Early life

Fincher was born on August 28, 1962 in Denver, Colorado, the son of Claire Mae (née Boettcher), a mental health nurse from South Dakota who worked in drug addiction programs, and Howard Kelly Fincher, an author from Oklahoma who worked as a reporter and bureau chief for Life. Howard died of cancer in April 2003. Fincher knew from a young age he wanted to go into filmmaking. When Fincher was two years old, the family moved to San Anselmo, California, where filmmaker George Lucas was one of his neighbors. Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he graduated from Ashland High School. During high school, he directed plays and designed sets and lighting after school, and was a non-union projectionist at a second-run movie theater, production assistant at the local television news station KOBI in Medford, Oregon, and took on other odd jobs such as fry cook, busboy, and dishwasher. Inspired by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Fincher began making movies at age eight with an 8mm camera.

Career

Early career

Fincher was employed at Korty Films as a production assistant. He moved up the ranks and became a visual-effects producer and worked on the animated Twice Upon a Time (1983). He was later hired by Industrial Light & Magic in 1983, where he was an assistant cameraman and matte photographer and worked on productions for Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). In 1984, he left ILM to direct a commercial for the American Cancer Society that shows a fetus smoking a cigarette. This quickly brought Fincher to the attention of producers in Los Angeles, and he was given the chance to direct the documentary The Beat of the Live Drum, featuring Rick Springfield, in 1985. Though he would continue to direct spots for companies like Levi's, Converse, Nike, Pepsi, Revlon, Sony, Coca-Cola, and Chanel Fincher soon discovered music videos and went on to direct many promos. He directed the video for the 1986 release of the single "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off", which was the biggest commercial success for Pop/R&B singer Jermaine Stewart, and extensively worked with Madonna directing several of her music videos including "Express Yourself", "Oh Father", "Vogue" and "Bad Girl".

Propaganda Films

Set on a directing career, Fincher co-founded video-production company Propaganda Films and started off directing music videos and commercials. Like Fincher, directors such as Michael Bay, Antoine Fuqua, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Alex Proyas, Paul Rachman, Mark Romanek, Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and others honed their talents at Propaganda Films before moving on to feature films.

1990s: Alien 3, Seven, The Game and Fight Club

After directing several music videos, Fincher's feature debut was Alien 3 (1992). While it received an Oscar nomination for visual effects, the film was not well received by critics or moviegoers. Fincher became involved with several disputes with 20th Century Fox over script and budget issues. In Director's Cut: Picturing Hollywood in the 21st Century, he blames the producers for not putting the necessary trust in him. He stated in an interview with The Guardian in 2009: "No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me." After this, he retreated back into the world of commercial and music video directing, including the video for the Grammy Award-winning track "Love Is Strong" (1994) by The Rolling Stones.

In 1995, Fincher directed Seven. The film, based on a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, told the story of two detectives (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) tracking down a serial killer who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. The film grossed more than $100 million domestically (over $300 million internationally).

After the success of Seven, Fincher went on to film The Game (1997). The story focused on a closed-off San Francisco businessman (played by Michael Douglas) who receives an unusual gift from his younger brother (Sean Penn), in which he becomes the main player of a role-playing game that takes over his life. The film had middling box-office returns despite being well received by critics.

Fight Club (1999) is a screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel about an insomniac office worker who opens up a club devoted exclusively to bare knuckle fighting for men. Featuring Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, and Seven collaborator Brad Pitt, the film was an early disappointment at the box-office and received mixed reviews. Entertainment Weekly, which had originally given the film a D-, later ranked the DVD #1 on its list of 50 Essential DVDs.

2000s: Panic Room, hiatus, Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In 2006, the British magazine Total Film voted Fight Club number four in the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, beaten only by Jaws, Vertigo and Goodfellas at 3, 2 and 1 respectively.

In 2002, Fincher followed up with the thriller Panic Room. The film earned over $92 million at the U.S. box office. The story follows a single mother (Jodie Foster) and her daughter (Kristen Stewart) as they hide in a safe room of their new house, away from criminals (Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, and Fight Club collaborator Jared Leto) bent on finding a missing fortune. Fincher acknowledged Panic Room as a more mainstream thriller, describing the film, on the DVD's audio commentary, as " a date movie" and a "really good B movie" about "two people trapped in a closet".

