As we wait for the first trailer for David Fincher‘s Gone Girl news has now dropped that Fincher will not be directing the Aaron Sorkin-penned Steve Jobs biopic at Sony.
We already heard rumors Fincher was THR brings word Fincher was looking for $10 million in upfront fees and control over marketing. I guess those last two were deal breakers.
Fincher battled Sony head Amy Pascal during the filming of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I can only assume the thought of giving over complete control was something Pascal just wasn’t ready to do.
However, at this point in Fincher’s career why wouldn’t you expect him to expect complete creative control? Perhaps it’s because his movies don’t generate the billion dollar revenue of a comic book film, but what adult-driven drama does?
Funnily enough, a source from Sony told THR, “You’re not doing Transformers here. You’re not doing Captain America. This is quality — it’s not screaming commerciality. He should be rewarded in success but not up front.”
I honestly don’t know what that quote means entirely, but clearly one thing we can take away is Transformers and Captain America are not “quality” in that person’s eyes. I also guess pedigree doesn’t count for much in Hollywood.
Sony apparently sees the upfront, $10 million fee as “ridiculous”, but one thing is for certain at this point, whomever comes onboard to direct this thing will now have the shadow of “what could have been with Fincher” looming over them. Given Sorkin’s approach to the narrative, I really hope this project turns out well, because it could be one hell of a film in the right hands.
As reportedly previously, Sorkin sought to boil the life of Steve Jobs down to three moments saying:
“I hope I don’t get killed by the studio for giving too much away, but this entire movie is going to be three scenes, and three scenes only. That all take place in real time. Real time is when a half hour for you in the audience is the same as a half hour for the character on the screen, there will be no time cuts and each will take place before a product launch. Backstage before a product launch. The first one being the Mac, the second one being NeXT after he had left Apple and the third one being the iPod.”
