to be put in the position of repeating, having the same discussion about whatever it is again. I feel like I go to a lot of trouble to elucidate why it is that I want things to be a certain, specific way. It’s not out of whim. It is very much out of…, Trent and Atticus and I discussed early on, “How do you make it sound cold? What sounds cold to you?” Bells. Okay, crystal. Something like snow. We want to get a sense of space. So that’s reverb, that is echo. You need a kind of clarity of tone and you need to be able to create a spatial envelope for it. So there are all those things.
F: Because part of how the characters are being or how they are to be presented is about their mastery of this kind of communication. Mark Zuckerberg—it’s very important that you see somebody that even though he’s a punk in a dorm room in the middle of the night and he may be half drunk, there is a facility he has—a mastery—that he has possesses is very important to who he is at his marrow. It’s very important to what he accomplished, it’s very important to what he is fighting so violently to protect. It’s his extension. You know, it is that great line in Broadcast News where
Now, you know, we argued back and forth over whether or
Albert Brooks says, “I see it. I say it in here and it comes
not there would be the sort of plinky piano in the flashback
out there.” You need to see this guy go machine gun typing
stuff. Eventually, he is Trent fucking Reznor. If I am
sound… Doc Bailey, who unfortunately passed away years ago,
talking to Stellan Skarsgard or Daniel Craig about who they
was a visual effects guy. I’ve never seen anybody hit the
think their character is, I defer to them. That is their
keys as hard as this guy did. He would go through keyboards
responsibility. I have to figure out a way to fit them into it
like two or three a year. It was almost like a punch. You
and I have to figure out a way to explain what my issues are
were just watching this guy… You know, my dad typed really
if something is X, Y, or Z. I will always shoot a take if an
fast. He could probably type 120 to 130 words a minute.
actor says, “I want to try this.” Abso-fucking-lutely, man.
But this guy literally… It was like Bobby Fischer typing.
I do not pay millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of
I mean it was like - this is a machine.
dollars, to people to come in and be a hand puppet. You want them to author that. That is really their thing. If you hire really, really talented people… I want to treat them like I want to be treated, which is go where you want to go.
14 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
THE OTHER THING I WANT TO MENTION, IT SEEMS, AT LEAST WITH YOUR LAST TWO FILMS SOCIAL NETWORK AND THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THAT THESE ARE THE ONLY FILMS I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME THAT HAVE REALISTIC COMPUTER USAGE IN THEM AND REAL COMPUTER SCREENS.
15 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
16 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
SE7EN ERNEST HEMINGWAY ONCE WROTE, “THE WORLD IS A FINE PLACE AND WORTH FIGHTING FOR.” I AGREE WITH THE SECOND PART.
17 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER
SE7EN_SUMMARY
YOU’RE NO MESSIAH. YOU’RE A MOVIE OF THE WEEK. YOU’RE A FUCKING T-SHIRT, AT BEST.
1995« The film Se7en is focused on Det. William Sommerset—Morgan Freeman—who is a homicide detective just about to retire. The film begins by showing the toll this job has taken on him. You can see that he is completely worn out and has seen so many troubling things during his time that he walks around with a heavy soul. Before he can retire however, he is partnered with a young, & ambitious detective, David Mills—Brad Pitt, who will be replacing him at the end of the week. Mills, who is fresh from the countryside and has a "take down the bad guys attitude" is ready to take on any case with a running start. Unfortunately, neither of them could have been prepared for the case that they were handed as Sommerset’s last and Mills' first. The cases, which turn out to be linked, are those of a sadist serial killer who has begun to stage gruesome and unheard of murders around the city. In discovering that the murderer is acting out the seven deadly sins, Sommerset attempts to walk away from the case, but there is something that keeps him from fully letting go and therefore, he teams with Mills in an attempt to take down the serial killer. However, neither of them could have understood the magnitude of the effect that the unspeakably horrible conclusion would end up having on the both of them.
LEADING CAST
THE CREW
AWARDS
Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle PRODUCERS
Best Writing Andrew Kevin Walker SATURN AWARD
Arthur Max
Best Make-up Jean
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Black & Rob Bottin
Gary Wissner ART DIRECTOR Howard Shore MUSIC Andrew Kevin Walker SCREENWRITER Richard Francis-Bruce EDITOR Darius Khondji CINEMATOGRAPHER
SATURN AWARD Best Foreign Language Film David Fincher BLUE RIBBON AWARD Best Film EMPIRE AWARD Best Actor Morgan Freeman EMPIRE AWARD Best Villain Kevin Spacey MTV AWARD
18 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
Brad Pitt Morgan Freeman Gwyneth Paltrow John C McGinley Kevin Spacey
BECOME VENGEA DAVID.
JOHN DOE
E ANCE, BECOME WRATH.
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER
SE7EN_REVIEWS
VARIETY
IGN DVD
TODD MCCARTHY
R.L. SHAFFER
An intensely claustrophobic, gut-wrenching
Despite some truly fantastic work throughout
crime thriller.
the ‘90s and 2000s, Seven still remains director David Fincher’s best film, albeit by a very narrow margin.
CHICAGO READER
NETFLIX
JONATHAN ROSENBAUM
JAMES ROCCHI
The filmmakers stick to their vision with such
A harrowingly bleak vision that haunted me
dedication and persistence that something
in the theaters and made my flesh slick with
indelible comes across, something ethically
fear even on this recent re-viewing.
and artistically superior to The Silence of the Lambs that refuses to exploit suffering for fun or entertainment.
STAR DEMOCRAT
PALO ALTO WEEKLY
GREG MAKI
JIM SHELBY
An unrelenting examination of the evil that
The angles, the faded tones, the close-ups
may or may not be festering inside every one
and quick cutting to intense music were all
of us.
so unusual and disconcerting I was caught off guard. I immediately felt both mesmerized and at risk. And that was just during the opening credits.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
FILM 4
EDWARD GUTHMANN
UNKNOWN
Hannibal Lecter, say hello to John Doe.
Fincher and Walker take these hackneyed ingredients, play with them in the context of a brilliantly cohesive plot, present something consistently fresh, and very dark.
22 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
TIME OUT DEREK ADAMS
He handles violence with announcing its obscenity ses and briefly glimpsed shots, never showing the acts themselves.
sensitivity, in spoken analypost-mortem murderous
TV GUIDE UNKNOWN Director David Fincher contrives a stylish, intentionally ugly look that transcends the pulp narrative.
23 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
24 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
25 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER
SE7EN_INTERVIEW
BRAD PITT 1995 ScreenSlam.com
ITS EDITED BY AN AUSTRALIAN RICHARD FRANCIS BRUCE WHO IS
WELL YOU ARE CERTAINLY ON THE ASCENDANCY AT THE MOMENT. ARE
UP FOR AN OSCARTHIS YEAR SO I’VE GOT TO ASK YOU WHAT DO YOU
YOU AN OLD HAND AT THE FAME GAME NOW?
