For all the people that love working with David Fincher (and just looking at the caliber of actors he puts in his films proves the filmmaker is beloved), there’s still this underlying thing when they discuss the production of the film where they seemingly are walking a bit on eggshells. It doesn’t feel as if they’re concerned about upsetting Fincher, but instead, they can’t help but discuss just how difficult it is to work within his framework. He’s a precise filmmaker who isn’t afraid to do dozens and dozens of takes before he finds the right one. And so, it’s very interesting to watch two of the most famous people on the planet, Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, discuss their time with Fincher making the film “Zodiac.”
In the recent Variety Actors on Actors discussion, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey, Jr. talked about a wide spectrum of topics, from their time in Marvel to their most recent works that are likely going to be nominated for Oscars. But they begin by discussing David Fincher and “Zodiac.” In doing so, they perfectly showcase the oddness that is people talking about Fincher’s process. And in an interesting twist, Downey, Jr. explains how he has come to respect the filmmaker more as the years go on.
The discussion begins funny enough with RDJ talking about “Zodiac” and dropping a quick quip about Fincher’s penchant for numerous takes.
Downey, Jr. remarked, “Mark is doing a scene in a phone booth—about take 218…” This is followed by Ruffalo just giggling to himself.
“That movie…what a wild ride that was…” said Ruffalo.
Bringing it back to their most recent work, Downey, Jr. said that working on “Oppenheimer” changed how he viewed his experience on “Zodiac.”
“I called Fincher recently because in retrospect, everything changes. 15 years later, you have such a different perspective on stuff, you know?” said the actor. “For me, after working with [Christopher] Nolan [on ‘Oppenheimer’], I developed a new respect for Fincher. But I remember, that might have been the first time we really had our feet put to the fire with an exacting director. A real director, who does things a certain way.”
“[‘Zodiac’] is on the top level of so many people’s favorites,” added Ruffalo.
Ruffalo also joked about how Fincher is known for doing dozens of takes and then instantly throwing them all away and starting from scratch.
“He invented the delete button,” said Ruffalo. “There was no delete button ever in digital cinema and he specifically had it invented so that he could say, ‘We’re going to delete takes 1 through 45,’ and you’re just like, ‘No, no, no, no! 38 was my baby!’”
As mentioned, typically when a filmmaker gets a reputation for being “difficult” or “demanding” during production, that’s a red flag. Alas, it appears, for the most part at least, people come to respect Fincher and understand his unique process. And that’s why they keep coming back. But it’s also fun to just see how people have to tiptoe through a minefield to accurately describe what it’s like to work with the filmmaker.
You can see the full discussion below:
