Fincher's MTV Acceptance Speech

In 1996 MTV really took the biscuit nominating David Fincher's milestone masterpiece SE7EN alongside "Clueless". Wow!

Anyhow, the little teaser of "Se7en" they did for the show is really cool, with NIN Gravity Kills music, and makes the movie look like an action film. The reason I post this link though, apart from a massive shortage of Fincher news: David Fincher made one of his rare public appearances ... and probably gave one of the best and longest acceptance speeches in the history of mankind!

Youtube.com: MTV's Best Movie 1996

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting! It's not really that long though. ;-)
    And I thought that the teaser they made wasn't very representive of a classic like Seven, which kind of gave birth to the genre of serial killer movies. It's mind-boggling that Seven was laughed upon as an MTV movie at that time! :o Seven! The classic Seven that made over 300 million in box office!

    I guess Fincher was stigmatised by his music video and commercial career... do you guys think that's still true today? Do directors who made commercials and/or music videos stil get scrutinised when they transition into film?

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  2. This mtv show seems freaky and childish. Not a very long speech!

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  3. @ brent

    I agree that the teaser has nothing much to do with the actual film ... but I still like it!

    And the question you are posing about whether or not music video and commercial directors are being scrutinised: My opinion is that, yes, they are watched closely and critically ... and rightfully so. I do not think that this still holds true for David Fincher, since he (with Se7en, Fight Club, The Game) has proven himself time and again to be an outstanding master of the long form. Then there are other commercial or music video directors who don't do quite so well. After all it's quite a different format.

    I am especially looking forward to Joseph Kosinski's first long movie ...

    What does everyone else think?

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  4. @ fincherfanatic

    Why do you think commercial and music video directors are rightfully being scrutinised and watched closely?

    Is it more noble to starve and be poor as an independent filmmaker until finally (or not) getting to direct a movie that actually pays something back?

    Why not work on your craft with directing music videos and commercial until one gets to direct a movie? Why the stigma?

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  5. In general music videos and commercials have a certain way how they are shot: They are very visual, don't have any longer dialogues and mostly have a 30 to 60 second (commercial) or 3 to 4 minute dramaturgical structure. And what I believe is that it is quite a different task to tell an intriguing and mostly visual 30 second short story, than it is to make a two hour drama come to life with complex character developments and all the minutia of acting and pacing and such.

    It's probably somewhat like the difference of someone being able to tell great jokes or great stories. They are two different formats and being great in either one doesn't automatically mean that one can also master the other.

    To me that statement doesn't have anything to do with quality or nobility or paying bills. I am just thinking they are two different fields that directors can work in (and there is certainly far more work in the music video and commercial branch ... and far more money), and that not every director who direct a great music video will certainly also be able to direct a great movie.

    For example: Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Andrew Douglas. I really love their work as commercial and music videos directors ... but their films to me just didn't feel the same way say a Fincher movie does.

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  6. I know he regrets saying those few words!!!!

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  7. do you know him then? why does he regret saying them? because it's a classic and not really an mtv movie?

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  8. i dont thin any director would like there film to be an MTV movie. Unless they produce crap!!!

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  9. I'm not so fond of MTV either.

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  10. The Music accompanying the clippage is actually a band called 'Gravity Kills' and the song is called "Guilty"...it is not in fact NIN. I actually remember being a young chap listening to that song and re-enacting the more action packed moments of Seven. I've loved that movie since the day it came out!

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  11. @ anonymous

    Oh, wow, yes! Thanks, of course you are right: Gravity Kills, haven't heard from them in forever. That's right, that song was in heavy rotation back in '96, I remember ... Sorry for that mistake!

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  12. The only thing that was really emblematic of the "MTV movie style" was the opening credits, the techniques of which were subsequently ripped off and emulated afterwards by others who have to piggyback on the trends because they lack DF's uncanny and innate ability to spearhead and streamline them. Despite the grisly subject matter I feel the overall aesthetic scheme of the film was very elegant, refined and soothing to the senses which are not typically characteristics of stuff that gets pegged (often pejoratively) as making use of MTV style structural flourishes. The phenomenon of 7's release is a testament to the man's power of suggestion that he was able to spark so much widespread discussion about how graphically unsettling the film was when all of the ritualistic bloodletting takes place in the mind's eye.

    That was a very Fincheresque speech though and I've remembered it fondly ever since seeing it live back in the days when I actually gave a crap about this ceremony. If he wins the Best Director Oscar for BB it'll be a safe bet that he'll deliver the most memorable acceptance speech by a winner in this category since Steven Soderbergh in 2001. One thing's for sure, if that happens at next year's Oscar telecast, he won't use the bulk of his podium thoughts separating his shoulder from slapping himself on the back in a self congratulatory manner.

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  13. Great comment Gerald

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