Do we like David Fincher?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A clean harm record and a long career, but little on file about causes or kindness, and one fuzzy take on the strikes.
Fincher is the director behind Fight Club and a long run of dark, meticulous thrillers. He has become the name people reach for when they want a film to look cold, precise and expensive. France's film academy thought enough of that body of work to give him its lifetime César in 2023.
The latest drama is corporate, not criminal. Page Six reported in October that Fincher walked away from his Netflix deal after clashing with film chief Dan Lin over money on The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. It leans on an anonymous source, and nobody has commented on the record. It still reads like a creative type fed up with budget limits.
On harm, the record is clean. We found no anti-LGBTQ+ comments, no campaigning against anyone's rights, no conspiracy theories and no donations or endorsements that raise a flag. The closest thing is a 2023 interview where he said he's “not responsible for how people interpret things” when asked about incels and Fight Club. He also said it was impossible for him to imagine people don't understand Tyler Durden is harmful.
The other blot is a 2023 Venice press conference on the Hollywood strikes, where he said “I can understand both sides.” Director Boots Riley called that a “distorted worldview” and rejected the both-sides framing, while also saying Fincher has made great films. Whether you read it as diplomatic or as sitting on the fence is up to you. It's one muddled answer, not a campaign.
On how he treats people, he's famously demanding. In a 2020 New York Times interview he said Jake Gyllenhaal was “very distracted” on Zodiac. He also said “I don't want to make excuses for my behavior” and admitted he can be confrontational when he sees someone slacking. Nothing in our searches pointed to court cases, settlements or formal misconduct complaints against him.
The good-stuff column is short. Awards and a lifetime honour are real, but we found no charity work or public causes to put next to them. That's honestly the whole list, so it's a thin record rather than a bad one.