TRAILER MASTER MR. FINCHER
Mank, Se7en, The Social Network +
David Fincher is back. The director hasn’t made a feature film since 2014’s Gone Girl, but his new project for Netflix streams on December 4. The film, Mank, just released a trailer. With Fincher’s expertise in creating music videos and commercials, we want to show you the brilliance of his trailers, ending with a trailer for Mank. Enjoy, PROVOKRs.
SE7EN
Though Se7en wasn’t Fincher’s first film, his breakout set a precedent for his following projects. Its ominous opening also becomes a signature trademark of his trailers down the road. Not to mention, we see Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow in a gruesome, crime-ridden world.
FIGHT CLUB
Brad Pitt saying, “I want you to hit me as hard as you can” will grab anyone’s attention. But it’s Edward Norton’s narration and the consistent low bass sounds that take us through this gritty, ’90s-stylized trailer. It’s nihilistic but optimistic at the same time, as only Fincher can do.
PANIC ROOM
Panic Room uses a different approach to a crime narrative than Fincher has done before. The trailer sets it up beautifully with dark imagery of Jodie Foster and a young Kristen Stewart. You don’t expect the faces of the criminals to pop up when they do. The 2-minute and 30-second trailer is a mini-film all on its own.
ZODIAC
It’s incredibly genius to use images of fireworks over the top of gunshots in Zodiac. That’s the opening for the trailer of the Jake Gyllenhaal-led crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. Everyone knows the story of the Zodiac. Still, Fincher’s trailer pitches us to a new way to consider this film.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Where most of his other trailers contain mostly dialogue, Fincher’s preview of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button uses the musical track “Carnival of Animals.” Images from Benjamin (Brad Pitt)’s life change with each bar of the composition. It’s stunning storytelling.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Only Fincher can get away with putting a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” over his Mark Zuckerberg biopic. The story of Facebook is important now more than ever. Cliché, I know, but true.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
We can’t get enough of Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The preview gives virtually nothing away, making it a sleek and sexy preview into an iconic mob movie.
GONE GIRL
Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck are the poster people for an All-American couple — except not everything is as it seems. The nearly 3-minute trailer takes us on a wild ride from the haunting narration to the interrogative cadence. It reels us in and makes us want to watch Gone Girl again.
MANK
Finally, we’ve come to the latest Fincher production. Mank mimics movies of the 1940s because that’s when the film’s subject, Herman J. Mankiewicz, wrote the Orson Welles classic Citizen Kane. Gary Oldman plays Mank with Amanda Seyfried by his side as mistress Marion Davies. The trailer looks, sounds, and feels like a 1940s film but with high definition perks. Perhaps his most stylized and personal film to date — his late father wrote the screenplay — Mank will surely be the talk of the town this year.
