The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

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Wikidata Q183239, film, IMDb tt0421715, TMDB 4922: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only film by that title; 3 more episodes agree.

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

Who talked about it

Blank Check — Patreon

The Big Picture

The Rewatchables

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.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: 2 lines the host's read ×2

  1. lineage (adaptation distance): F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only.
    “By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Forrest Gump: 2 lines the host's read ×2

  1. unmapped (anti-Gump answer): Forrest Gump ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). Griffin reads Benjamin Button as a pointed answer to Gump, showing the death behind the Americana.
    “But I think it's almost like pointedly an anti-gump.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:22:50 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video): 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (technique precursor): Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button.
    “Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain): 1 line the maker said so ×1

  1. unmapped (proof of concept): Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the maker said so). Fincher used a Redenbacher commercial to test whether the film was makeable.
    “I'm basically stealing money from Orvell Redbocker to figure out whether this film is makeable or not.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:52:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Led to

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

House of Cards (TV series): 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. career (career step): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ House of Cards (TV series) (the host's read). Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards.
    “But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. unmapped (parody): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the host's read). The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong.
    “And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Connected to

Forrest Gump: 5 lines unmapped ×2 contrast ×2 people ×1

  1. unmapped (anti-Gump answer): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Griffin reads Benjamin Button as a pointed answer to Gump, showing the death behind the Americana.
    “But I think it's almost like pointedly an anti-gump.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:22:50 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Clifford: 2 lines unmapped ×1 what-if ×1

  1. what-if (what-if): Clifford → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The speaker guesses Martin Short did Clifford after the Oz version fell apart.
    “Maybe when Benjamin Button fell apart, Short was like, but I couldn't remember something like that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:36:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

F. Scott Fitzgerald: 2 lines lineage ×2

  1. lineage (adaptation distance): F. Scott Fitzgerald → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only.
    “By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Meet Joe Black: 2 lines theme ×1 people ×1

  1. theme (same star, same theme): Meet Joe Black → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt's other epic about death; the speaker rewatched it right after Button.
    “Brad Pitt's other somewhat misbegotten epic about death, meet Joe Black.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:26:08 · Richard Lawson (0.60 sure it was them)

The Killer: 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)

The Social Network: 2 lines unmapped ×1 contrast ×1

  1. unmapped (trailer reception): The Social Network → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both teasers played with a tone so different that the audience went silent.
    “2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Bedtime Stories: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (joke): Bedtime Stories → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button is also sort of a bedtime story.
    “Benjamin Button, also sort of a bedtime story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:14:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Being John Malkovich: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (attached director): Being John Malkovich → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Spike Jonze came aboard Button straight off Malkovich.
    “It's like after Malkovich, they're Jones like, what do you want?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:40:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Being There: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (character comparison): Being There → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The speaker likens people projecting wisdom onto Benjamin's silence to Chauncey Gardner.
    “There's a bit of a Chauncey Gardner where they're like projecting onto his silence.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Captain America: The First Avenger: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (craft): Captain America: The First Avenger → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The skinny-Steve effect arrived only a couple of years after Benjamin Button, which did the head-swap effectively.
    “And this is only a couple years after Benjamin Button when they did that so effectively.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The First Avenger · 0:17:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Charlie Kaufman: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (uncredited rewrite): Charlie Kaufman → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point.
    “Charlie Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:40:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

David Fincher: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (tonal contrast): David Fincher → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Even his ostensibly sentimental film is strange, so Mank is unlikely to be warm.
    “David Fincher has just never made a warm movie. Even Benjamin Button, which is ostensibly very sentimental, is like just a very strange film.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:58:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)

Dick Tracy: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (joke): Dick Tracy → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The brothel line calls Benjamin a regular Dick Tracy.
    “That the thing, the sex worker says, is like, you're a regular Dick Tracy.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:27:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Gary Ross: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (considered director): Gary Ross → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Gary Ross was under consideration, and the Pleasantville vibes made sense.
    “Gary Ross was at some point under consideration for this job, which makes sense.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:53:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

House of Cards (TV series): 1 line career ×1

  1. career (career step): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → House of Cards (TV series). Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards.
    “But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Joan Didion: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (line origin): Joan Didion → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A line in the film was something Roth's mother said in the hospital, tied by the speaker to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking.
    “Joan Didian's book, the year of magical thinking.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:43:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video): 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (technique precursor): Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button.
    “Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Magnolia: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (comparison): Magnolia → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The car-accident sequence feels a little like Magnolia, but the film is the anti-Magnolia on connectedness.
    “This is sort of the anti-magnolia, which is like Ricky J is saying, like, surely these things mean something.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:44:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Mank: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (self-portrait): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → Mank. The speaker reads Fincher as both the scumbag who made Seven and the sincere artist who made Benjamin Button, which is Mank.
    “he made Ben Benjamin Button, you know, like that he is, he's Mank”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:45:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Marley & Me: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (box office): Marley & Me → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Marley & Me, also about death, won the Christmas 2008 weekend over Button.
    “Also about death.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:12:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain): 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (proof of concept): Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain) → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher used a Redenbacher commercial to test whether the film was makeable.
    “I'm basically stealing money from Orvell Redbocker to figure out whether this film is makeable or not.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:52:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Panic Room: 1 line career ×1

  1. career (career): Panic Room → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. After Panic Room, Fincher's films from Zodiac on are less about gotchas and more about ideas.
    “Benjamin Button, all of these movies are less about like, boom, gotcha, and more about thinking about the ideas at the center of the movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:43:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)

Peter Jackson: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (enabling technology): Peter Jackson → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Once Gollum worked, scripts once thought unmakable looked possible.
    “Post golem was the 1st time where they were suddenly like all these scripts that we used to think were unmakable.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:53:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Sling Blade: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (performance comparison): Sling Blade → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pitt is only the second actor nominated for a Sling Blade style performance, after Thornton.
    “I was just going to ask if Brad Pitt is the only actor, other than Thornton, obviously, to be nominated for doing a slingblade, slingblade.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:02:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Slumdog Millionaire: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (awards rivalry): Slumdog Millionaire → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Slumdog beat Button for Best Picture, which the speakers think Button might otherwise have won.
    “I think this would have won.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:08:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Steven Spielberg: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (attached director): Steven Spielberg → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Spielberg wanted to make it with Tom Cruise at Amblin but did Jurassic Park and Schindler's List instead.
    “Spielberg wants to make it. With Tom Cruise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:37:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

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

  1. unmapped (blank check compared): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button, not Dragon Tattoo, is probably Fincher's biggest blank check.
    “I think Benjamin Button ended up being the bigger one, but this was such a like...”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:12:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (parody): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong.
    “And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Whale: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (marketing): The Whale → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both campaigns withheld the star's transformed look.
    “The Benjamin button film was even more withholding, you know, and it really worked until it kind of doesn't because you eventually do have to see the thing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:20:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

U-571: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (joke): U-571 → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The U-boat attack scene is jokingly traced to U-571.
    “Right, it turns out that was U571 and it's McConaughey on the other end, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:03:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Valkyrie: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (joke): Valkyrie → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button also killed some Nazis, unlike Cruise's Valkyrie.
    “Benjamin Button also killed some Nazis.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:15:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

career (2)

  1. career (career): Panic Room → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. After Panic Room, Fincher's films from Zodiac on are less about gotchas and more about ideas.
    “Benjamin Button, all of these movies are less about like, boom, gotcha, and more about thinking about the ideas at the center of the movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:43:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. career (career step): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → House of Cards (TV series). Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards.
    “But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

contrast (4)

  1. contrast (tonal contrast): David Fincher → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Even his ostensibly sentimental film is strange, so Mank is unlikely to be warm.
    “David Fincher has just never made a warm movie. Even Benjamin Button, which is ostensibly very sentimental, is like just a very strange film.”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:58:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (contrast): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher read the similarity to Roth's earlier film as the reverse: an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances.
    “I thought of Benjamin as an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:57:01 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. contrast (contrast of symbols): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Per Fincher, the hummingbird is the opposite of Gump's feather.
    “And he's like, the hummingbird is the exact opposite of the feather.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:26:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. contrast (contrast): The Social Network → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Next week's film is called an anti-Benjamin Button.
    “Kind of an anti-Benjamin button?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:30:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

craft (1)

  1. craft (craft): Captain America: The First Avenger → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The skinny-Steve effect arrived only a couple of years after Benjamin Button, which did the head-swap effectively.
    “And this is only a couple years after Benjamin Button when they did that so effectively.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The First Avenger · 0:17:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

industry (3)

  1. industry (marketing): The Whale → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both campaigns withheld the star's transformed look.
    “The Benjamin button film was even more withholding, you know, and it really worked until it kind of doesn't because you eventually do have to see the thing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:20:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. industry (awards rivalry): Slumdog Millionaire → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Slumdog beat Button for Best Picture, which the speakers think Button might otherwise have won.
    “I think this would have won.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:08:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. industry (box office): Marley & Me → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Marley & Me, also about death, won the Christmas 2008 weekend over Button.
    “Also about death.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:12:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

lineage (4)

  1. lineage (adaptation): F. Scott Fitzgerald → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The film is adapted from Fitzgerald's short story, though the speakers say it shares little with it.
    “It's quite, it's, it doesn't have too much in common with the film, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:01:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (adaptation distance): F. Scott Fitzgerald → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only.
    “By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (line origin): Joan Didion → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A line in the film was something Roth's mother said in the hospital, tied by the speaker to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking.
    “Joan Didian's book, the year of magical thinking.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:43:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (technique precursor): Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button.
    “Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

people (7)