THINK OF THE EDITING?
BP: No it still throws me a bit, I don’t understand all
BP: I think it’s fantastic, I think we had a good puzzle.
of it. But you know we deal.
IT’S CERTAINLY KEEPS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT.
WHAT’S IT LIKE WORKING WITH GWYNETH PALTROW?
BP: I think it’s very honest about it, you know, bleak
BP: Yeah it was a very viable character to the film.
but honest.
It’s the only bit of sunshine and she brings such soul. More important we had that balance. I think we we’re
WHY DO YOU THINK WE’RE FASCINATED BY SERIAL KILLER THERE
very fortunate to get her.
SEEMS TO BE QUITE A FEW MOVIES AND STORIES ABOUT IT. BP: I certainly don’t have the answer but maybe because being as tough as life is seeing people go to these depths, its just fascinating you know it’s horrifying but it is fascinating, why do people slow down at car wrecks. WHAT FASCINATED YOU MOST ABOUT IT? WAS IT THE CHARACTER, THE ENSEMBLE OF PEOPLE? BP: It was all these elements you know, I did like the character, I wanted to get something more human, more flawed more realistic. Morgan definitely was a king, David Fincher I think is one of the most intelligent men I have ever run into. And just love for the films of the seventies. I think this had that kind of straight forward feel. YOU WORK WITH BRIGHT TALENTED PEOPLE, YOU HAVE HAD A STRING OF HIT MOVIES, AND YOUR IN LOVE IS THIS THE DREAM COME TRUE FOR YOU? BP: It’s pretty damn good isn’t it. WORKING WITH SOMEONE LIKE MORGAN FREEMAN DO YOU SOMETIMES STILL PINCH YOURSELF? BP: oh yeah absolutely. I just feel very fortunate. All my respect. I mean the man is so wise you know. And he has such a grace about him, it really helped me. DOES ACTING BEAT THE HELL OUT OF ARCHITECTURE? BP: I don’t know I have yet to do architecture. IS IT SOMETHING YOU’D STILL LIKE TO DO? BP: Yeah, someday.
26 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
GWYNETH PALTROW AUGUST, 2013 Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub
WITH THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF SEVEN RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THOSE EARLIER FILMS? GP: I only see flaws so I watch anything back but you know what’s nice is to have participated in films that have stood the test of time and that culturally stay relevant and stay good. And seven is a great example of that.
27 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
FIGHT CLUB AND THEN, SOMETHING HAPPENED. I LET GO. LOST IN OBLIVION. DARK AND SILENT AND COMPLETE. I FOUND FREEDOM.
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
FIGHT CLUB_SUMMARY
IT’S ONLY AFTER WE’VE LOST EVERYTHING THAT WE’RE LOST EVERYTHING THAT WE’RE FREE TO DO ANYTHING.
1999« Fight Club is told through the narration of Edward Norton who plays a young urban professional who is depressed and suffers from a terrible case of insomnia. The movie begins with a short look into his unhappy life with an unsatisfying career, and an apartment filled with materialistic objects. Looking for relief, he turns to support groups where he finds he is able to release all his emotions and cure his insomnia. However, his solution is short-lived when Marla, played by Helena Bonham Carter, begins to use the support groups for the same purpose. Outraged that someone else also is taking advantage of the support groups, he becomes miserable once again but that is nothing compared to how he feels when he arrives home after a business trip to find his world in complete disarray. With no one to turn to, he finds himself reaching out to a man he just met on the plane ride home. Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt—soap manufacturer—who is the complete opposite to the insomniac. It is through this new-found friendship that he begins to once again to find a release to his inner turmoil. He begins to let go of all his inner ambitions of being the perfect employee at work, and stops trying to look for happiness through the materialistic world. On the first night that they hang out Tyler challenges him to a full on fist fight. After the fight, insomniac is surprised at the pure sense of release he feels from his inner struggles. With a few more nights of bare-knuckled fighting outside of the bar they hang out at, they begin to form a following. It is through this new following that Fight Club is developed. The club is for grown men to meet up and kick the shit out of each other. Over time, the Club turns into more of a cult and the insomniac begins to realize that Tyler has taken things too far. He tries to fix things, but he begins to discover the hidden secrets behind Tyler, himself, and the cult that has formed up around him. The more he tries to right thing the more he begins to self-destruct and realize that he has no idea how to get out of the chaos he has created for himself.
AWARDS
Art Linson, Ceán Chaffin, Ross Bell PRODUCERS
Best Effects OSCAR NOMINATION
Alex McDowll
Best British Actress
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Helena Bonham Carter
Chris Gorak ART DIRECTOR Chuck Palahniuk BOOK AUTHOR Jim Uhls SCREENWRITER James Haygood EDITOR Jeff Cronenweth CINEMATOGRAPHER
30 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
LEADING CAST
THE CREW
EMPIRE AWARD Best DVD
Edward Norton Brad Pitt Helena Bonham Carter Meat Loaf
BEST SPECIAL FEATURES
Jared Leto
OFCS AWARD
Zach Grenier
Third Place Best Screenplay Jim Uhls SEFCA AWARD
I AM JACK'S INFLAME SENSE O REJECTIO
ED OF ONS. NARRATOR
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
FIGHT CLUB_REVIEWS
ASK MEN
VARIETY
RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAL
DAVID ROONEY
The last great male-centric movie of the
A bold, inventive, sustained adrenaline rush
last millennium just arrived on a spectacular
of a movie…
new Blu-ray disc for its 10th anniversary, providing the opportunity of relishing every aspect of Fincher’s ultimate dissection of Gen-X masculinity.
7M PICTURES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
KEVIN CARR
MICHAEL WILMINGTON
There’s many levels of brilliance to this
A bloody, hilarious ride into the twisted
film, from the script to the acting to the
recesses of the modern male psyche.
cinematography to the overall directing.
NEW YORK TIMES
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
JANET MASLIN
BOB GRAHAM
The director of Seven and The Game for the
Delivers a sucker punch to the audience and
first time finds subject matter audacious
then pulls the rug out from under it. It is
enough to suit his lightning-fast visual
sensational.
sophistication, and puts that style to stunningly effective use.
ROLLING STONE
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
PETER TRAVERS
CARRIE RICKEY
It is about being young, male, and powerless
Blistering, hallucinatory, often brilliant,
against the pacifying drug of consumerism.
the film by David Fincher is a combination
It’s about solitude, despair and bottled-up
punch of social satire and socio-pathology.
rage… It is about daring to imagine the disenfranchised reducing the world to rubble and starting over.
34 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
TIME MAGAZINE RICHARD SCHICKEL
Working American Beauty-Susan Faludi territory, that illiberal, impious, inarticulate fringe that threatens the smug American center with an anger that cannot explain itself, and can only act out its frustrations only in inexplicable violence.
