David Fincher is known for thriller movies such as The Social Network and Zodiac. Fincher loves a twist ending, with over half of his movies culminating in shocking scenes which pull the rug out from under the audience – such as Se7en, Fight Club, and Gone Girl. But there is one final act in one of his movies that he regrets, despite it arguably being one of his best films.
Apparently, Fincher’s wife told him not to make The Game – the 1997 movie starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn – which is very much reminiscent of a Philip K. Dick story. Speaking to Playboy in 2016 (via IndieWire), Fincher said; “…in hindsight, my wife was right. We didn’t figure out the third act, and it was my fault, because I thought if you could just keep your foot on the throttle – it would be liberating and funny.”
“I know what I like, and one thing I definitely like is not knowing where a movie is going. These days, though, it’s hard to get audiences to give themselves over. They want to see the whole movie in a 90-second trailer.”
Fincher also talked about superhero movies “I find them dull,” and the modern landscape of cinema; “Studios treat audiences like lemmings, like cattle in a stockyard. I don’t want to ask actors or anyone else on a movie to work so hard with me if the studios treat us as though we’re making Big Macs. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is not a Big Mac. Gone Girl is not a Big Mac. I don’t make Big Macs.”
If you haven’t seen The Game, don’t be put off by Fincher’s words – it’s a very fun, twisty, psychological thriller in which Sean Penn’s Conrad tries to give his brother Nicholas (Douglas) a new appreciation for life via an elaborate game that completely takes over his life.
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