Biography

David Fincher

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David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials and music videos after signing with N. Lee Lacy in Hollywood. He went on to found Propaganda in 1987 with fellow directors Dominic Sena, Greg Gold and Nigel Dick. Fincher has directed TV commercials for clients that include Nike, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Heineken, Pepsi, Levi's, Converse, AT&T and Chanel. He has directed music videos for Madonna, Sting, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, George Michael, Iggy Pop, The Wallflowers, Billy Idol, Steve Winwood, The Motels and, most recently, A Perfect Circle.

As a film director, he has achieved huge success with Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999) and, Panic Room (2002).
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

[single frame insert] His movies often features several single frames that flash on the screen in the middle of a scene (Fight Club (1999)).
Fluid tracking camera which can access anywhere. A digital age innovation in camera movement pioneered by David Fincher and Kevin Tod Haug along with BUF Paris (perhaps inspired by earlier developments of Max Ophüls and Stanley Kubrick).
[Silhouettes] Frequently has characters in the shadows where you cannot make out their face (Kevin Spacey in Seven (1995), The Killer in Zodiac (2007), and Brad Pitt in Fight Club (1999)).
His films often end in a suicide, either attempted or successful
His films often have low-key lighting with green or blue tinted color temperature.

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.

I don't know how much movies should entertain. To me, I'm always interested in movies that scar. The thing I love about Jaws (1975) is the fact that I've never gone swimming in the ocean again.
I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but somebody has to.
Directing ain't about drawing a neat little picture and showing it to the cameraman. I didn't want to go to film school. I didn't know what the point was. The fact is, you don't know what directing is until the sun is setting and you've got to get five shots and you're only going to get two.
People will say, "There are a million ways to shoot a scene", but I don't think so. I think there're two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.
As a director, film is about how you dole out the information so that the audience stays with you when they're supposed to stay with you, behind you when they're supposed to stay behind you, and ahead of you when they're supposed to stay ahead of you.

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