David Fincher Gets a Chip on His Shoulder
Auteur Director David Fincher was more ubiquitous in the 90s than JNCO jeans and flannel shirts.
From TV commercials and music videos to Hollywood movies Fincher dominated big and small screens and became one of the most talked about directors of the decade. Along the way he also developed a reputation of being an obsessive perfectionist who was impossible to please.
At the dawn of the 1990s Fincher was an award winning music video director who dominated the MTV VMAs. As heard on the latest episode of History of the 90s, Fincher made some of the most talked about videos of the 80s and 90s. Including Madonna’s Express Yourself and Vogue as well as George Michael’s Freedom 90.
In the early 90s Fincher and Propaganda Films, the company he co-founded, also made a number of buzz worthy TV commercials for big brands like Nike.
Including this homage to 1930s Hollywood featuring Charles Barkley. It included an original song written by Chuck D. of Public Enemy.
Not surprisingly Hollywood soon came knocking and at the age of 27 Fincher took over as director of the beleaguered production of Alien 3. For lots of reasons that I cover in the podcast, Alien 3 underperformed and was widely panned by critics. Fincher has described the experience of making the movie “like slitting his throat in slow motion.”
Alien 3 could have been the end of Fincher’s career but instead author Adam Nayman told me it became the director’s ‘Rosebud’. It put a chip on his shoulder and propelled him to make two of the most talked about movies of the 90s.
Have a listen to the latest episode of History of the 90s to find out more. You can stream it anywhere you get audio or here.