With “The Killer,” David Fincher finds himself in familiar territory: working again with “Se7en” scribe Andrew Kevin Walker on a lean, mean adaptation of a pulpy crime plot. And how well Fincher excels in fare like that–whether it’s stuff like “Panic Room” or his take on airport reads like “Gone Girl“–is why he’s one of his generation’s most beloved filmmakers.

Continue reading David Fincher Hasn’t Watched ‘Fight Club’ In 20 Years & Doesn’t Get The Incel Love For It: “I’m Not Responsible For How People Interpret Things” at The Playlist.

Courtney Love is sticking by her story. After claiming on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast that she was fired from 1999’s “Fight Club” because of a fight with Brad Pitt, a Variety report and an unnamed source within it refuted the claim. Their take? Love never actually had the role.

READ MORE: ‘Fight Club’: Courtney Love Says Brad Pitt Fired Her When She Rejected His Kurt Cobain Film Idea

“You cannot be fired for a job you didn’t get,” the source told Variety.

Continue reading Courtney Love Stands By ‘Fight Club’ Firing Story & Claims Brad Pitt Tried To “Blackmail” Her Over Kurt Cobain Film Rights at The Playlist.

You’ve probably heard many of the legends around David Fincher’s “Fight Club,” which include casting. It’s been reported in the past that Fincher considered Winona Ryder Janeane Garofalo, and the studio really wanted Reese Witherspoon. ’90s rocker Courtney Love, from the grunge band Hole, was also apparently considered too. However, in a new interview on the Marc Maron podcast, Love, who rarely grants interviews these days, claimed she was actually cast in the Marla Singer lead role— that eventually went to Helen Bonham Carter— but was fired because she pissed off Brad Pitt.

Continue reading ‘Fight Club’: Courtney Love Says Brad Pitt Fired Her When She Rejected His Kurt Cobain Film Idea at The Playlist.

The hype for “Moon Knight” is real. Not only is this just the latest Marvel Studios TV project to arrive on Disney+, but it’s the first one of 2022 and features perhaps the biggest acting name to grace a Marvel TV project yet, Oscar Isaac. Add to this the excitement about a brand-new character with unique powers and origin, and you get something that superhero fans are psyched about.

Continue reading ‘Moon Knight’ Featurette Describes Show’s Tone As “Fight Club Meets Indiana Jones” at The Playlist.

A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that “Fight Club” was added to a Chinese streaming platform recently, but with a brand-new ending. Instead of the ending where buildings are blown up and Project Mayhem wins the day, a new, more government-friendly ending was added, where the film shows a title card explaining how the bad guys lost. Fans were confused and a little irritated by what was happening (even though the new ending is oddly reminiscent of the source material novel).

Continue reading David Fincher Talks ‘Fight Club’ Censorship In China & Explains The Film Isn’t Known For “Being Super Cuddly” at The Playlist.

Are films ever safe from the dicey scissors of Chinese or international censors? It appears not. A new version of David Fincher’s 1999 cult classic “Fight Club” has been released online in China and, in something of a surprise, has gotten a much happier ending.

READ MORE: Rosie O’Donnell finally apologizes for publicly spoiling “Fight Club” on TV during its opening week

In Fincher’s original theatrical cut, which has remained unaltered everywhere else in the world so far, the lead character (Edward Norton), kills his split personality Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), freeing himself of his influence.

Continue reading China Censors Give ‘Fight Club’ A Totally Different Ending Because Why Not at The Playlist.

Spoiler warnings are a common thing in 2021. Not only do media outlets put warnings above pieces that might spoil specific plot points in films and TV series, but just the general public knows spoiler etiquette. Basically, don’t spoil twists in films and TV series until well after it’s been released. Why would you want to ruin the fun for a new viewer, right?

Well, back in 1999, spoiler warnings weren’t much of a thing and perhaps the biggest spoiler incident happened on national TV during Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show, where she completely revealed the twist ending to David Fincher’s “Fight Club.” And for years after, that incident stood tall in the Spoiler Hall of Fame, as the cautionary tale of what you don’t do.

Continue reading Rosie O’Donnell Finally Apologizes For Publicly Spoiling ‘Fight Club’ On TV During Its Opening Week at The Playlist.

There’s no doubt that “Fight Club” is probably one of the more misunderstood films of the past 25 years. What is clear to people who have read the novel on which the film is based, “Fight Club” is a satire that has somehow been treated as some sort of manifesto by people with a misguided view of the world. Is part of that problem the source material, with its pitch-black comedy, or is it the fault of filmmaker David Fincher not being able to easily convey the tone and message?

Continue reading David Fincher Talks About Paul Thomas Anderson Wishing Cancer On Him After Seeing ‘Fight Club’: “I Get It” at The Playlist.

There are few filmmakers out there with a style of directing so unique and specific that it’s become an adjective to describe other films. Like Hitchcock or Kubrick, David Fincher has become one of those filmmakers. The director has dived in a few different genres, while always preserving his unique, “Fincher-esque” style, but one genre we probably won’t see him dive into any time soon? Comedies.

READ MORE: David Fincher Once Talked About Helming A ‘Bond’ Film But Doesn’t Think He’d “Flourish In That Environment”

Speaking in an interview with Empire, Fincher took the time to answer a ton of fan questions, including one about the darkly comedy in most of his films.

Continue reading David Fincher Doesn’t Think He’ll Ever Make A Comedy at The Playlist.

Few actors landed on the American film scene with the same force of impact as Edward Norton. As a young man, he evoked the same blend of hardness and sensitivity previously associated with great thespians of decades past (Robert Deniro and Dustin Hoffman both come to mind). In films like “American History X” and “Fight Club,” it seemed like Norton was daring to redefine screen acting as we knew it – and it didn’t hurt that he was willing to work with risky, button-pushing directors like David Fincher and Spike Lee, both of whom coaxed him towards giving two of his finest performances to date.

Continue reading Edward Norton: The Essential Performances at The Playlist.

For film fans that grew up with a love of Disney films, the idea of the Disney Vault is a glorious, yet frustrating thing. Depending on your age, there were probably many times you eagerly ran to your parents, begging them to buy a copy of that coveted Disney film on VHS before it got locked away in the Vault forever. It’s a marketing ploy to ramp up the urgency in purchasing, but damn it, it works.

Continue reading Disney Is Seemingly Putting The Fox Library In The “Vault” As Theaters Around The US Are Barred From Showing Studio’s Titles at The Playlist.

As much as people say, “You’re your own worst enemy!” it’s never been truer than for the protagonists of “Gemini Man” (2019), “Fight Club” (1999), and “Us” (2019). Whether through movie-science cloning, mental illness or oppressive class structures (with a healthy dose of late capitalism in all three), this week, the Be Reel guys are looking at movies that pit protagonists against literal manifestations of themselves. 

Continue reading My Own Worst Enemy: ‘Gemini Man,’ ‘Us’ & The 20th Anniversary Of ‘Fight Club’ [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

David Fincher is a notoriously meticulous filmmaker. Detail-oriented to the point of obsession, his directorial style hovers on the cusp of perfection. Fincher’s films are often identifiable in their subject matter, tonality, and color palate. But a recent video essay from The Nerdwriter pulls back the veil on the director’s methodological madness to reveal something we were too busy watching to even notice.

Watching a film is relatively demanding, sitting for over an hour and a half fully immersed in images on a screen.

Continue reading The Secret Behind David Fincher’s Obsessive Cinema at The Playlist.

Netflix has had no difficulty (thanks to their pots and pots of cash) in attracting big names to the streaming service. They convinced Kevin Spacey and David Fincher to enter the TV world, they’ve virtually monopolized the stand-up comedy circuit, and they’ve made two deals with Adam Sandler to make a total of eight movies. But this Friday sees probably the biggest A-lister they’ve yet attracted, with David Michôd’s dark satire “War Machine,” starring none other than Brad Pitt.

Continue reading The 20 Best Brad Pitt Movies at The Playlist.

Our two-week time tunnel through the 1990s, picking out the 10 best movies of every year, reaches an end today. But before we change out of dungarees, combat pants and Korn hoodies, we finish it off with 1999. There’s a strong argument to be made that the 90s got better as they went along, but 1999 was something else: it’s one of the finest movie years that most of us have been alive for.

Continue reading The 10 Best Films Of 1999 at The Playlist.

After countless rumors of release dates, delays, and social media teases, this past weekend, Frank Ocean floored the music world by dropping two albums — Endless and Blonde — along with a massive magazine titled, “Boys Don’t Cry.” He ended the four year drought since 2012’s Channel Orange is a huge way, and in the process, gave his fans no shortage of material to wade through.

Continue reading Frank Ocean’s 100 Favorite Films Includes Movies By Stanley Kubrick, Werner Herzog, Paul Thomas Anderson, More at The Playlist.

Cold. Calculating. Nihilistic. Lurid. All of these descriptions have been used to describe the work of David Fincher. We’re all familiar with the smooth camera pans, the blue-grey color palette and the shocking moments of violence. What isn’t as familiar is a Fincher technique that molds all four of those qualities into one frame.

READ MORE: Ranked: Every Netflix Original Series So Far 

This supercut, titled “David Fincher: From a Distance,” highlights wide shots that deliberately leave the character(s) smaller in the frame.

Continue reading Supercut Examination Of David Fincher’s Long Shots Goes The Distance at The Playlist.

Just what exactly is it that makes a movie great? Is it the cultural significance of the film, given the context in which it was made and released? Is it the legacy that a film had over the years? Is greatness in relation to art not a matter of subjectivity?  The aforementioned are tough questions to answer, which must be why it’s provided movie geeks the world over with conversational fuel for decades now.

READ MORE: Retrospective: The Directorial Films Of Orson Welles

The truth is that the question of a movie’s greatness is not one that can ever really be answered definitively.

Continue reading What Does It Mean To Be The Greatest Movie Of All Time? at The Playlist.

Watch: Ben Affleck, Robin Wright, & Jesse Eisenberg In New 22-Minute David Fincher Documentary From Viceland

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Watch: 12-Minute Video Essay Breaks Down The Art Of Movie Editing

Continue reading Transitions Are Everything: The Art Of Movie Editing at The Playlist.

Watch: 11-Minute Video Essay Counts Down The 10 Greatest Movie Twists Of All Time

Continue reading The Top 10 Greatest Movie Twists Of All Time at The Playlist.

Watch: 9-Minute Video Essay Counts Down The Top 10 Closing Shots Of All Time

Continue reading The Top 10 Closing Shots Of All Time at The Playlist.

Watch: Video Essay Opens The Door On David Fincher's Quirky Use Of Refrigerators In Film

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'Interstellar,' 'Wolf Of Wall Street,' 'The Dark Knight,' More Top IMDB List Of The Best Movies Of The Last 25 Years

Continue reading ‘Interstellar,’ ‘Wolf Of Wall Street,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ More Top IMDB List Of The Best Movies Of The Last 25 Years at The Playlist.

Watch: 4-Minute Supercut Takes You Through The Films Of David Fincher

Continue reading Watch: 4-Minute Supercut Takes You Through The Films Of David Fincher at The Playlist.