The Killer (2023)

Sign in with Plex to see what you can watch and keep a watchlist.

Wikidata Q111008873, film, IMDb tt1136617, TMDB 800158: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by episode credits David Fincher as director (‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More).

Also said as The Killer (Fincher): the same Wikidata item, so listed here.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

In the store as #542, The Killer (2023).

Who talked about it

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Blank Check — Patreon

The Big Picture

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

The Killer (graphic novel): 3 lines the maker said so ×1 the host's read ×2

  1. lineage (adaptation): The Killer (graphic novel) ⇒ The Killer (the maker said so: interviews (Fincher 'gave some interviewers')). 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)

Andrew Kevin Walker: 1 line the maker said so ×1

  1. unmapped (idea credit): Andrew Kevin Walker ⇒ The Killer (the maker said so). 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)

Haywire: 1 line the maker said so ×1

  1. people (casting origin): Haywire ⇒ The Killer (the maker said so: the Q and A at the screening). 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)

Jean-Pierre Melville: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. theme (genre ancestry): Jean-Pierre Melville ⇒ The Killer (the host's read). The sparse expressionless killer film riffs on Melville, Kurosawa samurai movies and Walter Hill's The Driver.
    “This is a Melville movie, this is a Curasawa samurai movie. This is all that stuff, right? This is the Walter Hill, the driver movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:08:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

Prometheus: 1 line the maker said so ×1

  1. people (casting origin): Prometheus ⇒ The Killer (the maker said so: the Q and A at the screening). 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)

Rear Window: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (homage): Rear Window ⇒ The Killer (the host's read). The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street.
    “it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

The Cable Guy: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (callback joke): The Cable Guy ⇒ The Killer (the host's read). The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here).
    “that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

Jackie Brown: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (lineage): The Killer ⇒ Jackie Brown (the host's read). Jackie Brown has a monologue about The Killer, showing Woo's aesthetic was known to Western audiences.
    “Jackie Brown has a whole monologue about the killer.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:35 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)

Connected to

Mank: 5 lines unmapped ×2 people ×2 industry ×1

  1. unmapped (self-portrait): The Killer → Mank. Mank and The Killer both read as self-allegory about a talented guy and his financiers; both are emotional about art and voice in an industry.
    “speaking of Mank, you know, what if you missed? You know, what if you're a really talented guy and your financiers? So like, hey, that didn't go so well.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:48:34 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)

Gone Girl: 4 lines unmapped ×2 lineage ×1 industry ×1

  1. lineage (genre lineage): The Killer → Gone Girl. It is the closest Fincher has come to a pure thriller since Gone Girl, maybe Dragon Tattoo.
    “he hasn't made a movie quite like this, I guess, since Gone Girl, but even, I mean, you could maybe even going back further to Dragon Tattoo is maybe a little closer to this kind of a pure thriller.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Andrew Kevin Walker: 3 lines unmapped ×2 people ×1

  1. people (shared writer): Andrew Kevin Walker → The Killer. Walker wrote Se7en and is the screenwriter of Fincher's new film The Killer.
    “Also in Andrew Kevin Walker's script, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:38:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

David Fincher: 3 lines unmapped ×2 theme ×1

  1. unmapped (next series): David Fincher → The Killer. The next miniseries is Fincher timed to his fall release The Killer, with Brendan Hines to guest.
    “We are doing the films of David Fincher, who has a new movie coming out this fall and we want to sync up with that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany · 2:10:51 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Fight Club: 3 lines programming ×1 unmapped ×1 contrast ×1

  1. unmapped (narration): The Killer → Fight Club. They are the two Fincher films driven by complicit first-person narration, though Fight Club uses it for a reality-bending twist and The Killer stays objective.
    “They're the 2 Fincher movies that are driven by 1st person narration, and a 1st person narration where the tone is, you're with me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:45 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)

Hit Man: 3 lines industry ×2 contrast ×1

  1. 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)

Killers of the Flower Moon: 3 lines unmapped ×2 people ×1

  1. unmapped (possible last film): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. Both give the feeling they could be a last movie, a fitting conclusion.
    “I had the same feeling at the end of this movie, though, where I was like, this kind of could just be a last movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:02:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

Morrissey / The Smiths: 3 lines craft ×2 theme ×1

  1. craft (soundtrack irony): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. Longing, emotional Smiths songs soundtrack a movie about closing down; the choice is both deeply felt and a joke.
    “All of those songs that play in this movie, from those Smith's records, are so deeply felt and intense and laid bare in a movie that is about the opposite of that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:18 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them)

