Fincher Talks Future Films

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/844/844347p1.html
The skinny on Benjamin Button, Rama, The Devil in White City -- and working with Borat?!
by Chris Monfette and Stax



US, January 8, 2008 - IGN spoke with acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher today, who gave us the lowdown on what projects he's currently working on. Fincher's next release is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and he's also developing adaptations of Brian Michael Bendis' graphic novel Torso, the Erik Larson bestseller The Devil in the White City, and Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi tome Rendezvous with Rama.

Here's what Fincher had to say about these and other future projects -- including a possible team-up with Borat's Sacha Baron Cohen!

IGN: Where do you stand with Benjamin Button at the moment? I assume you're hard at work on that?

FINCHER: There's a lot of people who are hard at work on that. And I've been puttering about in my digital dilettantery -- if that's even a word. We're about nine months away now, and it's coming together. Parts of it look really amazing and parts of it need a lot of work.

IGN: Following that line of digital thought, do you think you'll ever return to the CG version of Rendezvous with Rama?

FINCHER: It's a tricky thing. There's three or four scripts, and they're all good. They're just not great yet. The great thing about [Arthur C.] Clarke and the same things that make it hard to translate in 2008, it's the source material. There are people who love Dragonfly and the whole notion of that. It's hard for me to see it in my head and not think that it's going to be goofy. I love the Melting Sea and all that stuff. The interior of Rama is amazing, but there's a lot of stuff in what I call the Andromeda Strain part of the story that doesn't work for me. In '72, this was cutting edge, but it's been done so many times in the interim and that makes it very difficult. I think it has to be re-invented. And obviously out of respect for Clarke, who wrote this seminal piece of science-fiction…I've always said that I would want kids to come out of this movie and instead of wanting to buy an action figure, they should want to buy a telescope.

IGN: You've talked a lot about the graphic novel Torso. Do you think that will go after Benjamin?

FINCHER: First, let's get this damn strike over with. Give these guys their four cents. [Pause] Actually, there are a couple of possibilities. Hopefully, within hours, they'll call me and tell me that the deal is done so that I can begin working on another trilogy of Heavy Metal animated CG movies. I'm looking at Devil in the White City. I'm looking at this thing called The Killer. I'm also looking at making a satirical comedy about videogame developing with Sacha Cohen. That one is really interesting.