The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

[MacGuffin]

David Fincher's tale of the ages: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'
The director of blood-spattered 'Se7en,' 'Zodiac' and 'Fight Club' takes a heart-rending turn in his latest film starring Brad Pitt.
Source: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from New York -- David Fincher's new film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," opening Christmas Day, is in many respects an archetypal award-season movie: a decade-spanning tear-jerker filled with big stars and grand themes and sweeping emotions.

But for the 46-year-old Fincher -- the virtuoso auteur behind many of the most indelible serial-killer movies of the last dozen years (1995's "Se7en," last year's "Zodiac"), the fanboy favorite behind the head-banging ultraviolence of 1999's "Fight Club" and the mind-game paranoia of 1997's "The Game" and 2002's "Panic Room" -- it could reasonably be considered a departure.

"I think it was probably easy up until 'Zodiac' to say, 'That's a guy who's interested in those movies where people do horrible things to each other,' " Fincher said earlier this month, slumped on a sofa in the presidential suite of the Waldorf- Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. "But there's a much higher body count in this movie than in anything I've ever done."

Played by Brad Pitt, with the help of other actors' bodies and armies of makeup artists and CGI pros, the title character is born old and seems to grow younger as he ages. Abandoned at birth, an infant-sized octogenarian, Benjamin is raised in a New Orleans nursing home, surrounded by the frail and the dying. The specter of mortality remains even as he sheds his wrinkles and enters a robust middle age and a romance with his lifelong love, the bohemian dancer Daisy ( Cate Blanchett).

Benjamin is both a remarkable special effect and an all-purpose symbol: He may grow more youthful as he ages in reverse, but can't stall the passage of time. A tale of magical realism, a picaresque journey as strange as it is sentimental, the film is also a somber exploration of the most terrifying -- and in Hollywood, arguably the most taboo -- of subjects: aging and death.

With that angle in mind, Fincher said, he has settled on a line for those who insist on calling his new film an anomaly: "Isn't time the ultimate serial killer?"

Loosely based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Benjamin Button" has taken years to come to fruition. In the late '80s, producer Ray Stark commissioned a draft by screenwriter Robin Swicord, and for a while various directors, including Steven Spielberg, circled the project. It continued to change hands, and was resurrected in earnest a few years ago by producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, this time with a revised script by Eric Roth, who won an Oscar for his "Forrest Gump" screenplay.

"It was mostly about expense," Fincher said of the project's long, on-off gestation period. (The film's budget is reportedly in the $150-million range.) "Technology has gotten cheaper. We started five years ago, and you could probably do the same amount of work for $3 million or $4 million less, with what we know now."

To create the movie's primary visual trick -- Benjamin's appearance at different ages -- Fincher cast several actors, and in most cases combined their bodies with Pitt's voice and digitally manipulated face using a motion-capture technique similar to the one Robert Zemeckis used in "Beowulf."

"I call it the Botoxing of the performance," Fincher said. "As high-resolution as it is, there's something that gets kind of dulled, something not so articulate in the lips. But when a guy's 85 years old, it's OK that he's a little soft."

Benjamin may be a state-of-the-art technical marvel but at the film's heart is Pitt's performance, a delicate feat of physiognomic control. "There are so many facial tics that make people who they are, especially movie stars," Fincher said, "and one of the things we found with Brad was it's the speed at which he does things, it's when he blinks, when he moves his eyes."

He was quick to praise Pitt, who, including "Se7en" and "Fight Club," has now starred in three of Fincher's seven features. "Some of my favorite shots in this movie have absolutely nothing to do with technology and everything to do with an actor's choices, like when Brad made these decisions that were odd and childlike, that Popeye face when he's walking for the first time," Fincher said. "It's ultimately those things that win you over."

He added, "Is Benjamin absolutely 100% believable in most shots? No, but there are a couple that I look at and go, 'Wow, we got really close.' It's just enough to get you to suspend your disbelief."

Fincher is known as a craftsman and tech-head, but he puts CGI wizardry in the service of illusion more than spectacle. "Zodiac," he said, made extensive use of digitized cityscapes in part because he couldn't get permission to shoot on the streets of San Francisco. "You don't want people to go, 'Wow, that's the most beautiful street corner in history,' you don't want to make it overly flowery," he said. "When people spend a lot of money on digital effects, I think they want it to count. I just want people to be absorbed in what's going on."

It's a lesson he learned early in his career, when he worked at Industrial Light & Magic in the early '80s and was struck by the difference between Spielberg movies and most other effects-heavy films of the period: "It wasn't just the degree of execution that made those effects, it was the way they supported the story around them. The setup is almost as important as the execution."

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," with its blank-slate hero and life-sized timeline, is among other things a curious experiment in viewer identification. "I like to think of the movie as truly experiential," Fincher said. "There's no back story. You live his back story; you're there for everything. For me it really is about living a life. He's an extraordinary man in extremely mundane circumstances. We all know the first kiss, the first hangover, the first love, the first time you get dumped. And you're intensely aware of every moment as the inverse of what you're seeing. He's not 70, he's 10; he's not 60, he just turned 20. And I hope people can chart that from an empathetic standpoint."

While "Benjamin Button" might be the only Fincher film to count as a weepie (though "Fight Club" is not without its poignant undercurrents), it shares an obsessive, control-freak quality with his other intricate entertainments.

Fincher's single-mindedness has earned him a reputation as a perfectionist taskmaster. "I've become obsessive because I think it's professional," he said. "If I'm going to take tens of millions of dollars from somebody, I'm going to try to make the best movie I can. And for the actors, I think the duty of the director is to make playing dress-up as effortless as you can. We're asking someone with a blue stretchy cap on their head to act like an 85-year-old man. So you help out as much as you can. The attention to detail, the obsessiveness that I'm saddled with -- it's me just doing my job."

[MacGuffin]

'Benjamin Button' Director David Fincher Talks Brad Pitt, Fate Of 'Fight Club' Musical
The director also addresses comparisons to 'Forrest Gump' and how 'lucky' everyone was to be in a Cate Blanchett movie.
By Josh Horowitz; MTV

Witness the curious case of David Fincher — music video auteur turned embattled rookie helmer (his battles on "Alien3" are the stuff of legend). The director who blew our minds by putting Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box ("Seven"), convinced 20th Century Fox to make arguably the most subversive flick in the studio's history ("Fight Club") and, most recently, the guy who crafted the most absorbing procedural since the days of "All the President's Men": "Zodiac."

Is it possible that the man whose first three films ended with suicides (or apparent suicides) has now made the touchy-feely tearjerker of the season? You'll find out on Christmas Day when you queue up to watch Brad Pitt age backwards in the sweeping drama "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." (See exclusive photos of David Fincher on the set with Brad Pitt here.)

MTV News chatted with the usually reticent, media-shy director to talk about why he chose not to turn Brad Pitt into a baby, whether "Fight Club" will ever become a musical and why he's waiting for a phone call from Britney Spears.

MTV: "Benjamin Button" clearly is a big Oscar contender. Did the ceremony ever mean much to you growing up?

David Fincher: I liked the Oscars when I was a kid because it was the only chance to see clips of R-rated movies. My parents were not about to let me — with my fertile imagination and predisposition towards violence — see "The Godfather" or "The Exorcist." I love what it stands for, but it didn't seem as political back then.

MTV: It took a long time for this film to reach the screen and it very nearly was made by a host of talented filmmakers.

Fincher: I have no idea what Spike [Jonze] would have done with it. He tried to explain to me this incredibly intimate character piece that he was going to do for a relatively modest [budget]. I would have seen that movie.

MTV: One thing that struck me about the film is it really is just as much Daisy's [Cate Blanchett] story as Benjamin's.

Fincher: Yeah, I think so. I always say everyone was lucky enough to be in a Cate Blanchett movie. [He laughs.]

MTV: We finish the story with her because, after all, Brad Pitt can't play a baby at the end.

Fincher: We were prepared to do that.

