David Fincher’s films are known for exhibiting all the capabilities of an actor during an emotional scene, but that doesn’t always mean that the director captures the right moment in the first shot.
Appearing in VarietyIn the series of talks “Directors on Directors”, Ben Affleck (“Argo”) proposes a theory to Fincher (“Mank”) about his two competing instincts as a filmmaker.
“One is a very specific idea of how you think it will work best and how you would like it to be,” said Affleck. “And the other is this deep desire to discover something accidental, different and new in the process.”
After working with Fincher on “Gone Girl”, Affleck was curious to know why Fincher insists on making so many shots on the set, a technique he said he loved.
“I would rather take shots than sit in my trailer,” said Affleck. “It was wonderful. It also relieves you, as an actor, of this notion that there is a finish line, there is an end. We are going to achieve ‘that’ and it will be accomplished.”
Fincher explained how he initially hesitated to ask his actors to take additional shots for certain scenes, but said it was worth tightening those scenes.
“It took me a while to get used to the idea of saying, ‘Another one, and I want you to think about it,'” said Fincher. “Often, you are pressed against the glass and say, ‘Please don’t take this the wrong way. I need you to leave, let’s try one more. ‘It’s like Carrie said,’ What am I doing wrong? ‘ You are not doing anything wrong. We will do three weeks or at the rehearsal, we will do a table reading, we will open outside the city, we will have at least three previews. And we are going to do all this today before lunch with this master. Let’s go through all this so that you can get to a place where you go, ‘Yes, I tried that. I tried that. No, seriously, it’s right here. ‘And everyone can feel good about work. That is what we are trying to tighten. This is the piece of coal that we are going to try to turn into a diamond. “
See the full conversation below: