10 Most Insanely Perfectionist Film Directors

Anyone working in the film industry realises that sometimes it takes a while to get something right. Cinematic perfection can sometimes require a few different takes of a scene in order to work on screen. Sometimes a scene can take maybe 4 or 5 takes to get just right. 

Of course, for David Fincher (director of fantastic thrillers such as Fight Club, Seven and Gone Girl), 5 takes is cinematic chump change. For his latest tour-de-force Gone Girl Fincher averaged about 50 takes per scene.

 Fincher’s rationale is that forcing actor’s to revisit a scene over and over again sucks out any sense of pretence or falseness until what’s left is a real human sincerity, even if the only sincere emotion is murderous rage directed at David Fincher. 

Fincher believes that his repetition of scenes allow actors to pick apart the underlying motions and emotions that underscore any conversation and really bring out the full range of expression and interaction that the script only hints at on paper.

 Gone Girl’s average of 50 takes per scene is up on Fincher’s previous average of 27 and this precedent indicates that by the time his 15th feature film is released the film is expected to take Fincher somewhere around 3 centuries to complete.