Blank Check — Patreon: The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free)

Published 2023-11-26; 2:25:11 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free)”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley. Guests: Marie Bardi.

Subject films: The Killer (2023).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; Ben Hosley is named in the brief as a regular host but is absent from this episode (Marie Bardi sits in at the console). The ad-free Patreon feed drops ad reads; the dossier is mostly paraphrased rather than read aloud, so there are few verbatim Fincher quotes. times_mentioned counts lines matching a pattern, so it is approximate (The Killer, as a title and as the character, is undercounted).

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Spelling corrections to Ren Klyce, Erik Messerschmidt, Kinberg, Jacamon, Soderbergh, Fassbender, Kasdan, Kline, Azaria, Aykroyd, Cusack, Armitage-adjacent names, Ariana DeBose, Gil Kenan, Hayao Miyazaki, Barbra Streisand, Sara Foster, Pierre Morel use my knowledge of the real names to repair transcriber errors; the talk does not spell them.
Years are only included where a speaker said them or they follow from what was said (The Killer 2023, the graphic novel 1998, Haywire 2011, Dark Phoenix 2019, Next Goal Wins shot in 2019); everything else is left out.
Several film titles are my best identification of a garbled or partial title: 'Harry Hole' kept as said, Yentl for 'Gentle', Freelance (called 'the contractor' by a speaker), Hit Man for 'Hitman', Le Samouraï for 'La Samurai', Se7en for 'seven', Gone Girl for 'Gunker', Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour for 'the Erist Tour', and Joker: Folie a Deux for 'Joker Falia du'.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as the film's composers are inferred from a speaker wanting to hear 'the score' and the noise sounding like their score; the talk never states it outright.

Films that came up

Claims (52)

craft (score stand-in): The Killer → The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The speaker listened to the Dragon Tattoo score while reading the comic because The Killer score was not out.
“it's not out there, so I just listened Dragon Tattoo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:02:09 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation scope): The Killer (graphic novel) → The Killer. The film takes almost everything from the first 200-odd pages of the comic; the series ran on to 2018.
“it feels like everything from the movie is basically taken from the 1st 200 some odd pages”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:12:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (same sound designer): Ren Klyce → Mank. The Killer's sound designer also did Mank; the speaker talked to him for both.
“Talk to him too for Mank.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:13:02 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (shared writer): Seven → The Killer. Andrew Kevin Walker had no proper screenwriting credit on a Fincher film since Se7en.
“he had not gotten a proper screenwriting credit on any of his films since seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:14:21 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
programming (pairing): The Killer → Steven Soderbergh. A friend of the podcast says it is Fincher and Soderbergh land: a stripped-down genre exercise.
“it's Fincher and Sodaberg land.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:16:54 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (genre-riff contrast): Panic Room → The Killer. Panic Room was loaded with everything; The Killer strips a genre down.
“even when he's making something like panic room that's a bit of a genre riff”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:17:31 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (prequel): Chinatown → Chinatown prequel (unmade). Fincher's unrealized project is a prequel to Chinatown with Robert Towne.
“he also had one other unrealized project, a prequel to Chinatown, that he's been working on with Robert Town.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:25:55 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel): Chinatown → The Two Jakes. The Two Jakes follows Chinatown as a sequel.
“But that's a sequel.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:26:17 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if casting): Adam Driver → Heat. A wish-list casting for Heat 2 is Driver and Isaac in the De Niro and Pacino roles.
“well, you just do it with Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:26:50 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): The Killer (graphic novel) → The Killer. Fincher told interviewers he was adapting a French graphic novel about an assassin that he had always liked.
“he gave some interviewers, like, we're working on this Chinatown thing, and then he was like, I'm also playing with adapting this French graphic novel about the assassin that I've always liked.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:27:27 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (rights holder): Paramount+ → The Killer. Paramount initially held the rights to the graphic novel.
“Initially had the rights to this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:27:37 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (casting origin): Prometheus → The Killer. Fincher said at the Q&A that seeing Prometheus made him note Fassbender as a good sociopath for later.
“I go to see Prometheus and I go, hmm, sociopath.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:31:01 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
industry (deal comparison): The Killer → Steven Soderbergh. The Killer feels like Fincher doing what Soderbergh does with his HBO Max deal: simple, one name, small money.
“Killer kind of feels like Fincher trying to do the same thing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:37:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (business model comparison): Apple → Netflix. Apple Plus makes the movie and sells theatrical distribution; Netflix does not.
“Apple Plus is currently the one doing it right”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:37:56 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (shared streaming problem): The Killer → Mank. Both Netflix movies are uniquely bad for streaming.
“They're both uniquely bad for streaming.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:38:40 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (narration comparison): The Killer (graphic novel) → Fight Club. The comic's killer has an inner monologue closer to the Fight Club narrator.
“it's more that like this guy's inner monologue is closer to Edward Norton Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:41:40 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared costume): Bullet Train → The Killer. Pitt told Fincher he wears a bucket hat in Bullet Train, so the killer's hat overlaps.
“Pitt had already told him like, I wear a bucket hat and bullet training.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:43:33 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (descriptor): James Bond films → The Killer. Fincher describes the killer as James Bond by way of Home Depot.
“another one is basically just like he's James Bond by way of Home Depot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:45:41 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (name joke): Andrew Kevin Walker → Panic Room. The cops in Panic Room were all named after Walker.
“One the cops were all named after him.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:46:06 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (unmade collaboration): Andrew Kevin Walker → 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (unmade). Walker also worked on Fincher's 20,000 Leagues that never happened.
“worked on Fincher Fincher's 20,000 Leagues Under the C movie that never happened.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:46:09 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (idea credit): Andrew Kevin Walker → The Killer. Fincher credits Walker with the contemporary consumerist and technology angle of the film.
“Walker with the sort of like contemporary consumerist angle that this movie has, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:47:20 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (recurring motif): Andrew Kevin Walker → Fight Club. Walker brought a similar modern-tech angle (name tags) to Fight Club.
“I think he had some of that in fight club too”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:48:38 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (genre kin): Le Samouraï → The Killer. The speakers call The Killer a very Melvillian film, pointing at Le Samouraï.
“Very Melvillian film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:49:08 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (genre itch): Hit Man → Out of Sight. Hit Man scratched the Out of Sight itch for the speaker.
“it scratched the out of sight itch for me, which is a really good itch.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:51:17 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (casting verdict): Michael Fassbender → Next Goal Wins. Fassbender was the worst match for Taika humor in Next Goal Wins.
“he's like the worst match.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:53:04 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared work ethic): Michael Fassbender → Daniel Craig. Fincher says Fassbender is like Daniel Craig: both keep asking for more takes.
“He says, Fincher says he's like Daniel Craig.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:55:43 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
people (same actor): The Killer → Mank. Arliss Howard is brought back from Mank.
“Bringing back Carlos Howard from Manck.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:56:18 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same actor, different mode): Charles Parnell → Top Gun: Maverick. Parnell is very different here than in Maverick or Mission: Impossible.
“he's very different in this than he is in uh, uh, Maverick”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:56:56 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same actor): Sala Baker → The Lord of the Rings films. Baker is best known as the physical embodiment of Sauron in the opening fight.
“he's best known as like the physical embodiment of Sauron in that opening fight that they do.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:57:49 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same cinematographer): The Killer → Mank. Messerschmidt shot both.
“Eric Master Schmidt shot the movie, same guy who shot Mink.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:59:42 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same cinematographer): The Killer → Ferrari. Messerschmidt also shot Ferrari this year.
“and he shot Ferrari this year.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:59:49 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (recommended viewing): Le Samouraï → Erik Messerschmidt. The cinematographer was recommended Le Samouraï to watch (Fincher is named as having mentioned it).
“was recommended to watch a little film called La Samurai.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:59:50 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (music choice): The Smiths → The Killer. Fincher wanted How Soon Is Now from the start; other versions of the soundtrack were tried and the Smiths felt right.
“Fincher was immediately like, well, we have to use how soon is now that was like in my head from the start.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:00:09 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): The Killer → John Wick. The Killer is the more realistic version of John Wick.
“It's like the more realistic version of John Wick.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:04:09 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same actor, in-joke): The Killer → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Tilda Swinton was described as plain as paper in Button and is the anonymous-looking killer here.
“Tilda Swinton is described as plain as paper in that movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:09:29 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (fight comparison): The Killer → Haywire. The long Florida fight is compared to the extended fight in Soderbergh's Haywire.
“And then he has to fight this guy and it's like Soder Briggs Haywire or whatever.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:16:49 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (casting origin): Haywire → The Killer. Fincher cited Haywire, with Prometheus, as the Fassbender movies that made him cast him.
“He said it was Prometheus and Haywire, which makes sense.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:17:06 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
theme (fight comparison): The Killer → Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. The sloppy, accumulating-injury Florida fight evokes the sporting-goods-store fight in Day of Reckoning.
“There's that one sporting goods store fight that is so fucking good where the guy is just so huge”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:18:27 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (trope contrast): The Killer → Grosse Pointe Blank. Unlike hitman movies where the killer has a crisis (Grosse Pointe Blank), this one never admits he is struggling.
“But I think of movies like point gross point blank, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:19:23 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same director): Grosse Pointe Blank → Miami Blues. George Armitage also did Miami Blues, a similarly good crime comedy.
“Who also did Miami Blues, which is a similarly good crime comic.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:20:15 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (autobiographical reading): David Fincher → The Killer. The killer's mantras are how Fincher talks to himself on set.
“I do think to some degree, this is how Fincher talks to himself on set.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:23:48 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared self-mockery): The Killer → Mank. Both films have Fincher mocking his own exacting reputation.
“it's Fincher mocking himself a little bit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:24:23 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (advice-book joke): Sidney Lumet → The Killer. The Letterboxd joke: the killer's advice is a Sidney Lumet Making Movies.
“It's fucking Sidney Lumette's making movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:24:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (quote echoed in film): David Fincher → The Killer. Fincher's two-places-for-the-camera line is the film's inciting incident: the shot is wrong.
“inciting incident is the shot's wrong, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:25:32 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (genre riff): The Killer → Michael Mann. Fincher is doing a Michael Mann riff: a man with one feeling he will not admit.
“this is also Fincher doing a man, Michael Mann type riff”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:30:07 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (autobiographical reading): The Killer → Alien 3. The meeting with the client reads as Fincher meeting the creative exec who messed up Alien 3.
“Fincher is getting a face-to-face meeting with like the creative exec who fucked Alien 3.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:35:25 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (release rivalry): Hit Man → The Killer. Hit Man playing the same festivals hurt The Killer's launch.
“Hitman totally hurt this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:43:55 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (tonal midpoint): Zodiac → The Killer. The Killer sits between Zodiac (serious) and Panic Room (pulpy).
“this is in this midpoint between like zodiac and panic room, let's say, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:44:14 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (thematic contrast): Hit Man → The Killer. Linklater's film deflates the whole idea of a hitman, which plays better at festivals.
“the premise of the Linklater movie is deflating the entire notion of a hitman”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:45:21 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (shared distributor): The Killer → Hit Man. Netflix has both hitman movies.
“Well, I'm glad Netflix has both the hitman movies that can live Netflix.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:46:30 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same director): Paul King → Paddington. King is not doing Paddington 3 because he is doing Wonka.
“he fucking isn't doing Paddington 3 to do Wonka”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:53:36 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
people (same director): Pierre Morel → Taken. Morel made the first Taken, From Paris with Love, and Peppermint.
“Pierre Morell, who made the 1st taken and then like from Paris with Love and Peppermint.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 2:03:46 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

fun, about The Killer: At the guild screening there was no moderator, so the Q&A was a free-for-all of sound mixers.
“And David Fincher was like, we have no moderator, so just we're opening it up and you're like dangerous.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:13:47 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about Andrew Kevin Walker: Fincher's 2008 approach to Walker: backstory is overrated.
“He's like, I think backstory is overrated.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:14:43 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about Andrew Kevin Walker: Fincher pitched Walker a five-chapter plan for The Killer in 2008, nothing happened for ten years, then in 2018 he recited it back word for word and said he was set up at Netflix. Walker told this at the Q&A.
“And then 2018, he goes, do you remember that killer thing?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:15:39 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about David Fincher: Griffin's Letterboxd one-liner: the film is Fincher's nightmare of being allowed only one take, and the missed shot is the nightmare.
“a psychological horror film about David Fincher imagining a reality where he's only allowed one take.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:22:44 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: On the commentary, Fincher tells how the bottle-catch and the cat landing in frame was a perfect take, and he did two more anyway, a self-parody of his many takes.
“I wasn't even happy with that take.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:24:15 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Matz: The comic's writer had also worked on video games, with credits on Rayman 3 and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.
“apart from being a comic book artist had also worked on video games”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:29:23 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Michael Fassbender: Fincher keeps card catalogs of actors by type; he filed Fassbender as romantic lead, sociopath after Prometheus.
“He has these card catalogs and he said, like, romantic lead, sociopath.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:30:44 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer (graphic novel): The comic's killer is described as the most Parisian looking man in history, a French cliche; the film makes him an American from nowhere.
“This is the frenchest motherfucker of all time.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:40:51 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Fincher acknowledged the costume rule: the killer wears only what could be bought in an airport, hence the bucket hat.
“this guy wears everything that could just be bought in an airport”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:43:13 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Fincher says he based the look on a German tourist, the man people least want to talk to.
“he based his look specifically on a German tourist he saw”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:45:19 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: A Fincher quote: the killer is James Bond by way of Home Depot.
“another one is basically just like he's James Bond by way of Home Depot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:45:41 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: See the sequence where he works out how to get into the apartment: Fincher asked Walker if a key fob copier is real, then learned you can have one by next-day delivery.
“He was like, wait, you can just buy one for like any fucking day delivery?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:48:13 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Michael Fassbender: Halfway through the shoot Fassbender told Fincher he finally got it: precision modeling, holding a head position for long takes.
“And Fastbender went precision modeling.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:55:01 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about Charles Parnell: Charles Parnell is praised as having one of the best voices in movies.
“Good Lord, does he have one of the greatest voices working in movies today?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:57:15 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Sala Baker: The giant assassin is the physical embodiment of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.
“Uh, but he's best known as like the physical embodiment of Sauron in that opening fight that they do.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:57:49 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Fincher hated shooting through COVID and says never again with a face shield.
“Never want make a movie through a visor again, he says.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:58:29 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Before the Smiths settled, there was a Dusty Springfield version of the movie and a playlist of era-compatible artists.
“There was like a dusty Springfield version of the movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:00:31 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Fincher finds it funny that a hitman has a playlist of music that gets him in the mood to kill.
“I just think it's so funny for a hitman to have a playlist”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:00:45 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Ben Hosley: A joke on the producer's fashion line: Fincher would hate Blank Check and love Hosley.
“Fincher would hate blank check, blank check, love Hosley.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:12:19 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Michael Fassbender: Fincher says he cited two Fassbender movies from 11 years earlier, and jokes about his own speed.
“Fincher was like, yeah, 2 movies from 11 years ago.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:17:18 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: The Florida fight took five days to shoot after five weeks of rehearsal.
“I think he said it was 5 days of shooting, but it was 5 weeks of rehearsal.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:18:08 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about David Fincher: A Fincher line the host paraphrases: only two places to put the camera, and one of them is wrong.
“I think there are only 2 places to put the camera and one of them is wrong.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:25:28 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: The client scene reads as Fincher finally meeting the exec who wrecked Alien 3, and getting an indifferent shrug.
“Fincher is getting a face-to-face meeting with like the creative exec who fucked Alien 3.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:35:25 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: Equinox would not be associated with the movie, so the gym in the film is a made-up weird-spiritual one.
“equinox did not want to be associated with this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:38:48 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Killer: The killer travels on aliases that are full sitcom character names; Reddit asks whether they get more obnoxious as the film goes on.
“My favorite is when he uses like the full proper name of a sitcom character.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:39:22 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Defends Mank and is a Fincher-series completist who ranks Zodiac first; loves the autobiographical reading of The Killer (Fincher mocking his own control). A sucker for Tilda Swinton performances and for details like the Smiths playlist. Uncertain about the Soderbergh-style streaming deal.
David Sims (host): A working critic who saw the film at a guild screening with Fincher and Walker and relays the Q&A; ranks Zodiac first and Alien 3 high. He likes pulpy genre craft, Soderbergh and Hit Man comparisons, and box-office detail.
Marie Bardi (guest): Loves the film's stripped-down craft and sound; draws on her advertising career for how the client reads. Her favorite Fincher film is Gone Girl; she is a Fincher-series fan who liked Alien 3 and Panic Room.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

