10 Films That Saved Directors From 'Movie Jail'

No one has been more vocal about their hatred for Alien 3 than its director David Fincher, who suffered through last minute script rewrites, being fired multiple times and massive studio interference.

While it looked like Fincher's career could have begun and ended in 1992 with Alien 3, it was partially thanks to Sigourney Weaver that he was allowed back from Movie Jail. She constantly sided with the 27-year-old director rather than the controlling 20th Century Fox studio, noting in one interview how "you shouldn't hire someone like Fincher unless you’re going to let them go. So I think it was very difficult for him."

During this time, Fincher was also fortunately sent an original script for Seven, which - despite his claim he would rather die of colon cancer than direct another movie - won him over with its infamously bleak un-Hollywood ending. While the studio wanted to alter the ending, with something more traditional where the detectives walk off triumphantly into the sunset, Fincher and Brad Pitt only agreed to make the film if the finale was left intact.

Whether it was the chance to rebel against a traditional Hollywood happy ending or wanting to prove himself as a capable director, Fincher took the job and has subsequently become one of the most respected directors working today.