What Remains of David Fincher
Netflix gave the acclaimed director total autonomy. They're also diminishing his legacy.
It’s been over a decade since David Fincher’s last major theatrical release, 2014’s Gone Girl. Since then, Fincher’s directorial efforts have all been for Netflix. In addition to directing the first episodes of the streamer’s first hit series, House of Cards, he also oversaw two seasons of the crime series Mindhunter and two features—Mank (2020) and The Killer (2023).
Fincher recently did a round of press for the new 4K and theatrical re-release of his breakthrough feature, Se7en, and speaking to my old haunt, Collider, he said it was unlikely any of his Netflix work would see a physical release:
“I like physical media, but I really like on-demand. I love liner notes, and I kind of prefer laser discs to anything just because I’m old and I remember what LPs used to be like. I do like the act of holding them.
But I can't imagine there's any interest in the business plan from Netflix to make packaged goods out of the stuff that I've made for them because their whole thing is that mainline that connects your eyeballs to their servers. So, yeah, I doubt it, but I'm with you. I do like having a disc.”
When you think about Fincher, arguably the most important thing to know about him is how Alien 3 shaped his career. Fincher established himself as a sought-after director of commercials and music videos in the 80s and early 90s. Alien 3 was his feature debut, and it was a disaster. A young filmmaker with no features under his belt, Fincher found himself constantly battling with the studio as well as the British crew who saw him as an inexperienced outsider. Fincher was ultimately locked out of the editing room, and largely disowned the film.
Out of the ashes of that production came Fincher’s ironclad belief that he must have full control over a project, or he will not do it at all. Although the success of movies like Se7en and The Social Network gave Fincher more leverage to make this demand, studios would still bristle at his specifications, and Fincher is uncompromising. For some filmmakers, they bend to get to the finished feature. Fincher believes that if he’s going to give everything he has to a film for years of his life, and if every day of production is its own battle simply to get the shot you want, there’s no energy to spare on arguing with the studio.
That’s why it’s no surprise that Fincher finds Netflix a compelling partner. There are directors who aren’t “names” where Netflix will emphasize what they want, but because Fincher is an Oscar-nominated director who also partnered with the studio when their Netflix Originals plan was still in its early days, they acquiesce to his production demands. There may be an impasse on future work, like the low streaming numbers on Mindhunter leading to the series’ cancelation after two seasons, but when Netflix gives the greenlight, Fincher knows he’ll have full control over the project.
But what happens afterwards? As someone who is a huge fan of Fincher’s (I did a whole series on his work in the lead-up to Gone Girl), I see him working inside Netflix’s gilded cage. They give him everything he wants in terms of supporting his creativity (and to be fair, I’m not sure how many studios were lining up to make a black-and-white movie about Herman J. Mankiewicz or a small scale thriller about a vengeful assassin), but the trade-off is how little shelflife Netflix Originals have.
This may seem like a bizarre claim considering that Netflix is the largest streaming platform with the most subscribers. But to say Netflix’s size is inherently beneficial to its movies and TV shows is like saying a restaurant in New York City is bound to succeed because it’s surrounded by so many patrons. Location matters—Netflix proved a massive boon to shows like You and Suits by virtue of its reach—but it’s not the only thing that matters. What works on Netflix tends to be material that is highly addictive in its storytelling (e.g. Squid Game, Stranger Things) or so star-studded and heavily marketed that it wins viewers through attrition (I have no doubt Red Notice is the most-watched Netflix movie of all-time; this is not a compliment for Red Notice or Netflix).
Neither of these descriptions fits the brooding, “films that scar” approach Fincher takes in his storytelling. Is it any surprise that Mindhunter could only last for two seasons or that Mank and The Killer largely faded from view? A major problem with Netflix is that there’s no ancillary stream to give their films a second life. One could argue that those ancillary streams—HBO, cable, network television, DVD, airplanes, hotels—dried up, but they still exist. Furthermore, they exist outside Netflix’s vast, disorganized pile of algorithimically-generated recommendations. You can make a choice to watch it whereas finding it on Netflix may only get it into your List, which is where it will remain without any urgency to ever see it.
Fincher may see the total control Netflix gives him as the payoff for his career, but that overlooks how post-theatrical viewing opportunities allowed his films to thrive and further bolster his reputation. The Game, Fight Club, and Zodiac were not hit movies. However, fans were able to find them after they left theaters and see that they were great films fumbled by studios that weren’t entirely sure how to market them. David Fincher has a career in part because of his artistic talent and unwavering vision, but also because he found new fans thanks to physical media.
All directors are in a similar boat because of streaming’s dominance, but they should be careful that they don’t sacrifice their work’s longevity for the comforts of the present. While I won’t say that Mank and The Killer are Fincher’s best movies, they’ve also evaporated in a way that rarely happened with Fincher’s prior films. Fincher may be clear-eyed on Netflix’s business plans, but for a filmmaker who has demanded total control over his work, he may want to start asking for a physical release before he commits to throwing another film into the streaming abyss.
I'm a fan of Fincher's, though more in a "I like everything I've seen of his" way than a real diehard. I managed to catch The Killer in a theater and liked it enough that I've got a bootleg blu ray for future rewatchings 😅 Like you said, I might never think to search for it on Netflix, but I'll see it in my shelf every few years and think "yeah, that'll hit the spot."