Five years after Panic Room, Fincher returned on March 2, 2007 with Zodiac, an adaptation of Robert Graysmith's books about the hunt for the Zodiac Killer that starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr., Anthony Edwards, and Brian Cox. The first of Fincher's films to be shot digitally, the majority of the film was recorded on a Thompson Viper Film Stream Camera. However, high-speed film cameras were used for the Blue Rock Springs and Presidio Heights murder scenes for the slow-motion shots. It was originally to be released in the fall of 2006 but was pushed back after Fincher refused to cut 20 minutes off the film.

Zodiac was one of the best-reviewed films of that year, with only two other 2007 films appearing on more top-10 lists (No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood). However, the film struggled at the box office in the U.S., earning only $33 million, but did well overseas with a foreign gross of $51.7 million. Worldwide, Zodiac was a decent success. Despite an aggressive campaign by the studio, expectations surrounding Robert Downey, Jr.'s supporting performance, Fincher's direction and Vanderbilt's adapted script, the film did not earn a single Academy Award nomination.

A story about life and death, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of the same name. The film was Fincher's third with Brad Pitt. The film started shooting in November 2006 in New Orleans, before moving on to the Virgin Islands, Montreal, and L.A. Both Zodiac and this film are co-productions of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. The budget for the film was estimated at $150 million, partly due to the CGI effects used to reverse the aging in Pitt's character. It received 13 nominations at the 81st Academy Awards, including Fincher's first nomination for Best Director. It won three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.

2010s: The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and television career

Fincher directed the 2010 film The Social Network, about the legal battles of Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook. The film features an Oscar-winning screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, adapted from the book The Accidental Billionaires. Featuring a young cast ensemble, the film was produced by Scott Rudin, Kevin Spacey and Michael DeLuca. Filming started in October 2009 and was released a year later, to critical acclaim. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross created the Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film. Fincher had long been a fan of Reznor's work in Nine Inch Nails, even putting a remix of "Closer" in the beginning of Seven and directing the music video for "Only". The film went on to win many awards, including four Golden Globes (including Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score), three BAFTAs (including Best Direction), and three Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing.

Fincher directed the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was based on the book by Stieg Larsson, with a script written by Steven Zaillian. The film was shot in Sweden, with Rooney Mara (who played Erica Albright in The Social Network) as Lisbeth Salander, Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, Robin Wright as Erika Berger, Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger and Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger. The film was released on December 21, 2011. Dragon Tattoo writer Steve Zaillian is in the early stage of scripting The Girl Who Played with Fire, which Fincher has the option to direct. While he has not yet committed to the project, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker has admitted that (should he sign on) he would prefer to shoot both the second and third Millennium book adaptations back-to-back, for both practical and artistic purposes. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the soundtrack for the film (their second collaboration with Fincher). It received five Academy Award nominations at the 84th Academy Awards including: Best Actress for Rooney Mara, Best Cinematography, Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and won one award for Best Film Editing.

Fincher is executive producer of the Netflix television series House of Cards; he also directed the first two episodes. The series has received critical acclaim, receiving nine Primetime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series and Fincher for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the first episode, which he won.

Fincher directed the adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl, Production began in September 2013 and the film was released on October 3, 2014. Fincher signed a three-series deal with HBO for Utopia, Shakedown, and Living on Video. He was to handle the directing and writing duties for the first season of HBO's adaptation of Utopia, a British television series, but budget disputes between HBO and Fincher led to the project being cancelled in July 2015.

Future work

Shakedown, a noir-ish crime drama, set in LA in the 1950s, is about a tabloid world and the underbelly of Los Angeles in the 1950s and centers on a real-life private detective. It is inspired by the life of legendary 1950s Hollywood vice cop-turned-private eye Fred Otash. Fincher will be producing the series while author James Ellroy will be developing the series. This will be Fincher's second TV project after House of Cards on Netflix, which also attracted actor Kevin Spacey. Living on Video, a comedy set in the 1980s, will follow Robby, a college drop out, pursuing his dream as a music video and film director in Hollywood. Red Band Society actor Charlie Rowe will play the lead role after Tyler Ross dropped out due to conflicts. Fincher is attached to direct another Netflix TV series, Mindhunter, starring Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff. The series is based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit.