MTV: You mean have Brad play the baby?

Fincher: We just ran out of money. We could have made him into a baby. Anything you want to do, you can do now.

MTV: You also use another actor to portray him as a boy near the end. Did you consider using Brad for that?

Fincher: I debated it a long time. I always felt that it was a coin toss. If we could get the money to do him as a 12-year-old, I would have done him as a 12-year-old.

MTV: Do the "Forrest Gump" comparisons bother you?

Fincher: "Forrest Gump"? What's that? Instead of the ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, I thought of [Benjamin] as an extraordinary man in very ordinary circumstances. I don't know how much an audience can relate to a guy who's aging backwards that ends up looking like Brad Pitt. My whole thing from the beginning has been that it's not high concept. The reason it's relatable is how it's dramatized. Everybody remembers their first kiss and hangover and person they fell in love with.

MTV: You told me a year ago you wanted to bring "Fight Club" to Broadway as a musical.

Fincher: It would be great.

MTV: Do you think it will happen?

Fincher: It's too expensive. I really don't know. I've talked to [director] Julie Taymor and she sort of talked me down. I talked to [producer] Scott Rudin about it. I wanted to get him involved. He just laughed.

MTV: Did Trent Reznor ever write music for it?

Fincher: No. He's interested in it. He wanted to know more about what it was going to be. I saw it as being like a rock show — a lot of projection, a lot of computer-generated imagery, a lot of conveyor belts. It was really cinematic but really twisted.

MTV: Why haven't we ever seen you direct a superhero film? You must have been offered a few.

Fincher: I've been talked to about different things. They talked to me about "Spider-Man." Obviously they made the right choice there.

MTV: None got you excited?

Fincher: No. There's so little dialogue in comic-book movies that isn't about narrative, where you have to be next and how to get the talisman and why it has to be in a lead-lined box or whatever. I loved that stuff as an 8-year-old but I was pretty much over it by the time I was 11.

MTV: You came from music videos. Do you ever get calls from people like Britney Spears to direct their videos?

Fincher: I don't. My phone lies dust-covered.

MTV: Do you know what you're doing next?

Fincher: I've just spent five years pushing a rock up the Paramount mountain and I'm perfectly happy to do a short for an anthology and some television commercials. I'm just going to keep checking [to see] if Britney Spears calls.

[MacGuffin]

Working with Fincher featurette:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thecuriouscaseofbenjaminbutton/

[cinemanarchist]

I have only been mildly excited to see this up 'til now but after watching Pitt's reaction shots in that clip at the end of the featurette, my excitement is now quite palpable.


*UPDATE* Just got back from seeing the flick and am sadly underwhelmed, I'm not entirely certain this will be on my top ten at all. Fincher really knocked it out of the park as far as the direction goes but the script just wasn't there. This is Forrest Gump (damn you Eric Roth) as directed by Fincher. It's the same "life is a journey, make it exciting" diatribe that has been said before and if they had a new and exciting way of broaching this topic I would be all for it, but this film felt very tired. The technology used to create the "young" Benjamin is astounding and I actually think all of the makeup should have been cg because when you had Pitt at midlife he looked less real than at the beginning when it was all digital. A minor annoyance is that the film only follows it's own logic when it deems it necessary for the plot. He's way too smart when he's seven but he worries about being scared of the dark at 80, even though his brain would still have his years of wisdom only his body would be tiny. This is one of those movies where if someone walks into a room and they call out for someone and that someone doesn't answer, you know that person is dead. It all just felt very by the numbers and there were scenes that I thought were brilliant and moving but they were too few and far between and often just involved a bit of silence or a stray image here or there, most of the dialogue was pretty shitty. I fully expected to cry and sadly didn't shed a single tear.

The hummingbird was just as on the nose and annoying, if not more so, as the rat in The Departed.

Oh and no more framing movies around someone recounting their life from their deathbed...in a hospital...during Hurricane Katrina! Shit is weak storytelling.

