When you work as an actor on a David Fincher-run set, you are likely going to learn a lot. And for Ben Affleck, who not only stars in Fincher’s “Gone Girl” but has also been a successful director in his own right, he’s definitely learned some lessons from his former director. However, in a new interview with Variety, where Affleck and Fincher discuss the industry, it’s interesting to see how something Fincher learned from the set of “Panic Room” is a lesson that Affleck still remembers to this day.
During the interview, Affleck mentioned the best lesson he learned from working with Fincher when it comes to being a director, and it actually traces back to the time when “Panic Room” was in production and a book that the actor was shown.
“One of the brilliant lessons I learned from you looking at the book you prepared for [‘Panic Room’],” said Affleck. “The specificity with which… it was the most astonishing document I’ve ever seen from a director. Not just the shot, where the camera is, where the actors are every scene, every moment, and you were like, ‘Never do this!’”
We’ve heard numerous reports (and the Variety interview with these two brings it up again) about Fincher being a meticulous planner and a very specific filmmaker, demanding numerous takes from his actors to get the right one. But preparing a whole book for “Panic Room” seems to be the fruition of all of the filmmaker’s detail-minded impulses. And it appears that Fincher agrees that the book was a step too far.
“And it did not work, it did not work,” the filmmaker said about his “Panic Room” prep book. “And it didn’t work one of the most interesting reasons, which is that it obviates a sense of authorship by the thespians. And you need that. I believe that every voice is there to be nurtured so that people when they go, ‘I think you’re missing something here.’ I want people to feel like they can stop the train to say that. You don’t get to do it three times and be wrong all three times. That’s a problem.”
He continued, “A movie set, it’s an organism, there has to be a certain amount of resistance to just motion, you have to keep the amoeba contained. What I found on ‘Panic Room’ was the last person in the world that I ever wanted to kind of repel from the process was Forest Whitaker, because he has so much to give in the moment, he’s so great at that. And four or five weeks into the second time we started that movie, because we had to reshoot, he just kind of he just felt beat.”
Obviously, in the Fincher filmography, “Panic Room” isn’t up there with the likes of “Se7en,” “The Social Network,” or even “Mank.” So, it’s not all that shocking to know that the filmmaker’s own love of preparation was the thing that ultimately shot himself in the foot. So, when you think of all the stories of 100-take days and all the specificity required by Fincher, understand that it could be a lot worse. And even Fincher knows what is a bridge too far when it comes to his own planning.