35 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
36 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
I CONSIDER IT ASSHOLE TAX…
37 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
FIGHT CLUB_INTERVIEW
EDWARD NORTON NOVEMBER, 1999 Interview Magazine, Graham Fuller
WHAT WERE THE CORE IDEAS IN THE FIGHT CLUB SCRIPT THAT YOU WANTED TO GET YOUR TEETH INTO AS AN ACTOR? EN: Fincher sent me the novel, and I read it in one sitting. It is obviously a surreal piece that operates at an almost allegorical level within one’s madness, and I felt immediately that it was on the pulse of a zeitgeist I recognized. It speaks to my generation’s conflict with the American material values system at its worst. I guess I have felt for a long time that a lot of the films that were aimed at my generation were some baby boomer perception of what Gen-X was really about. Tailored to a kind of reductive image of us as slackers, and to have a banal, glib, low-energy, and angst-ridden realism, none of which anyone I know relates to. They did not speak to the deeper and darker underlying sense of despair and paralysis and numbness in the face of the overwhelming onslaught of media information that we’ve received from the cradle. Fight Club seemed much more on money because it named a lot of what we resent about our inheritance. One reading of the book, I could remember aphorisms from it that had the immediate ring of a real generational voice welling up and crystallizing ideas about our being raised on television to believe that we all should be some millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, and saying that advertising has us working in jobs to make money so we can buy shit that we do not need. I called Fincher and told him I thought it was disturbing but that it made me laugh, because I recognized so much of it, and because the narrator’s plight is so desperate. I found myself relating to his self-indulgent but valid sense of complete dislocation. You just do not get to read generational nerve pieces like that very often. DO YOU HAVE ANY QUALMS ABOUT THE WAY MALE BRUTALITY IS PRESENTED IN THE FILM? EN: Except in the scene where my character beats up the Jared Leto character, it is very stylized, you know? But I do not think it rhapsodizes about violence. Face/Off makes more of a beautiful aesthetic out of violence than Fight Club does, and so does The Matrix, which I loved as a terrifically stylish film. I don’t think the violence in Fight Club is by any means anesthetizing—I think it’s nauseating, which violence usually is.
38 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
DID YOU AND FINCHER AND THE PRODUCERS DISCUSS WHETHER THE
There is a serious corruption in the idea that is sold through advertising. In which one can attain true spiritual peace through lifestyle with the notion of building ones happiness from the outside in by acquiring things. Which is the essence of advertising.
FILM WOULD BE PERCEIVED AS IRRESPONSIBLE? EN: Yes. But we all knew what our intention was, and we had to proceed with that intention. You can not; not pursue a creative statement because of the fear that it will be misinterpreted. If you did, nothing of any substance would get done. When I worked on The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Gloria Steinem attacked the idea that the film got made at all, I thought that was an astonishing retrograde crit from a liberal commentator; it smacked of a fascistic kind of censoriousness. To say, for instance, that it was a film that presented only a certain side of a man whose life also involved these other complicated issues would have been a legitimate critique, but to say that it was invalid subject matter to make a film about was a much more of a dangerous statement than anything the film came up with. I feel that way about Fight Club. Many of the things that have been called subversive are regarded as classics including much of Oscar Wilde. Because some men pursue their sexual obsessions with young girls, does that mean Nabokov should not have written Lolita? Should Martin Scorsese not have made Taxi Driver because there was the potential that someone like John Hinckley would use it as the excuse for his particular pathology? I think the answer to that is definitely no. Art has an important role in holding up a mirror to the things unhealthy in a culture.
39 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
40 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
THE GAME DISCOVERING THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS THE OBJECT OF THE GAME.
41 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GAME_SUMMARY
WHAT IS THE GOING RATE FOR TRAPPEDIN-THE ELEVATOR ADVENTURE?
1997« The Game is focused on Nicholas Van Orton—Michael Douglas, a successful businessman who has become so career driven that he has pushed everyone close to him away. It seem at first that he is incapable of expressing any emotion or showing that he cares for anyone but himself. His brother Conrad—Sean Penn shows up on his forty-eighth birthday with a surprise gift for Nicholas and swears that this gift will forever change his life. The gift is a game offered by Consumer Recreation Services. After going through a day long physical, he is rejected by the company saying that they can’t offer him the game. Nicholas, frustrated, goes through the rest of his day annoyed he wasted his time and focuses back on work. Shortly thereafter, Nicholas' life get thrown upside down. As the movie moves along, we see Nicholas struggle with the game's complexity and scheming. Every time we think he is close to uncovering the truth there is another layer of chaos and everything he has figured out thus far is wrong. Soon the game turns into a no-holds-barred assault on his life and everything he holds dear forcing him to watch as his life and business crumble around him.
However, it doesn't just stop there, throughout the movie the character
continues to take blow after blow until he finally reaches a breaking point and threatens the game company by taking one of their employees hostage. Just when you think there are no more twists, Nicholas is startled by his brother and he winds up shooting him on the roof. Distraught and giving to the madness of it all, he ends up quitting, and jumping off the roof in a suicide attempt. Feeling complete frustration with the movie, it pulls the rug out from
under-
neath the audience. Instead of meeting his untimely death, he is greeted by an airbag in the center of his birthday celebration. It is there that he finds his brother is alive and that the game was in fact, just a game. His brother then confesses to him that he arranged the game as a way to shake Nicholas back to reality and make his brother enjoy life once again.
TID BITS
James J. Murakami ART DIRECTOR
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment DISTRIBUTED
Steve Golin,
Propaganda Films
Jonathan Mostow,
STUDIO
Ceán Chaffin, PRODUCERS Jeffrey Beecroft PRODUCTION DESIGNER Howard Shore MUSIC John Brancato, Michael Ferris SCREENWRITER Harris Savides CINEMATOGRAPHER
42 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
LEADING CAST
THE CREW
September 12, 1997 RELEASE DATES 129 Minutes RUNNING TIME United States COUNTRY English LANGUAGE $109,423,648 BOX OFFICE
Michael Douglas Sean Penn James Rebhorn Deborah Kara Unger Peter Donat Carroll Baker
DID I HA CHOICE?
CONRAD
AVE A ? DID I HAVE A CHOICE?
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GAME_REVIEWS
VARIETY
FILM 4
TODD MCCARTHY
UNKNOWN
Regardless of how far one chooses to buy
Good looking, tightly controlled thriller. An
into The Game—and the ending ambiguously
exhilarating ride that prepares the ground
suggests that it could go on and on—there is
for Fight Club.
no doubt as to Fincher’s staggering expertise as a director and his almost clinical sense of precision.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
MICK LASALLE
OWEN GLEIBERMAN
The picture provides Douglas with one of his
The Game is an intensely exciting puzzle-
best roles. If he doesn’t quite reach the
gimmick thriller, the kind of movie that lets
bizarre heights he achieved in Falling Down,
you know from the start it’s slyly aware of
The Game makes its own demands.
its own absurdity, which is why the movie can get away with it.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
EXAMINER.COM
ROGER EBERT
CHRIS SAWIN
Douglas is the right actor for the role. He
Well-written, expertly paced, and undeniably
can play smart, he can play cold, and he can
riveting, The Game is perhaps most impressive
play angry. He is also subtle enough that he
in the way it strips down the Nicholas Van
never arrives at an emotional plateau before
Orton character. It’s very layered and each
the film does, and never overplays the process
layer breaks down Nicholas even more than
of his inner change.
the last.
USA TODAY
CREATIVE LOAFING
MIKE CLARK
MATT BRUNSON
A crowd-pleasing pip most of the way.
This is one of those movies that is so tightly written and densely plotted, that it leaves no room for error, or viewer queries. Unfortunately, the questions will start flying even before the picture’s over.
46 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
NEW YORK TIMES JANET MASLIN
Douglas, who delivers a new shade of cruel elegance each time he plays another urbane monster, is the perfect star for this vigorously contrived thriller.
47 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
THEY WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M A GODDAMN HUMAN PINATA … 48 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
49 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GAME_INTERVIEW
MICHAEL DOUGLAS MARCH 24,2012 Ask JimmyCarter.com, Jimmy Carter
THEY SAY THIS MOVIE IF ITS ABOUT ANYTHING, ITS ABOUT A GUY WHO’S LOST CONTROL. MD: In real life, I think to a certain extent I am but I’m learning to change that. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU CAN I MEAN SOME PEOPLE JUST LIKE CONTROL, I LIKE CONTROL. MD: Well if your just an actor you can’t be a control freak because to many things are not in your control. You do not know when the next pictures coming, or what the next picture will be. And you only have so much control on how they are making it. So that part of your professional life is hard to have total control of. YOU’VE ALWAYS WORN A BUNCH OF HATS. THE ACTING HAT, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO THESE DAYS. ARE YOU GONNA KEEP DOING MOVIES WERE YOU’RE AN 88 TO 92 DAYS WERE YOU RUN AND JUMP AND HAVE WATER POURED ON YOU? MD: I hope not ya know I just like the scripts. The Game was one of the best scripts I read in a long time and it was a picture I wanted to do, but I kinda like to mix it up once in a while. IS THERE ONE MOVIE THAT MICHAEL DOUGLAS HAS REALLY IDENTIFIED WITH MORE THAN ANY OTHER ONE? MD: I don’t think so I think the thing I’m the most proud about or at least what I get from fans is, people say to me more than anything is that they say when I see your name I don’t know what its going to be about, but I know its gonna be good. And I’m just proud that the movies I have mad have all been pretty good over the last 25 years.
50 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
The only thing I can say is the movie is about as unpredictable as it can be. What I love about it is that you do not know where this movie is heading towards.
THAT IS INTERESTING THOUGH THAT YOU DON’T REALLY HAVE ONE EVEN THOUGH YOU’VE WON AN OSCAR FOR ONE. I MEAN YOUR DAD I THINK SPARTACUS IN TWO SECONDS. BUT I CAN’T DO THAT WITH YOU AND ITS ODD. MD: Well I think I have done much more ambivalent characters, different types of characters. I mean dad also has a personification really having the voice the whole thing we know this character of dad, the leading one. I mean my favorite one of him is lonely are the brave which is different. I think I’ve been able to be more of a chameleon.
Which I enjoy because it lets me play
different types of roles. ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THAT ONE GREAT CHARACTER IS THAT WHAT YOUR ALWAYS KINDA LOOKING FOR OR NOT REALLY? MD: No I’ve always been I guess from my producing I’ve always been movie orientated I am just looking to make good movies, because that is the only thing that matters to me. I think to many actors sometimes start to get so concerned about their image in changing scripts to fix that or are only concerned about their part. I wanna make a good movie you know and if the movie is good it will benefit everybody. Making a good movie you have to have a director like David Fincher who did 7 was his last picture and a great cast with people like Sean Penn and Deborah Unger. IT CERTAINLY IS A GREAT CAST BUT IT’S A MOVIE THAT WE CAN’T REALLY TALK ABOUT A LOT BECAUSE IT WOULD SPOIL THE EXPERIENCE DON’T YOU THINK? MD: I do. I guess the only thing we can say is it is about as unpredictable as it can it. What I love about it is that you don’t know where this movie is going.
51 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
52 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
PANIC ROOM HOW DO YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK AND NOT HAVE A SINGLE PERCOCET.
53 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
DRAMA
THRILLER
PANIC ROOM_SUMMARY
IT’S DISGUSTING HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU. _TELL ME ABOUT IT.
2002« The film Panic Room focuses on Meg Altman—Jodie Foster, a single mother of an diabetic preteen Sarah—Kristen Stewart, who is going through a messy divorce that has forced her and her daughter to move to a new home. Due to a tight market, Meg has chosen a deluxe New York brownstone that has an unusual feature known as a panic room, which is a vault-like hidden space that will protect the owners from potential intruders. Pressed for time, she decides to move into the new home right away. The movie continues on to the first night they are spending in the house. After some light unpacking and a take out dinner we see the toll the divorce has had on Meg. After she binges on a bottle of wine and lets herself unravel in the tub allowing herself to break down about the divorce and the abrupt move, she heads to bed. It is then that we are introduced to the intruders Junior—Jared Leto, Burnham—Forrest Whitaker, Raoul—Dwight Yoakam, who are about to turn the women’s first night in their new home into a night of pure hell. Meg wakes up to the noises of the men as they try to figure out what to do about the fact that the women have moved in earlier than expected, ruining their plans of finding the three million that is hidden in a safe in the panic room. Right into survival mode and she grabs her daughter who reminds her of the room. Through a heart racing chase through the house they make it to the room and lock themselves inside not realizing that what the men want is in there with them. Throughout the movie, we watch as the men attempt to get into the room and Meg attempts to protect her daughter at all costs. Unfortunately, Meg never having time to hook up the phone in the room so the chances of them contacting the outside world seem grim.
By the end of the movie, we are
taken through Meg’s transformation of being a woman who is broken by divorce and watching her take back control of her life and her fight for the safety of her daughter.
AWARDS
David Koepp SCREENWRITER
Top Box Office Films Howard Shore ASCAP AWARD Ceán Chaffin, Judy Hofflund, David Koepp PRODUCERS Keith Neely, James E. Tocci ART DIRECTOR Howard Shore MUSIC James Haygood, Angus Wall EDITOR Darius Khondji CINEMATOGRAPHER
54 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
LEADING CAST
THE CREW
Jodie Foster
NOMINATIONS
Kristen Stewart
Best Actress
Forest Whitaker
Jodie Foster SATURN AWARD Contemporary Film ART DIRECTORS GUILD Best Horror/Thriller GOLDEN TRAILER Best Editing James Haygood Angus Wall OFCS AWARD
Dewight Yoakam Jared Leto
SHUT IT LOCK IT GET THE FUCK AW FROM IT.
AND E WAY . RAOUL
CRIME
DRAMA
THRILLER
PANIC ROOM_REVIEWS
TIME OUT
ROLLING STONE
GEOFF ANDREW
PETER TRAVERS
Never averse to glistening darkness, meaty
Foster nails the role, giving a tight,
metaphor or grandiloquent technical display,
focused performance illuminated by shards
Fincher is also surprisingly at home with
of feeling.
his hokum.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON POST
MARK CARO
STEPHEN HUNTER
Some clever, tense sequences in which
The movie is powerfully manipulative, quite
the trio devises increasingly threatening
clever and full of evil ambition.
strategies to force Meg and Sarah out of the panic room, only to find they are matched with improvised ingenuity from behind the vault door.
L.A. TIMES
SACRAMENTO BEE
MANOHLA DARGIS
JOE BALTAKE
There’s just no denying Fincher’s gifts. Give
The star of this movie is Fincher, who
the guy a camera or two or three, millions
has filmed it in a grand style that manages
upon millions of dollars and state-of-the-art
to avoid showy excesses.
technologies, and there’s no stopping him.
58 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
EBERT & ROEPER
NEWSDAY
EBERT & ROEPER
JOHN ANDERSON
One of the most ingenious and entertaining
Taut and forbidding, enough so that you won’t
thrillers I’ve seen in quite a long time.
mind the implausibility.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES ROGER EBERT
Once we sense Panic Room is not going to cheat, it gathers in tension, because the characters are operating out of their own resources, and that makes them the players, not the pawns.
59 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE…
60 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
61 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
DRAMA
THRILLER
PANIC ROOM_INTERVIEW
JODI FOSTER_ FORREST WHITAKER 2002 Unknown, Hollywood.com
NOW HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN ANY MOMENT OF PANIC ROUGHLY
JF: Being pregnant on set was tiring. I spent a lot of time napping, and I got a lot of grief for it too.
COMPARABLE TO WHAT YOUR CHARACTER WENT THROUGH? JF: Absolutely not. No I have never been a situation like this. And I hope I never will be. The great thing about being an actor is that you get to experience things in a safe environment, that you wonder what kind of skill might you have in the real world. FW: I tend to react pro-actively to threats. So times where I was threatened with like violence
or bodily harm
I probably would react differently from both. TELL ME ABOUT THE SET, WAS THIS JUST LIKE A REAL PLAYGROUND FOR YOU AND THE OTHER ACTORS? JF: Playground, ummmm… never been described in that way, No. I will say by the end it did look like a big garbage heap. In the beginning I remember walking onto the set going “wow great brownstone, wouldn’t this be a great place to live,” but by the end you’re like ugh I never wanna see this place again. Over time there were sledgehammers and plaster everywhere, with knicks and bullet holes and everything that has gone on in it. FW: I gotta say it was. It was one of the most impressive sets I’ve ever been on. I was like blown away. The first day I walked on there and it was kinda like Yeah. I could see that you could just drive a car down the street like in the middle of it, I thought wow, this is cool, this is just something else. This is movie making. HOW EXCITED WERE YOU TO HEAR THAT JODI FOSTER WAS GOING TO BE STEPPING INTO THIS MOVIE? FW: I thought she was perfect for the part. It was always like a little thing, Kristen Stewart always reminded me of a young Jodi Foster.
62 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
KRISTEN STEWART 2002 Unkown, On Set
HOW DO YOU SUSTAIN INTO THE CHARACTERS THROUGH THE SHOOT? KS: Well um I’ve never really been in like a desperate situation, and I had actually like a perfect little life, so in the beginning I thought well if I was in this position, and I would just think about that. If I was in this position how would I be feeling. Ya know, I would be totally freaked out. I think I’m a lot like Sarah so I didn’t really have to get into her character so I just tried to make it as real as possible. WHAT WAS IT LIKE SHOOTING IN THAT CONFINED SPACE? KS: Meg, in the movie, is actually more claustrophobic then I am but it helped us a lot because the panic room was actually small and um we were always usually in a corner and we would be just be sitting there for up to a half an hour at times, because the rest of the room would be filled with cameras and lights and stuff.
63 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
64 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
ZODIAC I… NEED TO KNOW WHO IS. I… I NEED TO STAND THERE, I NEED TO LOOK HIM IN THE EYE AND I NEED TO KNOW THAT IT’S HIM.
65 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
ZODIAC_SUMMARY
HORRID. HORRID. NOT SO HORRID. HORRID. I’M THINKIN’ WE GO WITH NOT-SO-HORRID.
2007« The film Zodiac is focused on the crimes of the California serial killer who haunted San Francisco, Vallejo, and Napa. These men who become obsessed with catching the killer are Robert Graysmith—Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Avery— Robert Downey Jr. both from the San Francisco Chronicle, Dave Tochi—Mark Ruffalo, a detective for the San Francisco police. The film begins with one of the Zodiacs well-known shootings of Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau at lovers lane in Vallejo. A month after the shooting, Zodiac writes letters to well-known papers around the area that are encrypted. Instead of revealing information about himself he uses them to simply taunt the police. Paul Avery becomes involved in the case because he works as the Chronicle’s crime reporter, and Robert Graysmith, who is simply a cartoonist at the Chronicle, finds the case fascinating, however, is left out of the case by his peers until he makes correct predictions. That is when he and Avery become an unlikely duo. The Zodiac strikes again, this time stabbing his victims in Napa County. After a taxi driver is shot in San Francisco, detective Tochi becomes involved in the case and begins to work with both Vallejo and Napa County in hopes that collaboration will bring this killer down. The movie continues with more killings that Zodiac is claiming he is doing, toying with the authorities at every turn. Over time, we see how the case torments each of these characters as their obsession with the killer grows and their lives slowly fall apart. Near the end, both Avery and Tochi become so obsessed that it ruins both of their careers leaving Graysmith as the last one standing to investigate the killer, or as he puts it, as “research for the book" he is planning on writing. Although the circumstantial evidence indicate the killer Arthur Leigh Allen's guilt, the hard evidence of fingerprints and handwriting samples exonerate him. In 1991, Mageau from one of the first crimes that Zodiac ever committed identifies Allen from a police mug shoot as the man who shot him and his girlfriend Darlene. Unfortunately, the ending of the movie leaves things unresolved as Allen died in 1992 before he could be furthered questioned by police, and we are haunted by the fact that this horrible criminal could have gotten away with his crimes.
NOMINATION
Keith Cunningham ART DIRECTOR
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film SATURN
Mike Medavoy, Arnold
Best American Film
Messer, Brad Fischer
BODIL
PRODUCERS
Mark Ruffalo Robert Downey Jr. Anthony Edwards
Screen Play James
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Vanderbilt
Brain Cox
EDGAR ALLEN POE
Elias Koteas
BOOK AUTHOR James Vanderbilt SCREENWRITER Angus Wall EDITOR Harris Savides CINEMATOGRAPHER
David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
Best Motion Picture
Jake Gyllenhaal
Donald Burt
Robert Graysmith
66
LEADING CAST
THE CREW
AWARDS Best Film, Best Director, Best Thriller EMPIRE
ROBERT GRAYSMITH PAUL AVERY
I'VE BEE THINKIN
EN NG… OH GOD, SAVE US ALL…
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
ZODIAC_REVIEWS
FILM.ORG
SLATE
MIKE BOURNE
DANA STEVENS
Fincher, more subdued… and aching for a
Zodiac is long—over two and a half hours—
return to smart suspense films from the likes
but when it’s over, you almost wish it had
of Sidney Lumet and Alan J. Pakula, pulls
gone on for another 20 minutes.
us by the collar into the frame and cranks the sense of menace taut without cheap tricks or cop-out gimmicks.
NPR.ORG
CNN.COM
BOB MONDELLO
TOM CHARITY
There are no tidy, last-minute plot twists
Low key but all the more compelling for it,
to make you feel good in Fincher’s Zodiac,
Zodiac is the first must see movie of 2007.
just focus—to keep an audience focused—and the most disciplined film making you have seen in forever.
THE NEW REPUBLIC
TIME OUT NEW YORK
CHRISTOPHER ORR
JOSHUA ROTHKOPF
Where Seven, with its stygian gloom and
A modern American masterpiece.
theatrical executions, inflated the serial killer genre to gothic proportions, the movie Zodiac lets the air back out. It is methodical rather than macabre, clinical rather than cruel.
NEW YORKER
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
DAVID DENBY
CALVIN WILSON
Any honest neurotic could probably tell
Zodiac, the latest film from director David
you: the emotional payoff of an obsession
Fincher, is among his best.
is not attaining some longed goal—it’s the obsession itself, which fulfills certain unimaginable needs.
70 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
NEW YORK TIMES MANOHLA DARGIS
David Fincher’s magnificently obsessive new film Zodiac is part police procedural, part monster movie, a funereal entertainment that is a testament to this cinematic true gift.
TORONTO STAR GEOFF PEVERE It makes you want to study it even more closely, in search of things you might have missed, trailing after leads that flash by in the relentless momentum of going nowhere fast. If you’re not careful, it might make you obsessed.
SEATTLE TIMES MOIRA MACDONALD David Fincher’s grim but mesmerizing Zodiac offers the puzzle-solving addictiveness of a detective story, the shivers of a thriller and the allure of character study, all with a dash of newspaper drama.
71 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
72 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
I'M NOT THE ZODIAC. AND IF I WERE, I WOULD NOT TELL YOU… 73 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
CRIME
DRAMA
MYSTERY
ZODIAC_INTERVIEW
JAKE GYLLENHAAL 2007 Indielondon.co.uk
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO ROLE OF ROBERT GRAYSMITH AND TO THIS MOVIE? JG: I think at first I didn’t know anything about this story. I did not know about Zodiac. I did not know about Robert Graysmith. I did know about David Fincher. I’d met with David a few times about other things and he sent this to me, I read the first draft of it, which was very different from the later drafts that he got his hands on. The first draft is very much a sort of cop thriller with your typical characters and I thought it was fascinating. The murders terrified me and just thinking of David doing the movie, I was totally in. A couple of months went by and he started working on the script and I read a draft that he had done and it was 200 pages long. It was this sort of opus and the murders were still terrifying and yet there was still all this character stuff in between and all of it was real. All of it was real stuff that actually happened and I just thought: “This is amazing.” WAS THE RESEARCH PROCESS SOMETHING YOU REALLY GOT INTO KNOWING THIS IS BASED ON TRUE EVENTS? JG: When you’re working on it as an actor, it had less to do with me obsessing about the facts than why he found it so fun. I think Robert found it actually fun. I think that’s what’s hard for people to understand is that this man enjoyed searching for this person, where a cop would have done it because it was his job, or a journalist would have done it, as it was his job. He really had fun. It was like a kid at a candy store kind of, which I thought of an interesting duality or interesting juxtaposition to your normal detective story. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH A DIRECTOR LIKE DAVID FINCHER, WHO IS SO WELL KNOWN FOR HIS VISUAL STYLE? JG: I think his visual style definitely takes precedence. As you can see in the movie it’s an extraordinary vision. I think this movie in particular was different for him in that he wanted to be more for the actors. And he gave us a space in which we could work. He knows what he wants; he is very clear about it and that discipline is sort of like working on Shakespeare. You have to stay within the iambic pentameter; you have to stay within the rules, but within those rules I think are amazing discoveries.
74 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
I think what’s interesting about this is you have these sort of gruesome murders that go along and I think that keeps me up.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH MARK RUFFALO? JG: Well, we only have a couple of scenes together. David’s put together a kind of unlikely trio. And with Mark and Robert Downey, Jr., they are highly experienced, much more experienced than I, and I was learning from them every day. I mean, particularly, Robert I worked with a lot more and Robert is sort of like working in the eighth dimension. He is sort of like Tinkerbell. Like the court jester kind of dancing around you constantly inspiring. Imagine Robert with buckets and buckets full of inspiration, handing them over to everybody he works with and as an actor it is extraordinary. YOU HAVE SO MUCH DIALOGUE AND SO MUCH SCREEN TIME IN THIS FILM. WAS THAT GRUELING FOR AS AN ACTOR? JG: We shot non-CGI in six and a half months, 110-day schedule, where you are talking most of the time and it’s a story about finding a serial killer. It was grueling in terms of the mindset you had to be in. Particularly with David, there is a sense in his movies that there is an interesting numbness in them. I think that comes from him. There’s something in him and I think his process brings that out, too. The takes he does and the way he does it forces you into this sort of state and within that state is a David Fincher movie. I think it is interesting for the people involved because there are some people who revel in it and there’s some people who are disturbed by it. And we worked on it for six months. But the audience gets to experience it for two and half hours, which I think is a big jolt to you when you are in that world. I don’t know if I would ever want to go back into the Zodiac world again but it is quite a world to be in.
75 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
76 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
THE GIRL WITH THE
DRAGON TATTOO
YOU WILL BE INVESTIGATING THIEVES, MISERS, BULLIES. THE MOST DETESTABLE COLLECTION OF PEOPLE THAT YOU WILL EVER MEET—MY FAMILY.
77 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
DRAMA
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO_SUMMARY
IF A WOMAN APPROACHES ANY BEAST AND LIES WITH IT YOU SHALL KILL THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST. THEIR BLOOD WILL BE UPON THEM.
2011« The film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, centers around a newly discredited journalist, Mikael—Daniel Craig, and a troubled computer hacker, Lisbeth—Rooney Mara, teaming up to uncover a 40 year-old mystery of a missing teenage girl, Harriet Vanger. The film starts out by focusing separately on the lives of this unique duo, following the journalist as he backs away from his company to save the reputation of it and the hacker as she is struggling to gain independence from the state. Mikael takes the case to get away from his life for a while in hopes that by being away he will be able to lick his wounds peacefully and distract himself. Instead, he finds himself consumed by this mystery. During the movie, it comes out that the man who has hired him had a thorough and high level, illegal background check done on him. Though he is infuriated by the invasion of privacy, he see the potential in having someone like Lisbeth on the case with him. Midway through the movie, she joins him on his investigation to find a murderer of women. The closer they get to the truth however, the more in danger they are of losing their lives to Harriet’s killer. Working together also seems to heal the duo of their internal struggles. Mikael allows himself to be comforted in a way the he has received from his coworker whom he is having an affair with. Lisbeth begins, for the first time, to let someone into her life in a personal and intimate way. By the end, they are able to uncover the families darkest secret and save each other from an unspeakable fate.
Scott Rudin, Ceán Chaffin,
PRODUCERS
Best Achievement in
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Cinematography
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross MUSIC Steven Zaillian SCREENWRITER
Jeff Cronenweth
Daniel Craig Rooney Mara Christopher Plummer
OSCAR
Stellan Skarsgard
Best Achievement in
Steven Berkoff
Film Editing Angus
Robin Wright
Wall, Kirk Baxter OSCAR Best Performance by an Actress
Kirk Baxter,
Rooney Mara
Angus Wall,
OSCAR
EDITOR
David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
Best Horror/Thriller Film SATURN
Donald Burt
Tim Miller
78
LEADING CAST
AWARDS
THE CREW
THE FEA OFFENDI IS STRON THAN TH FEAR OF
AR OF ING NGER HE F PAIN. MARTIN
DRAMA
CRIME
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO_REVIEWS
CHICAGO READER
CHICAGO SUN TIMES
BEN SACHS
ROGER EBERT
David Fincher’s adaptation of the
This is never the kind of movie where
international best-seller is a triumph
they are going to fall in love. That she
of craftsmanship over material.
even smiles is a breakthrough.
VILLAGE VICE
WASHINGTON POST
J HOBERMAN
ANN HORNADAY
An altogether leaner, meaner, more
Mara’s bristling, unbridled performance
high-powered, stylish, and deftly directed
gives the film the ballast it needs to pull
affair, though similarly hampered by a
off that curious, undeniably engrossing,
too-long narrative fuse.
balancing act.
CNN.COM
MIAMI HERALD
MARK RABINOWITZ
RENE RODRIGUEZ
When it comes down to it, this is Rooney
The dynamic between Craig and Mara in The
Mara’s movie, and I don’t care if the second
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is so sensa-
and third stories are any good as long as
tional, it instantly propels the movie beyond
they are full of Lisbeth Salander.
glossy, high-toned pulp into something far more affecting.
REEL-VIEWS
USA TODAY
JAMES BERARDINELLI
CLAUDIA PULG
This is what a movie adaptation should be:
Fincher’s electrifying storytelling makes
a film whose base narrative has its roots in
the most of unsettling visuals, large casts,
the source material but whose soul can be
complex plots and sharp dialogue.
identified through the images that unfold on the screen.
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BOSTON GLOBE WESLEY MORRIS
I don’t think I’ve seen an actor do more with deadpan expressions than Mara does in this movie. Her face doesn’t move but, whether she’s tasers a man or standing in front of a mirror watching a cigarette dangle from her mouth, we respond to her.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY OWEN GLEIBERMAN Fincher has made The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo into an electrifying movie by turning the audience into addicts of the forbidden, looking for the sick and twisted things we can’t see.
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84 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
I WANT YOU TO HELP ME CATCH A KILLER OF WOMEN…
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DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO_INTERVIEW
ROONEY MARA_ DANIEL CRAIG_ DAVID FINCHER 2011 Collider.com, Steven Frosty Weintraub
ROONEY, I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WERE GIVEN A LIST OF THINGS THAT YOU HAD TO DO OR BE PREPARED TO DO IN ORDER TO GET THIS ROLE BEFORE YOU AUDITIONED. I WOULD LOVE IT IF YOU COULD TALK ABOUT THAT. DANIEL, DID YOU GET A LIST OF THINGS YOU HAD TO DO IN ORDER TO PREPARE FOR THIS? RM: The list was just, David had told the casting director to let me know before I went down the long road of auditioning that if I were to get the part that I would have to become a smoker and have to go off and be among myself for a year. I would have to be butt naked, do these horrible rape scenes, ride a motorcycle, and what else was on the list? DF: Skateboard? RM: No. That wasn’t on the list. DF: Was that later? I don’t remember. RM: That came later. It was just stuff like that. AND STARVE YOURSELF? RM: No. He didn’t say that. David was constantly trying to feed me on the set. DC: And me as well, but much more successfully. ONE OF THE MOST SUBVERSIVE THINGS ABOUT THIS FILM IS THE SMOKING. THERE ARE SO MANY CIGARETTES IN THIS FILM. I AM CURIOUS, WHAT WAS THE IMPERATIVE TO HAVE THESE CHARACTERS SMOKE ALL THE TIME? DC: People use to. RM: Did you read the books? DF: Yeah. We took some of the smoking and some of the coffee out because in the book…there was a time during pre-production where they ingest, but it had a moment where it maybe took hold. We were literally going to begin every scene with a cup of coffee and a cigarette burning just in homage to Stieg Larsson. DF: But is that the most subversive thing about it? You hardly ever see that in mainstream films anymore.
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It did not seem that crazy to have a bisexual character. Lisbeth is incredibly comfortable with her sexuality and I went into it the same. It didn't faze me. It was not hard to wrap my head around the notion.
THIS IS A QUESTION FOR BOTH ROONEY AND DANIEL. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A BOOK THAT MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE READ. PEOPLE HAVE THIS VISION OF WHAT THESE CHARACTERS ARE.
WHAT DID YOU GUYS WANT TO DO IN ORDER TO MAKE THESE
CHARACTERS YOU OWN AND NOT WHAT PEOPLE HAVE IMAGINED THEM TO BE? RM: To be honest, I did not really think much about what other people imagined it to be. I used what I imagined it to be. I read all three books and I had a really clear picture of who this girl was. Luckily, David’s idea was pretty similar. I didn’t really think much about what other people thought of her. DC: Exactly. In this industry, the less you think about what other people are thinking about, the better and more original you can be. You can’t go into a project thinking. “How will these people like it? How will those people like it?” You want to be single minded about it. You can not please everybody. I WANT TO ASK DANIEL AND ROONEY ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LISBETH AND MIKAEL. IT IS KIND OF ODD BECAUSE THERE IS A BIG AGE DIFFERENCE FIRST OF ALL BUT IT ALSO SEEMS THAT BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T LIKE INTIMACY SHE WOULDN’T FALL FOR HIM EVEN THOUGH SHE SEEMS TO. WHAT IS YOUR TAKE? DC: I think it has a lot to do with honesty and trust. I think that is what was so great in the books. They should not have a relationship and they shouldn’t even meet in life. They come from different social classes and whatever. I think that Salander has never really gotten to trust anyone or only a few people in her life that are straight with her and he is. He comes in and she has broken the law and has hacked into his life. He walks in and says, “Forget that. I think you are great and I would like to work with you and I’ll walk away.” I think that this appeals to her. RM: I agree. It is that and also I think that he is one of the first people in her life to ever just appreciate her for the way she is.
He is one of the first people to ever treat
her with any sort of decency or respect.
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DRAMA
MYSTERY
THRILLER
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO_INTERVIEW
MR. FINCHER, YOUR TITLE SEQUENCES ARE ALMOST ALWAYS A HIGHLIGHT OF THE FILM. IT IS ALWAYS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW YOU INTRODUCE A FILM FIGHT CLUB AND THE TRIP THROUGH THE BRAIN TO PANIC ROOM AND THE SHOTS OF NEW YORK CITY WITH THE BOLD TITLES. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE APPROACH THAT YOU WANTED TO TAKE WITH THE TITLE SEQUENCE? FOR MS. MARA, THERE ARE ELEMENTS IN LISBETH’S CHARACTER THAT, FOR ME AT LEAST, FELT LIKE A VIGILANTE COMIC BOOK HERO. DO YOU SORT OF SEE THAT IN HER CHARACTER? DF: I want to address the vigilante comic book—I hope not. I think title sequences are an opportunity to sort of set the stage or to get people thinking in different terms than maybe whatever they understand the movie to be going in. Often times when movies are marketed they are marketed towards the idea of “What is the consensus that everybody has that will get them into the seven o’clock show?” So often times a title sequence can help to reorient their thinking. I liked the idea of this primordial sort of tar and ooze of the subconscious. I liked the idea that it was sort of her nightmare. RM: Like David just said, I hope not. That was never our intention. We always wanted to make her very human. We never really thought of her as a comic book hero.
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SCHEDULE MAP THINGS TO DO AFTER PARTY
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DARK REVELATION_SCHEDULE
AUGUST 18th
6:00 p.m. Doors Open Music, Drinks.
7:00 p.m. Showing of Panic Room.
9:00 p.m. Interlude Music, Drinks.
9:45 p.m. David Fincher introduces Zodiac.
10:00 p.m. Showing of Zodiac.
12:30–2:00 a.m. RAVE at the EMP Center.
AUGUST 20th
6:00 p.m. Doors Open Music, Drinks.
7:00 p.m. Showing of Seven.
9:15 p.m. Interlude Music, Drinks.
10:00 p.m. David Fincher introduces The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
10:15 p.m. Showing of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
12:30–2:00 a.m. RAVE at the EMP Center.
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AUGUST 19th
6:00 p.m. Doors Open Music, Drinks.
7:00 p.m. Showing of The Game.
9:15 p.m. Interlude Music, Drinks.
10:00 p.m. David Fincher introduces Fight Club.
10:15 p.m. Showing of Fight Club.
12:30–2:00 a.m. RAVE at the EMP Center.
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT August, 18th 6:00-10:00 p.m. DJ ICE DOLL
1:00–2:00 a.m. KMFDM
August, 19th 6:00-10:00 p.m. DJ GHOST
1:00–2:00 a.m. COMBICHRIST
August, 20th 6:00-10:00 p.m. KITTY LECTRO
1:00–2:00 a.m. NINE INCH NAILS
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96 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
THINGS TO DO_DARK REVELATION
ATTRACTIONS
BARS
PIKE PLACE MARKET
SOLO BAR 200 Roy St, Seattle
This historic, beloved downtown public market has been
206-213-0080
in business since 1907. A year-round farmers market and a
THE SPECTATOR
visual riot of vegetable, seafood, and flower stalls with
529 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle
handicrafts and tourist-friendly knickknacks.
206-599-4263
And the flying fish. Vendors at Pike Place Fish Market
CROCODILE CAFE
gleefully toss salmon to each other and crack jokes, always
2200 Second Ave. SE, Seattle 206-441-5611
drawing a crowd at the fish stall by the main entrance.
TINI BIGS LOUNGE
SPACE NEEDLE
100 Denny Way, Seattle 206-284-0931
This vertical icon of the city is so kitschy it has become cool, and it gives a great view of the city from
BUCKLEY’S
the top. Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, it’s 605 feet
2331 2nd Ave, Seattle 206-588-8879
tall and looks like a spaceship on stilts, towering over Seattle Center, a complex where you could easily spend hours at the Pacific Science Center, Chihuly glass display, food court, theaters or simply watching kids frolic in a giant outdoor fountain.
OLYMPIC SCULPTURE PARK The outdoor sculpture garden spreads over 9 acres of a seaside bluff north of downtown, transformed from an industrial backwater into the home of artwork such as Alexander Calder’s “Eagle,” six tons of red-painted steel that looks like an abstract soaring bird. Paths wander amid sculpture; for a longer, lovely walk, stroll along the 1.2-mile waterfront path in adjoining Myrtle Edwards Park.
LODGING FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON 601 Roy St, Seattle 206-282-2600
MARQUEEN HOTEL 600 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle 206-282-7407
DOWNTOWN WATERFRONT There’s a broad sidewalk along the harbor front with shops, eateries, and wooden piers jutting out into the bay. Stop at the Seattle Aquarium to see what lives in and beyond the local waters.
PIONEER SQUARE Pioneer Square marks Seattle's original downtown, dating back to 1852. The district is characterized by late
INN AT QUEEN ANNE 505 First Ave N, Seattle 206-282-7357
THE MAXWELL HOTEL 300 Roy St, Seattle 206-286-0629
HAMPTON INN & SUITES 700 5th Ave N, Seattle 206-282-7700
nineteenth century brick and stone buildings, and one of the nation's best surviving collections of Romanesque Revival style urban architecture.
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98 David Fincher’s DARK REVELATION
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT DJ ICE DOLL Czech industrial/ebm and underground electronics dj.
KMFDM An industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko.
DJ GHOST Known for his splendid cross-over between Harddance & EDM.
COMBICHRIST A Norwegian aggrotech band formed in 2003 by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua
KITTY LECTRO Spins gothic rock, industrial, darkwave, deathrock, and new wave.
NINE INCH NAILS Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock band, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor.
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PHOTO CREDITS Movie Stills_ Cecchi Gori Pictures New Line Cinema Fox 2000 Pictures Regency Enterprises Columbia Pictures Corporation Hofflund/Polone Indelible Pictures Polygram Filmed Entertainment Paramount Pictures Warner Bros. Phoenix Pictures Columbai Pictures Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Festival & Introduction_ Jarnott Nascentia Photojeffic SebastianDooris Terrellcwoods David-fincher NYFF2010_HBO_Fincher-123_godlis Thomas Hawk