In Variety’s “Directors on Directors” conversation series, Ben Affleck mentioned his curiosity with David Fincher’s insistence on taking so many takes on set – this was when the pair were working together on Gone Girl.
This is a technique that Affleck loves. He said: “It was wonderful. It also relieves you as an actor of this notion that there’s a finish line, there’s an end. We’re going to get ‘it’ and it’s going to be accomplished.” Fincher referenced his initial hesitance in employing this technique, but he found it would be worth it if it would help tighten certain scenes.
Fincher shared: “So often, you’re pressed up against the glass going, ‘Please don’t take this the wrong way. I need you to come out, we’re going to try one more.’ It’s like Carrie said, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ You’re not doing anything wrong. We’re gonna do three weeks or at the rehearsal, we’re gonna do a table read, we’re gonna open out of town, we’re gonna have at least three previews. And we’re gonna do all that today before lunch with this master. We’re gonna go through all that so that you can get to a place where you go, ‘Yeah, I’ve tried this. I’ve tried that. No, really, it’s over here.’ And everyone can feel good about work. This is what we’re trying to tighten. This is the lump of coal that we’re going to try to turn into a diamond.”
I guess that’s why both men are award-winning directors.
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