1. Chicago
There is some thread you can follow through all of David Fincher's projects, produced and otherwise. The Goon is odd, but he was just a producer, and the period setting and occult themes aren't unlike Zodiac or Se7en. Cleopatra seems like an odd choice, but the exploration of powerful female characters is something he's explored in Panic Room and this year's Gone Girl. Even 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea looked to have a Fincher spin on it, along with being a blockbuster ripping yarn. The most surprising unproduced Fincher film, which doesn't seem to square with any of his usual preoccupations or previous work, was when he was attached to direct the movie adaptation of hit stage production Chicago. Yes, that Chicago, the one that ended up being made by former theatre director Rob Marshall, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere, and being particularly critically acclaimed for a modern day musical. Nothing could seem further from Fincher's usual fare, but apparently he's a big fan of musicals, with All The Jazz being one of his favourite films of all time, period. He probably could've done well with the themes of murder, scandal and celebrity that appear throughout the production, with Zeta-Jones and Zellwegger as women on death row in the twenties competing for popularity in the tabloid media. Still, Fincher directing a musical number? Considering the amount of takes he's insistent on filming for his mostly static dramas, everybody's kneecaps would be dust during the fiftieth run through of Cell Block Tango...
