David Fincher, currently in Austin for SXSW, has been endlessly promoting his animated oddity “Love, Death and Robots” (premiering on Netflix, 3.15), an “anthology animated short series made by different artists from around the world.” This is his first public appearance, that I can think of, since he had his sequel to “World War Z” scrapped by Paramount earlier this month.
Fact of the matter is this: David Fincher has not directed a movie since 2014’s “Gone Girl.” He will not a new movie released this year, nor will he probably have one in 2020. So, what’s the deal?
He stated just this past weekend that he'd be interested in directing a superhero movie. He seems rather lost, more than anything else, with the studio system closing down its doors on "auteur" filmmakers. He doesn't have much of a choice but to accept the lack of creative opportunities and just direct a “World War Z” sequel (which he almost did), a Marvel flick or just stick to making brilliant TV shows like “Mindhunter,” of which its first season I adored to death.
Before delving into the Netflix game with “House of Cards” and “Mindhunter'“ Fincher was a world-class filmmaker and had a tremendous streak of films going between 1995 and 2014 (“Seven,” “The Game,” “Fight Club,” “Panic Room,” “Zodiac,” “The Social Network,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and “Gone Girl.” ) The only time I felt disappointed by a film of his during that timespan was 2008’s”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which still has its fair share of fans.
When will we see a David Fincher film again on the big screen? Who knows. The theatrical narrative seems to be a difficult or un-motivating creative endeavor for him at the moment. By 2020 it would be close to 7 years since he last released something theatrically.