David Fincher, the director behind such films as Gone Girl, The Social Network, Fight Club, and Zodiac, says he’s signed an exclusive four-year deal with Netflix. The filmmaker confirmed the news in an interview with French magazine Premiere (spotted by The Playlist) in which he said he has “an exclusivity deal” with Netflix for another four years. He joked that what he works on next will depend on the reception to Mank, his upcoming film that releases in theaters on November 13th, and on Netflix on December 4th.
“Depending on Mank’s reception, I’ll either go see them [Netflix] sheepishly asking them what I can do to redeem myself or take the attitude of the arrogant asshole who’ll require making other films in black and white,” Fincher joked. “No, I’m here to deliver them ‘content’ — whatever it means — likely to bring them spectators, in my small sphere of influence.”
Fincher has a long history with Netflix, ever since he executive produced and directed the first two episodes of House of Cards, the service’s first major foray into original content. He also executive produced and directed several episodes of Mindhunter, and executive produced anthology series Love, Death & Robots. It seems to have been a fruitful partnership for the director if he’s happy for it to continue, exclusively, for another four years.
The director said he wants to use the Netflix deal to try different things, “like Picasso painted.”
“I like the idea of having a body of work,” Fincher said, “And yes, I admit that it feels strange, after forty years in this profession, to only have ten films under my belt. Well, eleven, but ten that I can say are mine.”
Fincher is one of many filmmakers to have signed a multiyear deal with Netflix. Most notably last year the streaming giant signed a multiyear deal with Game of Thrones showrunners David Beniof and DB Weiss for a reported $200 million. They will adapt Liu Cixin’s sci-fi book trilogy The Three-Body Problem for the streaming service, Netflix recently announced. The service also signed a multiyear deal with Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes back in 2017, with the first series resulting from the deal, Bridgerton, releasing later this year. In 2018 American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy signed a $300 million multiyear deal with the streaming service. Murphy’s The Prom releases on Netflix in December.
Disclosure: The Verge is currently producing a series with Netflix.