Fastbender / Fast Banner / Passbender / Pastbender → Michael Fassbender
Jacquemont and Maz / Jacamont and Matz → Jacamon and Matz (the comic's creators)
Ring Kleiss / Ren Kleis → Ren Klyce (sound designer)
Eric Master Schmidt → Erik Messerschmidt (cinematographer)
Kimberg → Kinberg (X-Men writer-producer, director of Dark Phoenix)
Carlos Howard / Arlis / Arliss → Arliss Howard
Pernell / Purnell / Parnell → Charles Parnell
solid baker → Sala Baker
Sodaberg / Soder Briggs / Sotaberg / Soderberg → Soderbergh
Venture / Pincher / Finch / Fincher's 'Finchman' (transcriber varies) → Fincher
Mink / Manck / Make → Mank
Trent Rezner → Trent Reznor
Lords Kazden → Lawrence Kasdan; Have the Klein -> Kevin Kline
Pierre Moreau / Morell → Pierre Morel
Lara Foster / Sarah Foster → Sara Foster
Hankazarius → Hank Azaria; mini driver -> Minnie Driver; Jim Cusack -> John Cusack; Dan Eckroyd -> Dan Aykroyd
point gross point blank / Chris point blank / gross pod → Grosse Pointe Blank
Ariana DeBoe → Ariana DeBose
Corneto trilogy → Cornetto trilogy
Gil Keenan → Gil Kenan
Hayomyazaki → Hayao Miyazaki
Barbara Streisand → Barbra Streisand
kudun / Condun / Fundune → Kundun
Gentle → Yentl; Gunker -> Gone Girl
Almo draft house → Alamo Drafthouse; Whitby Hotel (screening venue)
Mets / Maz → Matz

Blank Check — Patreon: The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free)

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

compared (22)

passing (72)

anecdote (3)

Claims (52)

Fun items (25)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong