Fincher himself, he spoke about it, I think on The Game, commentary track. You can also hear what he thinks about actors there and their input. Something along the lines of they're a color, but I'm the painter.

>Fincher himself, he spoke about it, I think on The Game, commentary track.

Thanks, that's super interesting.

On the bonus material for the Alien box set, which Fincher didn't participate in, a number of people who commented (studio people, producers on set, etc., IIRC) said they felt they were marginalized during the filming and that their advice was not heeded. All things considered, the documentary was very supportive of Fincher's point of view, that he was a victim of an overly controlling studio that didn't give him the funding he needed. So I guess there's a difference in point of view there regarding precisely when he stopped heeding others' advice. :)

He also feels the same way about the technical crew; the lighting crew, at least. Don't remember where I read it, but he said he lights his stuff primarily with flat overhead lighting these days because he doesn't want the DP/lighting to "waste time" getting lights just right for a shot.

While I immensely enjoy his films, it seems that he has great distain for the fact that filmmaking is a community effort, and simultaneously doesn't have it in himself to fight for his choices, so he just eliminates choice where he can.

Watching his progression over the years, I feel like the penultimate David Fincher film would be sans-actors and camera movement, followed by a film of raw script text pages with his red marker notes scribbled on them.

> Don't remember where I read it, but he said he lights his stuff primarily with flat overhead lighting these days because he doesn't want the DP/lighting to "waste time" getting lights just right for a shot.

It seems like a valid approach for a highly budget-constrained indie director, but for someone in his position that is completely nuts. I wonder if he was being hyperbolic.

No