Personal life

Fincher married model-photographer Donya Fiorentino in 1990 and divorced in 1995. They have a daughter, Phelix Imogen Fincher. Fincher is married to producer Ceán Chaffin.

In an interview with Empire magazine in 2008, Fincher named the following films as his favorites: Alien (1979), All That Jazz (1979), All the President's Men (1976), American Graffiti (1973), Being There (1979), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Cabaret (1972), Chinatown (1974), Citizen Kane (1941), Days of Heaven (1978), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 8½ (1963), The Exorcist (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Graduate (1967), Jaws (1975), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Mad Max 2 (1981), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), Paper Moon (1973), Rear Window (1954), Taxi Driver (1976), The Terminator (1984), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), and Zelig (1983).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Executive producer
1992	Alien 3	Yes
1995	Seven	Yes
1997	The Game	Yes
1999	Fight Club	Yes
2001	The Hire (Short films)		Yes
2002	Panic Room	Yes
2005	Lords of Dogtown			Yes
2006	Love and Other Disasters		Yes
2007	Zodiac	Yes
2008	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Yes
2010	The Social Network	Yes
2011	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Yes
2014	Gone Girl	Yes		Yes

Television

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Executive producer	Notes
2013-present	House of Cards	Yes		Yes	Directed 2 episodes
2016	Mindhunter	Yes		Yes	Pre-production

Music videos

As a music video director, Fincher has won two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video, for his work in "Love Is Strong" by The Rolling Stones (1995) and "Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z (2013), and three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction, being one of the most awarded directors in the category, alongside Spike Jonze. He also earned back-to-back MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction in 1989 for "Express Yourself" and in 1990 for "Vogue". In 1990, he earned three of the four available nominations in the Best Direction category.

• "Dance This World Away", Rick Springfield (1984)
• "Celebrate Youth", Rick Springfield (1984)
• "Bop Til You Drop", Rick Springfield (1984)
• "Shame", The Motels (1985)
• "Shock", The Motels (1985
• "Celebrate Youth", Rick Springfield (1985)
• "All The Love In The World", The Outfield (1986)
• "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off", Jermaine Stewart (1986)
• "Everytime You Cry", The Outfield (1986)
• "One Simple Thing", Stabilizers (1986)
• "Stay", Howard Hewett (1986)
• "She Comes On", Wire Train (1987)
• "Should She Cry", Wire Train (1987)
• "Endless Nights", Eddie Money (1987)
• "Downtown Train", Patty Smyth (1987)
• "I Don't Mind At All", Bourgeois Tagg (1987)
• "Notorious", Loverboy (1987)
• "Love Will Rise Again", Loverboy (1987)
• "Johnny B", The Hooters (1987)
• "Storybook Story", Mark Knopfler (1987)
• "Can I Hold You", Colin Hay (1987)
• "No Surrender", The Outfield (1987)
• "Say You Will", Foreigner (1987)
• "Don't Tell Me The Time", The Motels (1987)
• "Tell It To the Moon", The Motels (1988)
• "Heart of Gold", Johnny Hates Jazz (1988)
• "Englishman in New York", Sting (1988)
• "Shattered Dreams" (second version),
  Johnny Hates Jazz (1988)
• "Get Rhythm", Ry Cooder (1988)
• "Most of All", Jody Watley (1988)
• "Roll With It", Steve Winwood (1988)
• "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" (version 1988), Paula Abdul (1988)
• "Holding On", Steve Winwood (1988)
• "Heart", Neneh Cherry (1989)
• "Bamboleo" (second version), Gipsy Kings (1989)
• "Straight Up", Paula Abdul (1989)
• "Most of All", Jody Watley (1989)
• "Real Love", Jody Watley (1989)
• "Bamboleo" (third version), Gipsy Kings (1989)
• "She's a Mystery to Me", Roy Orbison (1989)
• "Forever Your Girl", Paula Abdul (1989)
• "Express Yourself", Madonna (1989)
• "The End of the Innocence", Don Henley (1989)
• "Cold Hearted", Paula Abdul (1989)
• "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" (version 1989), Paula Abdul (1988)
• "Oh Father", Madonna (1989)
• "Janie's Got a Gun", Aerosmith (1989)
• "Vogue", Madonna (1990)
• "Cradle of Love", Billy Idol (1990)
• "L.A. Woman", Billy Idol (1990)
• "Freedom '90", George Michael (1990)
• "Who Is It?", Michael Jackson (1992)
• "Bad Girl", Madonna (1993)
• "Love Is Strong", The Rolling Stones (1994)
• "6th Avenue Heartache", The Wallflowers (1996)
• "Judith", A Perfect Circle (2000)
• "Only", Nine Inch Nails (2005)
• "Suit & Tie", Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z (2013)

Reception

Critical reception

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
Alien3	43%	59
Seven	80%	65
The Game	71%	61
Fight Club	79%	66
Panic Room	76%	65
Zodiac	89%	78
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	72%	70
The Social Network	96%	95
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	86%	71
Gone Girl	88%	79

Box office performance

Film	Studio	Release date	Box office gross			Budget	Reference
			North America	Other territories	Worldwide
Alien3	20th Century Fox	May 22, 1992 (1992-05-22)	$55,473,545	$104,340,953	$159,814,498	$50 million
Seven	New Line Cinema	September 22, 1995 (1995-09-22)	$100,125,643	$227,186,216	$327,311,859	$33 million
The Game	PolyGram	September 12, 1997 (1997-09-12)	$48,323,648	$61,100,000	$109,423,648	$50 million
Fight Club	20th Century Fox	October 15, 1999 (1999-10-15)	$37,030,102	$63,823,651	$100,853,753	$63 million
Panic Room	Columbia	March 29, 2002 (2002-03-29)	$96,397,334	$100,000,081	$196,397,415	$48 million
Zodiac	Paramount / Warner Bros.	March 2, 2007 (2007-03-02)	$33,080,084	$51,705,830	$84,785,914	$65 million
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button		December 25, 2008 (2008-12-25)	$127,509,326	$206,422,757	$333,932,083	$150 million
The Social Network	Columbia	October 1, 2010 (2010-10-01)	$96,962,694	$127,957,621	$224,920,315	$40 million
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Columbia	December 20, 2011 (2011-12-20)	$102,068,888	$130,101,637	$232,617,430	$90 million
Gone Girl	20th Century Fox	October 3, 2014 (2014-10-03)	$167,238,510	$199,700,000	$366,938,510	$61 million
Total			$858,764,264	$1,246,038,476	$2,136,548,250	$650 million

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Result
1992	Alien 3	Saturn Award for Best Director	Nominated
1993		Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation	Nominated
1999	Fight Club	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
2007	Zodiac	Palme d'Or	Nominated
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		London Film Critics' Circle Award for Director of the Year	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
2008		Bodil Award for Best American Film	Nominated
		Empire Award for Best Director	Nominated
	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	London Film Critics' Circle Award for Director of the Year	Won
		National Board of Review Award for Best Director	Won
		Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing	Nominated
		New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		SFX Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director	Won
2009		Saturn Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award for Best Director	Nominated
		BAFTA Award for Best Direction	Nominated
		Academy Award for Best Director	Nominated
2010	The Social Network	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director	Won
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Won
		César Award for Best Foreign Film	Won
		David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Won
		Film Critics Circle of Australia for Best Foreign Film	Won
		Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director	Won
		Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Won
		London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year	Won
		Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Won
		National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director	Won
		Nastro d'Argento for Best Non-European Director	Nominated
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Robert Festival for Best American Film	Nominated
		San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director	Won
		Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Won
		Russian Guild of Film Critics for Best Foreign Film	Nominated
		San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Won
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director	Won
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Nominated
2011		Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director	Won
		Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature Film	Nominated
		Empire Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Bodil Award for Best American Film	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award for Best Director	Won
		Satellite Award for Best Director	Won
		BAFTA Award for Best Direction	Won
		Academy Award for Best Director	Nominated
2012	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature Film	Nominated
2013	House of Cards	Peabody Award	Won
		Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series	Won
		Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series	Nominated
2014			Nominated
	Gone Girl	Iowa Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Runner-up
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Dorian Award for Film Director of the Year	Nominated
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Director	Nominated
		St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Nominated
2015		Golden Globe Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director	Nominated
		Satellite Award for Best Director	Nominated
	House of Cards	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]