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David Fincher

David Fincher was born in 1963 and grew up in Ashland, Oregon. He realized his destiny in 1980 after seeing George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back. The film sparked Fincher's dream of making movies, and soon after he undertook a succession of cinema-related jobs designed to make that dream a reality.

At age 18, Fincher went to work at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) where he remained for four years. During his stint at ILM he had the opportunity to work on Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). He then left ILM to make TV commercials, the first of which was for The American Cancer Society. He has also directed several videos for musicians such as Aerosmith, Madonna and Paula Abdul, six of which made MTV's Top 100 list.

Fincher made his big-screen directorial debut with Alien3 (1992). Unfortunately, the film was a commercial disappointment and Fincher endured "artistic differences" with the management at 20th Century Fox. This negative experience pushed Fincher back into the world of commercial and music video directing.

Big-screen success finally came for Fincher with the grisly Seven (1995). Featuring powerful performances by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman (and an outstanding screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker), the movie earned over $100 million and made Fincher a sought-after director.

Fincher's next film was The Game, another successful project which further established the directors unique visual style. This was followed by 1999's controversial Fight Club, again starring Pitt and Edward Norton. The violent, anti-social subject matter was the source of much debate among reviewers and moviegoers, and in spite of all the attention the film failed to generate a profit. It did, however, cement Fincher's reputation as a visionary and groundbreaking director.

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