David Fincher's night out, Zodiac's missing moments and Kelley Sane talks Rendition (video)

Last night, David Fincher got another chance to see that many people have strong feelings for Zodiac, sometimes needing to see it more than once, more than twice, because it has such a pull on them. Zodiac was shown to a sold out and very appreciative Walter Reade Theater in New York. A report of the night in the Reeler begins with words that may well speak for more than of us: 'for my money, it's one of the finest films of the decade. Host and chief interrogator Kent Jones wasn't the only one confessing to having seen the movie five times or more; one man prefaced his question with such ecstatic praise that Fincher interrupted him before he could even get to the question: "Thank God for you, sir."'


The audience wasn't just treated to a viewing of the film, but also a question and answer session with David himself, in which he recalled the San Francisco that inspired him because he himself was frightened as a child by the constant coverage, month in, month out, of the killer's threats. '"It was such a big deal for so long -- it was almost two years that the guy was in the paper every day, and then all of a sudden it just disappeared, and I remember thinking 'What happened with that?' When I got the script, I kind of thought I didn't want to make a movie about it; I didn't want to make a movie that exploited him. I wanted to make the movie about it that turned over every rock. The Chronicle was in a neck-and-neck tie with the Examiner and catapulted to the forefront because Zodiac chose to communicate through the Chronicle. So a lot of the landscape of San Francisco changed because of Zodiac."'


Once the film was recorded, the difficulty for David Fincher was in getting it to be under five hours. '"When we got the version we were happy with, we did one more screening," he explained. "We hijacked people from malls and gave them the power of life and death, and made them Siskel and Ebert." Those two scenes were the most contentious in testing; for DVD, Fincher wanted to restore the film's shape to that of "the final screening before we lopped the ears off."'


Interestingly, David commented on the stories that emanated from the film set, the numerous takes and deletions that drove Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhaal (at least) to want to garrot their director. '"Do you know the best way to get an actor to stop fucking around? Stop giving them direction. Say 'Just do another one.' Three takes of that, they're done. 'What do you want me to do?' 'I want you to come through the elevator and turn and say the line like this." Suddenly you could see the perfectionist's killer instinct that led many smart-ass critics to say Zodiac feels like a movie not just about a serial killer, but that feels like it was made by one as well.'

And I'm hoping that our own CWG had a great time in the company of one David Fincher!


The Director's Cut extras

A lucky soul who has seen the Director's Cut of Zodiac has given an account of the extra minutes, the extended or original scenes and the new dialogue - even a new emphasis. You may not want to know the details before seeing the new cut yourself, but I will say that at long last we'll be able to see the scene that goes with this picture. I've often wondered about it. And I'm glad to get more Jake, especially more Jake with more Robert.



Rendition video interview with Kelley, Omar and Gavin

I was delighted to find that Variety had hosted an interview not only with Gavin Hood, but also with Omar Metwally and, my favourite, Gorgeous Kelley Sane. Here is the video. We learn that Kelley became inspired to write the screenplay of Rendition while at a party discussing the subject in 2005 (sounds like some party). Kelley was motivated because he wanted to explore the consequences of actions and whether chipping away at the constitution of the United States could ever be justified. Kelley says that after 9/11 it was understandable that the government would wish to do everything in its power to protect its citizens, but what is the cost of these actions and are we willing to bear it? It's interesting to consider that, as Gavin Hood says, not all of the actors shared the same opinions. Perhaps not surprisingly, by the end of filming, Omar Metwally had no doubt that torture can never be excused.



Includes pictures from IHJ.