David Fincher Walked Away From Netflix After Clashing With Film Chief Dan Lin Over ‘Cliff Booth’

Now we know why David Fincher is leaving Netflix.

According to a new report from Page Six Hollywood's Tatiana Siegel, Fincher opted to exit his Netflix deal after butting heads with film chairman Dan Lin over "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth." One well-placed source says the director had simply had enough of Lin's "shackles."

That lines up with what was reported back in August. Fincher wasn't happy with how the film turned out and pushed for major, costly reshoots; Netflix said no, but eventually agreed to a few days of additional photography. Those reshoots with Brad Pitt, which included rebuilding some large sets, are why 'Cliff Booth' skipped the fall festivals entirely — the film just wasn't ready.

Fincher wanted more time and more money to get the movie where he wanted it, and the Lin regime gave him a fraction of what he asked for. For a filmmaker famous for 70-take days, that's a problem.

Some context about Lin. He’s been running Netflix's film division since April 2024, and Page Six frames his tenure as the polar opposite of predecessor Scott Stuber, who spent freely and paid top dollar for talent. Under Lin, Netflix's original film output was cut by more than half. Siegel also notes that ‘Cliff Booth' was the only Fincher project that actually went through Lin — "Mank" and "The Killer" were Stuber-era films.

Of course, ‘Cliff Booth’ didn't come cheap. Pitt is earning $40M, Fincher $20M to direct, and Quentin Tarantino $20M for the script — $80M in above-the-line costs alone, on a budget said to be north of $200M.

And Fincher isn't the only A-list filmmaker Lin has rubbed the wrong way. As reported yesterday, there's been real friction between Lin and Greta Gerwig over "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew." Lin had plenty of notes on early cuts of the film and promised to "fix" it in post, and the result is that there's now a buffer between the two. Furthermore, a source close to Ben Affleck says the actor has also privately vented that he can't stand Lin, which may explain why it was chief content officer Bela Bajaria, not Lin, who introduced Affleck at the October 1 premiere of his Netflix film "Animals.”

Lin was spared of recent Netflix cuts which saw the streamer lay off 1000 staffers on Wednesday, and Lin's No. 2, film VP Doug Belgrad — seen as the talent-friendly "good cop" — stepped down. That said, Ex-Warner Bros. chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are reportedly waiting in the wings.

If 'Cliff Booth' lands, Lin survives. If it doesn't, losing Fincher in the process could be the thing that ends his run. Remember, ‘Narnia’ and ‘Cliff Booth’ are both exuberantly budgeted high-risk projects that, on paper, were deemed to good to fail.

‘Cliff Booth’ opens exclusively in IMAX on November 25 for a two-week run before arriving on Netflix on December 23.