[©brad]

well first off, anyone who was way stoaked to see this a year ago but is now bummed after several "meh" reviews have rendered their anticipation null needs to relax. in fact, get your ass to your multiplex and see it pronto because it's good. brilliant even. this is a multi-cinegasm inducing film. fincher at his directorial best. beautifully photographed and acted. even if you refuse to check your cold inner cynic at the door, you'd be hard-pressed not to be moved or humored by some of many wonderful things this movie has to offer.

that all being said, there is something missing. i can't exactly articulate what. the script is always an easy scapegoat, but i don't necessarily blame it. the forrest gump comparisons, while justified, didn't bother me. the rottentomato "top critics" have their own theories. overblown. overlong. ridden with storytelling cliches. maybe these arguments hold water. but again, i can forgive a film for all that if it can hit that movie funny bone a few good times. but ultimately i found myself admiring more than loving.

[Ghostboy]

The script is indeed rather tepid in parts, but still...it sure managed to make a sobbing mess out of me.

The Tilda Swinton section - and its eventualy payoff - was pure gold.

[cinemanarchist]

I agree that if anyone is still on the fence about Fincher being one of the greatest directors working today, this film should shove your silly ass right over. Technically this is a fucking marvel but it just felt hollow and I do blame it mostly on the script, but it was also lacking a certain spark that I suppose Fincher could have brought to it. It felt to me like he was really in love with the potential for the ideas of this movie more than the movie itself. Benjamin is a hollow character and I might say, not unlike Death in Meet Joe Black. It just doesn't make any sense why he has more personality and is more interesting at age 7 than at 37. Does anyone think they tried to have Pitt play the acne kid playing the piano and couldn't get it to look right? I knew they were going to switch before I saw the film but still it was jarring and really took me out of that scene and I don't think I ever really recovered. 

[MacGuffin]

I felt like I was struck by lightning multiple times what this film did to me. I haven't cried this much since The Notebook. It is the most comprehensive film on death and life that I can remember in a long time. I felt all the characters, like they did with Benjamin, made such an impression that you couldn't help but feel their impact and weeped for them as they exited Benjamin's life. I don't think I need to describe what technical achievements Fincher utilized, because, while amazing to look at, the emotion is at the forefront here. I heard armchair reviewers as they were leaving saying, "it's too long," but I, like what I believe the film is trying to tell us about life, appreciated every moment of it. This, right now, is my Number 2 film of the year.

[I Love a Magician]

couldn't stop thinkin of damn lemony snicket while watchin this shit

edit: because of the general aesthetic of a lot of it

[modage]

A total disappointment. The biggest problem with the film is despite its nearly 3 hour running time, you don't care or even know anything about any of the characters. There is so much narration bearing down on this film as it skips from scene to scene you are unable to feel anything for Benjamin or anyone else. If Benjamin is an observer of life, every supporting character in the film should be vivid and sympathetic but they're not. The special effects are amazing but I found myself wanting to see what happens next just to see what he looks like, not to see what happens in the story. When I heard PT was making a period piece or an Adam Sandler film I worried it would look like those films look and not like one of his, for this I gave Fincher the credit that a different genre of story and level of budget would not restrain his artistic indulgences, but unfortunately that was not the case.  This is not a movie I can see myself ever watching again. Life's too short.

[modage]

http://www.joblo.com/video/joblo/player.php?video=fincherpitt-charlierose

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[SiliasRuby]

This was wonderful and the second movie this year that brought me to tears. Brads performance was terrific and the special effects and the makeup should get a oscar. I loved every minute but I'm cynical sentimentalist.

[Pozer]

Does anyone think they tried to have Pitt play the acne kid playing the piano and couldn't get it to look right?

yeah. and that kid looked too young for acne i thought. they should've went sans acne at least. worse than that though was applying Blanchett's voice to the little girl.

in truth, the script could've used more enthusiasm and less Gumpisms but because of what Fincher took off with, i bought into it right off the bat and i cared and felt every breath of every character met along the way. all the way up to baby Ben. Taraji & Tilda & Pitt were pretty amazing.

they stole my idea of illustrating chance & fate though. i hate when they do that.