Is it happening? Has my film hero, David Fincher, lived long enough to become the villain? Did the streaming conglomerate Netflix massacre my boy and snuff out his great neo-noir flame that’s untouched by any director? Recent news about his possible next film tells me yes.
This week, news broke that Fincher was rumored to be directing an upcoming western for Netflix titled Bitterroot. According to whats-on-netflix.com, the film “follows an elderly rancher who robs banks & hunts down the thieves that took his life savings while being pursued by his son, who is the sheriff.” The same article stated that, Bitterroot is “made in the vein of the Clint Eastwood classic Unforgiven.” When writer Michael Gilio completed the script over a decade ago, it was originally titled Big Hole. It nearly went into production in 2011 with Gilio set to direct and Gore Verbinski attached to produce.
I’ll admit it, the premise has me intrigued. A familial cat and mouse western could be neat. But I don’t want Fincher directing a western for two reasons. One, there are better working directors in that genre that could pull this off in a classic, rugged western style like David Mackenzie, Taylor Sheridan or S. Craig Zahler.
Second, Fincher’s a neo-noir director that hasn’t strayed too far from the genre. Yes, he’s made films like The Social Network, which is the best movie of the 2010s, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that’s super heartfelt, but those aren’t westerns. When I think of westerns, I think of a gritty and dirty epics. Fincher’s recent films like Gone Girl, Mank and The Killer are sleek with a twist of unstable psychosis. GIVE ME MORE OF THAT. I don’t want Fincher wasting this portion of his career on a possible hit or miss western.
Netflix’s Control Of Fincher Isn’t Going Away
At the beginning of 2024, Fincher was extended by Netflix for three more years. Because of that, Bitterroot isn’t the only project he’s working on. He’s attached to produce an American spin-off of the Korean show Squid Game (snooze) and worked hand in hand with Robert Towne, prior to his passing, on a Chinatown prequel series (far less of a snooze).
As a diehard sycophant of the director, seeing that these are his next three projects, slightly breaks my heart. When you watch a Fincher film, you become engulfed in uncomfortable scenarios. And when you develop a fondness for his films, you become a cynical movie viewer, which isn’t always negative. He makes you see the imperfections of other films due to his dedication to craft a perfect film. You also get labeled as a pervert, which I’m perfectly fine with. His early films are perverted in a grungy manner and his later work is perverted in a socially awkward way.
In a way, I feel like Fincher approached this Netflix deal with a twisted grasp on the one for you, one for me phrase. His early years at Netflix saw Mindhunter, Mank (a film he made because it was his fathers screenplay), Love, Death & Robots and The Killer. Those felt like they were for him. Now, Netflix is holding him down to create slop for the streaming piggies to devour without a thought in their head. I’ll exclude the Chinatown prequel series from that slop recipe as Fincher has expressed his respect for both the film and Robert Towne, but you get my point.
I’ll reiterate my point from earlier that I don’t want Fincher wasting his late career on slop. He’s 62 years old. Not many directors keep up an impressive catalog of film making in their later years. Martin Scorsese is the only name that come to mind as a current director who is older and operating at a high level. If Fincher continues to get tabbed with poor projects, he’ll never ascend to the pantheon that Scorsese is in in his older age.
Maybe Bitterroot Won’t Happen?
All of my pleading towards Fincher could be for nothing. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Fincher’s next film was actually a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film Strangers on a Train. That excited me because Fincher clearly draws inspiration from Hitchcock and has many times cited him as an inspiration. To get a Fincher spin on a Hitchcock classic with a Gillian Flynn script and Ben Affleck in the lead would’ve pleased me. But that seems to be off that table with Bitterroot coming into the picture.
There’s an entire graveyard of dead Fincher projects that give me an inkling of hope that Bitterroot won’t be made. I think I’m going to devote an entire blog to the Fincher graveyard. There’s a lot of gems in there that I wish I could’ve seen get made. That’s beside the point. While I don’t want to entirely write off Bitterroot, I don’t feel confident about it.
I don’t love the idea of Fincher directing a western. I don’t love the control that Netflix has over Fincher. He’s such a creative mind that’s molded his entire career off being different and this doesn’t feel like the right type of different for Fincher at this point in his career. It’s sort of like a parent with their child. No matter what, I’ll always love David Fincher. He makes his own decisions and I’ll support those decisions, even if they slightly unnerve me, but I’ll support it. It’s simple, I just want more great David Fincher films. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask for, right?