A PRECISE AND EXACTING FILMMAKER, DAVID FINCHER CRAFTS SHOTS THAT STRIKE HARD AND LINGER LONG. HERE, HE TALKS EMPIRE THROUGH SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC MOVIE MOMENTS FROM HIS INCREDIBLE CAREER

WORDS NEV PIERCE

“MY PROBLEM WITH THE WORD ‘ ICONIC’ IS THAT IT’S OVERLY ATTRIBUTED,”

says David Fincher, cheerfully taking issue with the whole notion of this feature. “People have replaced the word ‘memorable’ with ‘iconic’.”

Whichever meaning you choose, there’s no doubt Fincher’s films have permeated the culture, tapping anxieties, capturing the zeitgeist. His work consistently marks the mind, whether it’s through subject matter, or framing, or the particular ability — using a combination of all the tools available — to tie the audience to the person experiencing/leading the story on screen.

“The notion with iconic shots is people are gravitating toward a single bead in a strand of beads, and it was never intended to stand out,” he says. “I like shots that are memorable, but I think context makes a shot memorable more than composition, light, colour. It’s a situation.”

The director isn’t being self-deprecating or unappreciative — “If somebody says, ‘Wow, I really love that composition,’ I’ll take it” — but it’s all about story. For iconic shots, he points at someone else’s work: “Look at Blade Runner — how a face is composed, the shafts of light… that movie has a laundry list of iconic frames!”

All that being said, Fincher stalks down memory lane to talk through Empire’s selection of iconic (our word, not his) moments from his estimable filmography...

DISCOVERING SLOTH

SEVEN (1995)

“Pine-tree air fresheners! We went to a bunch of different companies, because we wanted 10,000 of them or whatever. They had to be hanging all over the place. We ended up printing our own because everybody felt we would all have splitting headaches after two days of shooting in an environment that smelled like pine freshener. Sloth was, again, a harrowing race against the clock, because [special-effects make-up maestro] Rob Bottin needed so much time to put all those bedsores in, deal with the fake arm, all that stuff. I think the actor came in for make-up at midnight and we rolled at 6 am.