Netflix: Mindhunter cast talks David Fincher’s insane amount of takes

With the first season in the books, the Mindhunter cast is talking about director David Fincher and his meticulous insistence on multiple takes.

Mindhunter is about the minds of murders, but who know David Fincher could be so cruelest…

According to Indiewire, the Mindhunter cast certainly knows about Fincher’s “complicated” process. Throughout the last 30 years, many actors have become acquainted with how The Social Network director works. Insisting on sometimes 50-100 takes of a single scene or shot, many actors familiarize themselves with the director quickly. In fact, actors on the Netflix hit were doing 75 takes for a nine minute scene.

Here’s what Johnathan Groff, who plays agent Ford, says about the process:

"“David was really specific with us about every single word, and every single turn of the scene; he was critically specific about the purpose. On the days of shooting, we would go in the room, sit down, and talk about how leaning forward could change the dynamic of a conversation.”"

Co-star Holt McCallany, who brings agent Tench to life, echoes the sentiment by saying:

"“I didn’t mind. I find when you do something over and over again, you discover things. When you guys would say ‘take 14’ or ‘take 20,’ suddenly something becomes apparent to you that you didn’t really realize. It’s not that we were making huge changes, but the subtle adjustments we made or small adjustments David will give you can make a big difference in the way a scene plays out. So I’m a fan of doing a lot of takes.”"

Read more, including what Fincher says about the shoot, at Indiewire.

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Sometime greatness takes time. Because in the end, art is forever.

As someone who rabidly follows Fincher’s career, his extreme attention to detail is nothing new. The director’s often says this is to get actors so used to a scene, they can do it in their sleep. Then, once the words become basically muscle memory, the real performance comes out. All of this, while the Oscar nominee tweaks along the way. Some call it excessive —  I call it an artist perfecting his craft.

Mindhunter stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv. Joe Penhall is series creator, with help and majority direction by David Fincher. Denver and Delilah Productions and Panic Pictures (II) produce, with Netflix distributing. The hit serial killer drama returns early 2019.

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Love Netflix’s Mindhunter? Glad Fincher is the perfectionist that he is? Let the other disturbed minds know what you think in the comment section below.