Seven: 3 lines industry ×1 unmapped ×1 people ×1

  1. industry (studio constraint vs. blank check): The Killer → Seven. Seven was a miracle that got made through micromanaging against odds, while Netflix gives the whole budget and spends the reward.
    “there's something about a movie like 7 where it's like a miracle that it ever got made, not because he had a blank check in total control”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:00:46 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)

The Killer (graphic novel): 3 lines lineage ×2 unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Haywire: 2 lines theme ×1 people ×1

  1. 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)

Steven Soderbergh: 2 lines programming ×1 industry ×1

  1. 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)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 2 lines theme ×1 people ×1

  1. theme (scene echo): The Killer → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick.
    “the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90 sure it was them)

Alien 3: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Bullet Train: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Ferrari: 1 line people ×1

  1. 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)

Grosse Pointe Blank: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. 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)

Jackie Brown: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (lineage): Jackie Brown → The Killer. Jackie Brown has a monologue about The Killer, showing Woo's aesthetic was known to Western audiences.
    “Jackie Brown has a whole monologue about the killer.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:35 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)

James Bond films: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Jean-Pierre Melville: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (genre ancestry): The Killer → Jean-Pierre Melville. The sparse expressionless killer film riffs on Melville, Kurosawa samurai movies and Walter Hill's The Driver.
    “This is a Melville movie, this is a Curasawa samurai movie. This is all that stuff, right? This is the Walter Hill, the driver movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:08:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

John Wick: 1 line theme ×1

  1. 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)

John Wick: Chapter 4: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (action benchmark): The Killer → John Wick: Chapter 4. The dark Miami fight is on par with John Wick 4 but true one-to-one hand-to-hand.
    “it certainly is on par with anything you saw in John Wick 4, um, except it is like true one-to-one hand-to-hand combat.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:38:21 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Le Samouraï: 1 line theme ×1

  1. 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)

Marriage Story: 1 line career ×1

  1. career (Netflix career): The Killer → Marriage Story. Baumbach used Netflix to elevate his status, whereas Fincher and Scorsese use it to brand-manage their legacies.
    “he's somebody who used the system to elevate his status in some way, whereas Fincher and Scorsese in a handful of these other people are almost like facilitating and kind of brand managing their legacies”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:59:26 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Michael Mann: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. 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)

Mindhunter: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (thematic trio): The Killer → Mindhunter. Mindhunter, Mank and The Killer are three works asking what it was all for, suggesting Fincher is questioning his own devotion.
    “Mindhunter and Mank and this are 3 movies slash series about kind of like, what is it all for?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:13:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Panic Room: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. 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)

Paramount+: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Private Benjamin: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (pop-culture decay): The Killer → Private Benjamin. The 70s sitcom aliases riff leads Sean to say nobody under 35 knows even Private Benjamin.
    “We were talking about private Benjamin on the rewatchables the other day and I was like, they're not a single person under 35 knows what Private Benjamin is.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:31:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Prometheus: 1 line people ×1

  1. 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)

Rear Window: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (homage): The Killer → Rear Window. The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street.
    “it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

Ren Klyce: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (sound design technique): The Killer → Ren Klyce. The sound designer moves the Smiths song from diegetic to stereo soundtrack as perspective flips, then pulls it back into the killer's ear on the Johnny Marr lick.
    “Ren Kleiss, the sound designer, has chosen to move the music into from diagetic to pure stereo soundtracking as the perspective of the movie shifts.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Sidney Lumet: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

The Cable Guy: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (callback joke): The Killer → The Cable Guy. The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here).
    “that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 1 line craft ×1

  1. 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)

The Irishman: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (streamer master-work): The Killer → The Irishman. The Killer, Roma, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon are master filmmakers' self-reflective work enabled by streamer power.
    “those are all films from quote unquote master filmmakers who are responding to their own work and life and experience and they're using the outsized corporate power of a streaming service to do so.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:56:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)

The Pigeon Tunnel: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (thematic echo): The Killer → The Pigeon Tunnel. John le Carre's remark about reaching the room and finding nothing in it fits Fincher's lockbox characters and this film.
    “The room be on the room, and then when you get there, there's nothing in it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:14:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

The Smiths: 1 line craft ×1

  1. 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)

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning: 1 line theme ×1

  1. 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)

Zodiac: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. 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)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (Netflix career): The Killer → Marriage Story. Baumbach used Netflix to elevate his status, whereas Fincher and Scorsese use it to brand-manage their legacies.
    “he's somebody who used the system to elevate his status in some way, whereas Fincher and Scorsese in a handful of these other people are almost like facilitating and kind of brand managing their legacies”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:59:26 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

contrast (3)

  1. contrast (contrast): The Killer → Fight Club. Fight Club is about societal and male-psyche breakdown; The Killer is about a functioning guy who messed up at work.
    “Fight Club is about the breakdown of society and the male psyche. The killer is about a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. 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)
  3. 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)

craft (5)

  1. craft (soundtrack irony): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. Longing, emotional Smiths songs soundtrack a movie about closing down; the choice is both deeply felt and a joke.
    “All of those songs that play in this movie, from those Smith's records, are so deeply felt and intense and laid bare in a movie that is about the opposite of that.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:18 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them)
  2. craft (sound design technique): The Killer → Ren Klyce. The sound designer moves the Smiths song from diegetic to stereo soundtrack as perspective flips, then pulls it back into the killer's ear on the Johnny Marr lick.
    “Ren Kleiss, the sound designer, has chosen to move the music into from diagetic to pure stereo soundtracking as the perspective of the movie shifts.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. The Smiths act as the subliminal voice of the film, carrying its misanthropy and passion.
    “they're kind of like the subliminal voice of the movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:07:42 · Adam Nayman (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)

industry (6)

  1. industry (box office): The Killer → Gone Girl. Pitched as a conventional hitman movie it might do commercially though not $500 million like Gone Girl.
    “It might not be a $500 million movie like Gone Girl, but it's pretty commercial.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:57:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (studio constraint vs. blank check): The Killer → Seven. Seven was a miracle that got made through micromanaging against odds, while Netflix gives the whole budget and spends the reward.
    “there's something about a movie like 7 where it's like a miracle that it ever got made, not because he had a blank check in total control”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:00:46 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)

lineage (8)

  1. lineage (genre lineage): The Killer → Gone Girl. It is the closest Fincher has come to a pure thriller since Gone Girl, maybe Dragon Tattoo.
    “he hasn't made a movie quite like this, I guess, since Gone Girl, but even, I mean, you could maybe even going back further to Dragon Tattoo is maybe a little closer to this kind of a pure thriller.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (homage): The Killer → Rear Window. The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street.
    “it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (callback joke): The Killer → The Cable Guy. The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here).
    “that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. lineage (lineage): Jackie Brown → The Killer. Jackie Brown has a monologue about The Killer, showing Woo's aesthetic was known to Western audiences.
    “Jackie Brown has a whole monologue about the killer.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:35 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)

people (9)

  1. people (auteur persona year): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. 2023 was defined by films that force conversation about the filmmakers (Gerwig, Scorsese, Nolan, Fincher) and their pasts.
    “this year has really been defined by these movies with by filmmakers who have such towering personas.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:15:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. 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)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. people (shared writer): Andrew Kevin Walker → The Killer. Walker wrote Se7en and is the screenwriter of Fincher's new film The Killer.
    “Also in Andrew Kevin Walker's script, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:38:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

programming (2)

  1. programming (paired double feature): The Killer → Fight Club. Both are very funny first-person-narrated films about sociopaths who rationalize brutal violence as a personal mission.
    “This movie would make a neat pairing with Fight Club. Two very funny films about sociopaths whose inner monologues rationalize brutal violence as expressions of a personal mission.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. 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)

theme (10)

  1. theme (theme): The Killer → Morrissey / The Smiths. Soundtracking a film entirely with Morrissey in 2023, when he is out of the mainstream, reads as a snide provocation.
    “There's even a little bit of a snide provocation in soundtracking a movie entirely with Borissey in 2000 and absolutely 23.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:04 · Adam Nayman (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. theme (scene echo): The Killer → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick.
    “the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. theme (genre ancestry): The Killer → Jean-Pierre Melville. The sparse expressionless killer film riffs on Melville, Kurosawa samurai movies and Walter Hill's The Driver.
    “This is a Melville movie, this is a Curasawa samurai movie. This is all that stuff, right? This is the Walter Hill, the driver movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:08:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. theme (thematic trio): The Killer → Mindhunter. Mindhunter, Mank and The Killer are three works asking what it was all for, suggesting Fincher is questioning his own devotion.
    “Mindhunter and Mank and this are 3 movies slash series about kind of like, what is it all for?”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:13:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  5. theme (thematic echo): The Killer → The Pigeon Tunnel. John le Carre's remark about reaching the room and finding nothing in it fits Fincher's lockbox characters and this film.
    “The room be on the room, and then when you get there, there's nothing in it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:14:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. 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)
  10. 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)

unmapped (22)

  1. unmapped (next series): David Fincher → The Killer. The next miniseries is Fincher timed to his fall release The Killer, with Brendan Hines to guest.
    “We are doing the films of David Fincher, who has a new movie coming out this fall and we want to sync up with that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany · 2:10:51 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (promo absence): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. Because actors weren't doing press during the strike, audiences were thinking about Marty rather than DiCaprio appearances.
    “we didn't get hit with like 10 Leonardo DiCaprio TV and podcast appearances before Killers of the Flower Moon.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:16:02 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (pop-culture decay): The Killer → Private Benjamin. The 70s sitcom aliases riff leads Sean to say nobody under 35 knows even Private Benjamin.
    “We were talking about private Benjamin on the rewatchables the other day and I was like, they're not a single person under 35 knows what Private Benjamin is.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:31:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (action benchmark): The Killer → John Wick: Chapter 4. The dark Miami fight is on par with John Wick 4 but true one-to-one hand-to-hand.
    “it certainly is on par with anything you saw in John Wick 4, um, except it is like true one-to-one hand-to-hand combat.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:38:21 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (self-portrait): The Killer → Mank. Mank and The Killer both read as self-allegory about a talented guy and his financiers; both are emotional about art and voice in an industry.
    “speaking of Mank, you know, what if you missed? You know, what if you're a really talented guy and your financiers? So like, hey, that didn't go so well.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:48:34 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (streamer master-work): The Killer → The Irishman. The Killer, Roma, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon are master filmmakers' self-reflective work enabled by streamer power.
    “those are all films from quote unquote master filmmakers who are responding to their own work and life and experience and they're using the outsized corporate power of a streaming service to do so.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:56:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (possible last film): The Killer → Killers of the Flower Moon. Both give the feeling they could be a last movie, a fitting conclusion.
    “I had the same feeling at the end of this movie, though, where I was like, this kind of could just be a last movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:02:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (emotional through-line): The Killer → Seven. Repressed emotion under the surface, as in Seven's gun-aiming shot of Brad Pitt, runs through Fincher's work including The Killer.
    “think of the shot, um, in 7 when, uh, Brad Pitt is aiming the gun at John Doe”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:09:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (emotional through-line): The Killer → Gone Girl. Amazing Amy's coping with childhood exploitation is another Fincher story of someone never letting the facade break.
    “Gone Girl is the same way, you know, like everything that Amazing Amy is going through is like her coping with”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:09:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (narration): The Killer → Fight Club. They are the two Fincher films driven by complicit first-person narration, though Fight Club uses it for a reality-bending twist and The Killer stays objective.
    “They're the 2 Fincher movies that are driven by 1st person narration, and a 1st person narration where the tone is, you're with me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:45 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them)
  11. 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)
  12. 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)
  13. 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)
  14. 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)
  15. 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)
  16. 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)
  17. 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)
  18. 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)
  19. 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)
  20. unmapped (unreliable voiceover): The Killer → Gone Girl. Fight Club, Gone Girl and The Killer share voiceover that turns out to be lying.
    “But like, Fight Club, Gone, Girl, and the killer are all very unreliable voice.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:06:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  21. unmapped (adapted from): The Killer (graphic novel) → The Killer. Paramount acquired the graphic novel in 2007; the film is Fincher's latest.
    “In 2007, Paramount acquires the rights to some little graphic novel called The Killer.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:18:42 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. unmapped (screenwriter): Andrew Kevin Walker → The Killer. A host says Walker wrote the new Killer, and others note the graphic novel is a cool thing to adapt.
    “He wrote the killer.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 2:14:04 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about The Killer: Opening hit: the killer needs heart rate below 60, kills a woman instead of the target, then flees by rented scooter to change in a dirty tire-shop bathroom.
    “He fires and he misses.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:21:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Killer: The killer's work playlist is only The Smiths, on an iPod nano; others include a yoga playlist. He listens to Girlfriend in a Coma while buying a trash bucket at Home Depot to put a body in.
    “he is listening to girlfriend in a coma when he goes to a Home Depot to buy a trash bucket to put a dead body in.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:23:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about The Killer: Each Smiths song title puns on the scene it plays under.
    “Each song title is literally punning on the scene.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:24:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about The Killer: Scene to look for: the first hit scored to How Soon Is Now. Sound design flips between full stereo song and the song in the killer's headphones, pulling it away right at the Johnny Marr crescendo, refusing the viewer the cool-song kill.
    “I was waiting my entire life to see someone get killed to how soon is now.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:24:40 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about The Killer: The killer's disguise is inspired by a German tourist: bucket hat and khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what Fincher wore to the Q&A.
    “he wears a bucket hat in a kind of khaki jumpsuit, which is basically what David Fincher wore to the Q and A after the film.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:27:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about The Killer: Hotel trick to look for: he balances a glass on the door handle with the room-service tray underneath so a jiggled handle smashes it, then sleeps in a chair for three and a half hours.
    “if anybody jiggles the handle, the glass will smash and make a noise and wake him up”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:29:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about The Killer: The killer's aliases are all 70s sitcom character names (Archie Bunker among them), a gag the hosts say lands because nobody checks anything anymore.
    “they are all names of 70s sitcom characters, which is an incredible joke”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:31:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about The Killer: He expects six to seven minutes to interrogate Parnell and the man dies almost instantly; the hosts take it as proof the killer is bad at his job.
    “he kills Charles Parnell and thinks that he's going to have 6 to 7 minutes to interrogate him and he dies almost instantaneously.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:34:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about The Killer: New Orleans: Charles Parnell's secretary zip-ties herself on his orders and begs not to be disappeared so her kids get the life insurance; the killer thinks 'forbid empathy.' Her car scream is the film's one non-subjective moment.
    “please don't disappear me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:34:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Killer: The Miami fight in the dark: grabbing for a weapon in the kitchen, he finds a cheese grater, a huge laugh, then uses it as a noise distraction. Also he miscalculates the dose of a dog-drugging treat for the pit bull.
    “and comes up with a cheese grater and you're like, ooh, a cheese grater.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:38:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about The Killer: Tilda Swinton scene in Beacon, NY: she eats solo at the bar, orders a whiskey flight tasting menu and asks for her own bottle, and the hosts debate whether she is the life he could have had.
    “when Tilda Swinton's doing a tasting menu with a whiskey flight.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:40:08 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about The Killer: Chris Ryan's guess: the killer's favorite Smiths record is Hatful of Hollow or compilation 'Louder Than Bombs', not The Queen Is Dead; favorite Sub Pop band Mudhoney, maybe Tad.
    “I think he's a hat full of hollow guy”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:45:14 · Chris Ryan (0.80 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about The Killer: Shot out of a cannon: on Netflix there is no box-office report, Fincher hasn't had a traditional theatrical release since Gone Girl, and Adam saw it at Alamo and Toronto theaters.
    “He hasn't released a movie to the public since Gone Girl in the traditional theatrical style.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:50:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about The Killer: Ironic timing: the film arrived framed by WeWork's collapse and Morrissey being unable to find a label, soundtracking a 2023 movie wholly with Morrissey as a snide provocation.
    “the movie came out framed by these 2 really funny news things, like one being the disillusion of WeWork”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:04:21 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about The Killer: Product placement is deployed so precisely (the Amazon lockers, McDonald's, WeWork) that the hosts laughed at every logo; the film also makes a clinic of consumer-culture satire.
    “every time there was a logo in this movie. I laughed because they were deployed so well.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:23:17 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about The Killer: A visual gag: Arliss Howard, the client, wears a Sub Pop t-shirt, Adam calls it a laugh-out-loud commodification joke.
    “I love Arlus Howard and the subpop t-shirt.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:24:22 · Adam Nayman (0.70 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about The Killer: The Green River killer quote at the open echoes the band Green River, who were not on Sub Pop, so 'it all comes back to grunge.'
    “there was a band named Green River that was not signed to subpop.”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:24:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  18. 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)
  19. 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)
  20. 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)
  21. 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)
  22. 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)
  23. 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)
  24. 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)
  25. 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)
  26. 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)
  27. 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)
  28. 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)
  29. 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 the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.