FINCHER: Force of Nature
Today we met David Fincher. Wow.
I remember seeing se7en when it came out in 1995, and going straight from the cinema to a bar because for the first time in my life I knew what it meant to need a drink. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength producing some of the most original and durable films of the last decade and earning himself both a fanatical following and increasing power in the Hollywood system (as well, along the way as endless awards and considerable wealth).
The muscular focussed intelligence that runs like a power current through all of Fincher’s work meant it was no surprise to find this intelligence animating him in person also – and informing everything he does – from a top-down economic analysis of Hollywood to the tactics of deal negotiation to the design of his office.
He is a systems nut, which I love, putting huge time and effort into engineering digital work-flows that give him and his team maximum efficiency – one example he shoots on the Viper and manages production and post work flow with a great software package called PIXS that I got immediate digital envy about.
What makes Fincher so remarkable in person, however, is not his intelligence or his talent, but his unwavering self-certainty in both those attributes. He knows, and seems to have always known, (his career started at about 21) that he is world class at what he does and every decision he makes and every aspect of his behavior starts from the assumption that he is right and unfailable. He seems to have no fear of confrontation, indeed he seems to thrive on it – he told us some incredible stories, but I’m prohibited from sharing them by the NDA which governs our meetings under Inside Pics, even if I suspect David wouldn’t give a rats arse if I did.
His uber confidence is unnerving but also exhilarating, it could be obnoxious, but it isn’t because he backs up the front with an incredibly detailed understanding and a creative profoundity. This isn’t the empty ego of a Hollywood poseur, this is the complete self assurance of a grandmaster of film, who has checked the evidence and found its just faster to assume he knows better than anyone else.
At one point in our meeting he was explaining why he refuses to compromise on budget, knowing exactly the number he needs to make a film, and wouldn’t even make a 2% reduction even if that was the only way to get the film made. Given the increasing size of his budgets (Benjamin Button is reported as costing US$150 m) I was prepared to take this statement as bloody mindedness, when he launched into a incredibly detailed description of how he had reconfigured his digital camera to save on lighting costs in a particular location and broke down the cost and technical steps with a speed and to a level of precision that I doubt many DoPs or Line Producers could have managed.
Our two hours with him was an inspiring master class on how a great filmmaker – producer or director – has to have a consilient mind that can move from the minute to the biggest of themes and back again without breaking a sweat.
I asked him what he looked for in a producer, his answer was straightforward, but again profound: “What I want is someone who I only need to explain once to what the vision is and once its understood and agreed will hold fast to the idea of the film and do everything to safeguard it. Who will never accept ‘this is how we do things’ but will question every detail and fight every battle to safeguard and deliver on that film”
We’ll try to live up to that. Wow again.