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When it comes to psychological thrillers, nobody does it better than David Fincher. Fincher was born David Andrew Leo Fincher in 1962 in Denver, Colorado. His family became the neighbors of the famous George Lucas when he was about two years old. Fincher became passionate about film-making at the age of eight and began filming with an 8mm camera.
After moving to Oregon, he began his high school, and by this time, he had already started training himself in designing film sets. Among his first jobs was a projectionist at a movie theater and a production assistant at the local news station. Even a famous director like Fincher had to do odd jobs as a busboy, dishwasher, and fry cook in his early life to earn his bread. However, after his struggling phase, he became one of the most renowned Hollywood directors who gained the reputation of being the ‘master’ of crime and psycho-thrillers.
Here are some of the highest-grossing David Fincher movies that were also exceptionally written and shot.
Panic Room
Panic Room is reportedly one of the scariest movies ever made, and Fincher surpassed even horror classics when it came to making psych thrillers. The famous Twilight Saga actress Kristen Stewart played the role of an 11-year-old girl who was the daughter of the main character, Jodie Foster, a divorcee. Fincher constantly toyed with his favorite motif, darkness, to create tension and suspense.
Jared Leto was also part of the main cast in this groundbreaking masterpiece released in 2002. The movie revolves around the story of a mother and her diabetic daughter hiding in a panic room from intruders who want to breach into that room to acquire a hidden treasure. The movie is among his highest-grossing films as it earned an impressive amount of $197,079,546 in box office sales.
The Social Network
The Social Network was a biopic on the life of the famous Facebook founder and creator Mark Zuckerberg. It portrays the complications in the personal and professional life of the creator to reach where he is today.
In this 2010 movie, Jesse Eisenberg played the role of Zuckerberg. Well-known stars like Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield were also part of this project. This movie became so special because Fincher moved out of his comfort zone to experiment with something that did not have a theme of crime or psychology. It comes as no surprise that this movie made a sumptuous $224,920,315 in box office sales.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The classic Stieg Larsson novel called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was adapted into a Swedish film before Fincher laid his hands on it. But it was Fincher who, with his mind-blowing adaptation, made the story into a Hollywood hit and beyond.
The plot revolved around a hacker called Lisbeth Salander, who was hired by journalist Mikael Blomkvist to solve the mystery of a woman missing for about four decades. Rooney Mara played the role of Lisbeth while the famous James Bond actor Daniel Craig played Blomkvist. The movie became a success at the box office, earning a massive amount of approximately $232,617,430.
Se7en
Se7en is undoubtedly one of David Fincher’s finest crime thrillers that got molded in his signature style of creating a grim mood through the reel-time. This masterpiece was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by Fincher back in 1995.
This neo-noir psycho-thriller was based on the twisted story of a serial killer who committed murders following the pattern of the seven deadly sins. Famous actors like Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gwyneth Paltrow starred in this movie, and it grossed over $327,333,559 in box office sales.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a strange story about a man who reverses age from old to young. Daisy became a constant presence in the protagonist, Benjamin’s life, and formed a complicated relationship with him because he aged in the opposite direction. Cate Blanchett played the roles of Daisy and the famous Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button.
This movie was loosely based on a short story of the same title written by the classic novelist Scott Fitzgerald. It came out in the year 2008 and was a unique exploration by the director in the genre of romance and fantasy. The movie's narration, plot, and direction were so beautiful that it became one of Fincher’s finest masterpieces ever. It also fared well at the box office, becoming his second highest-grossing movie that earned an impressive $335,802,786.
Gone Girl
IMDb ranks Gone Girl as the best movie by Fincher according to box office earnings. This movie was about a man named Nick Dunne whose wife disappeared suddenly. The plots and subplots in the film were so intricately written that they take fine turns every now and then, leaving the audience in awe. The movie takes a whole new turn as the plot thickens. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike shared the screen together with lead roles in the film.
Once again, Fincher proved his worth as the genius of suspense and thrill. Gone Girl made so much money that it became one of the biggest paychecks of 20th Century Fox too. It reportedly made a jaw-dropping income of about $369,330,363 in box office sales, making it the highest-grossing movie by Fincher.
David Fincher is also the creator of the critically acclaimed Netflix show MindHunter. Fincher started working with Netflix after making Gone Girl in 2014 and has also been a part of the animated series Love Death Robots that was immensely hyped among viewers. In 2021, the 58-year-old director has a mind-blowing net worth of about $100 million and lives a lavish life in his luxury estates in Manhattan and Los Felix.
Source: IndieWire, Thrillist, IMDb, Screen Rant