Director David Fincher

David Fincher

David Fincher is one of the most famous directors in the world, known for his style conventions and thriller genres. He was born August 28, 1962 in Colorado and his mother was Claire Mae a mental health nurse from South Dakota who worked in drug addiction programs. In his early years he had a number of different jobs such as an employer at Korty Films as a production assistant and visual-effects producer, he was hired by Industrial Light & Magic in 1983, where he was an assistant cameraman and matte photographer and worked on productions for Return of the Jedi in 1983 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984.

Set on a directing career, Fincher joined video-production company Propaganda Films and started off directing music videos and commercials. After directing several music videos, Fincher's feature debut was Alien 3. In 1995, Fincher directed Seven. The film, based on a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, told the story of two detectives (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) tracking down a serial killer who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. The film grossed more than $100 million domestically (over $300 million internationally) Se7en was a thriller genre with sub-genres of crime and psychological themes.

After the success of the film Se7en Fincher went on to film The Game’ which was a story of a wealthy investment banker who is given a mysterious gift, a participation in a game that integrates in strange ways with his everyday life. Fincher uses certain effects such as dark lighting, changes in background music and in changing the pace of the film from a slow scene and speeding it up in order to grab the audience’s attention. He influences his audience with large mystery story lines, by continuously adding tips as to why certain events, such as those within ‘The Game’, are happening. A lot of the time he likes to change who is seen as good and bad within his films, giving a plot twist. In the game this is shown through a character called Christine who starts off innocent and then is working for the enemy corporation, changing the audience’s opinion. But then at the end it is in fact that she works for the corporation in order to make ignorant people selfless, indeed twisting the plot again to make her a good person.

David Fincher has also directed fantasy drama’s such as ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ which is story of a man living his life in reverse. One of Fincher’s most famous films would be ‘The Social Network’, a drama based on the true story of the creation of Facebook and the legal dispute between its Founders in the years to follow. The film is set in 2003 at Harvard University, where genius Mark Zuckerburg founds Facebook along with friend Eduardo.

Fincher directed the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was based on the book by Stieg Larsson, with a script written by Steven Zaillian. The film was shot in Sweden, with stars such as Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig and was released on 21^st December 2011. His upcoming Gone Girl which is in cinemas now is looking to be a hit, already receiving good reviews on facebook and media sites.



By Rhianna Henson-Smith