David Fincher hasn’t worked on a blockbuster franchise since making his infamous directorial debut on “Alien 3” — a film that he has since disavowed due to what he saw as excessive studio interference — but he has flirted with taking on big properties on multiple occasions. He spent years developing an adaptation of Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” for Disney with the intention of casting Brad Pitt. And more recently, he was briefly attached to direct Pitt in a “World War Z” sequel.
Fincher obsessives who are curious about his would-be blockbusters received an interesting tidbit this week when David Goyer made an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Goyer is best known for writing DC movies for both Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder, but he began his career as a superhero scribe by writing all three “Blade” movies. On the podcast, he revealed that he collaborated with Fincher to develop the first film, with the “Fight Club” director being considered to helm the project.
“I developed a draft with Fincher before he had done ‘Se7en,’” Goyer said. “I think he had done ‘Alien 3’ and maybe he was developing ‘Se7en.’ I developed a draft with him. I remember going to our producers office… There was this giant conference table. Fincher laid out 40 to 50 books of photography and art with Post-It notes inside them. He said, ‘This is the movie.’”
Goyer revealed that Fincher pitched his vision for the film with predictably meticulous detail. While Fincher did not ultimately end up directing “Blade,” the screenwriter explained that his creative influence was felt throughout the finished product.
“[Fincher] took us on a two-hour tour around the table of the aesthetics of this scene, that character,” Goyer said. “It was such a fully fleshed-out visual pitch… I had never seen something like that before. A lot of that thinking infused my further revisions.”
Fincher’s next film, the Michael Fassbender-led serial killer drama “The Killer,” recently premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Netflix will release the film in theaters on Friday, October 27 before it begins streaming on Friday, November 10.