  1. 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)
  2. people (performance comparison): Sling Blade → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pitt is only the second actor nominated for a Sling Blade style performance, after Thornton.
    “I was just going to ask if Brad Pitt is the only actor, other than Thornton, obviously, to be nominated for doing a slingblade, slingblade.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:02:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. people (attached director): Steven Spielberg → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Spielberg wanted to make it with Tom Cruise at Amblin but did Jurassic Park and Schindler's List instead.
    “Spielberg wants to make it. With Tom Cruise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:37:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. people (attached director): Being John Malkovich → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Spike Jonze came aboard Button straight off Malkovich.
    “It's like after Malkovich, they're Jones like, what do you want?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:40:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  5. people (shared writer): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The same screenwriter, Eric Roth, wrote both, and Roth poured his own grief into Button instead of repeating himself.
    “If anyone's going to be able to crack this, have the Gump guy crack it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:43:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  6. people (considered director): Gary Ross → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Gary Ross was under consideration, and the Pleasantville vibes made sense.
    “Gary Ross was at some point under consideration for this job, which makes sense.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:53:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  7. people (performance comparison): Meet Joe Black → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pitt's present-tense performances in both are blank and curious.
    “like in the present tense of the movie, like kind of blank, curious, but a cold”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:57:31 · Richard Lawson (0.50 sure it was them)

theme (4)

  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)
  2. theme (same star, same theme): Meet Joe Black → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt's other epic about death; the speaker rewatched it right after Button.
    “Brad Pitt's other somewhat misbegotten epic about death, meet Joe Black.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:26:08 · Richard Lawson (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. theme (character comparison): Being There → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The speaker likens people projecting wisdom onto Benjamin's silence to Chauncey Gardner.
    “There's a bit of a Chauncey Gardner where they're like projecting onto his silence.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. theme (comparison): Magnolia → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The car-accident sequence feels a little like Magnolia, but the film is the anti-Magnolia on connectedness.
    “This is sort of the anti-magnolia, which is like Ricky J is saying, like, surely these things mean something.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:44:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

unmapped (14)

  1. unmapped (self-portrait): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → Mank. The speaker reads Fincher as both the scumbag who made Seven and the sincere artist who made Benjamin Button, which is Mank.
    “he made Ben Benjamin Button, you know, like that he is, he's Mank”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:45:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (blank check compared): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button, not Dragon Tattoo, is probably Fincher's biggest blank check.
    “I think Benjamin Button ended up being the bigger one, but this was such a like...”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:12:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (joke): Clifford → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The Martin Short version is called basically a Clifford sequel.
    “It's basically a Clifford sequel.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:05:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (attempt at a Gump): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The speaker says the cultural narrative is that Benjamin Button is Fincher trying to do Gump.
    “but I do think this is like the cultural narrative of this movie is he's trying to do Gump, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (parody): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button → The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong.
    “And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (trailer reception): The Social Network → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both teasers played with a tone so different that the audience went silent.
    “2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (anti-Gump answer): Forrest Gump → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Griffin reads Benjamin Button as a pointed answer to Gump, showing the death behind the Americana.
    “But I think it's almost like pointedly an anti-gump.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:22:50 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (uncredited rewrite): Charlie Kaufman → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point.
    “Charlie Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:40:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (proof of concept): Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain) → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher used a Redenbacher commercial to test whether the film was makeable.
    “I'm basically stealing money from Orvell Redbocker to figure out whether this film is makeable or not.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:52:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (enabling technology): Peter Jackson → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Once Gollum worked, scripts once thought unmakable looked possible.
    “Post golem was the 1st time where they were suddenly like all these scripts that we used to think were unmakable.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:53:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  11. unmapped (joke): Dick Tracy → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The brothel line calls Benjamin a regular Dick Tracy.
    “That the thing, the sex worker says, is like, you're a regular Dick Tracy.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:27:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  12. unmapped (joke): U-571 → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The U-boat attack scene is jokingly traced to U-571.
    “Right, it turns out that was U571 and it's McConaughey on the other end, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:03:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  13. unmapped (joke): Bedtime Stories → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button is also sort of a bedtime story.
    “Benjamin Button, also sort of a bedtime story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:14:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  14. unmapped (joke): Valkyrie → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button also killed some Nazis, unlike Cruise's Valkyrie.
    “Benjamin Button also killed some Nazis.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:15:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

  1. what-if (what-if): Clifford → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The speaker guesses Martin Short did Clifford after the Oz version fell apart.
    “Maybe when Benjamin Button fell apart, Short was like, but I couldn't remember something like that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:36:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The first properly set-up version was Frank Oz directing a Martin Short vehicle.
    “the 1st version of this movie to like properly be set up was Frank Oz directing as a Martin Short vehicle.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:04:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A friend's summary of the plot, mid-Katrina, sounds insane when typed out.
    “it's sort of related to his, you know, long lost love in a diary while Hurricane Katrina bears down on him.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:16:05 · Richard Lawson (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The teaser made the audience go silent at Crystal Skull; the speakers say the trailer is a better version of what the movie does.
    “2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The film's clock prologue tested badly until the film grain and crackles were added late in post, after which audiences accepted it as a story being told.
    “we added all the filters of the film grain and the pops and the crackles and the distortion and whatever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:32:43 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Charlie Kaufman reportedly rewrote the script at one point, during the stretch Spike Jonze was attached.
    “Charlie Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:40:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Roth named Daisy as a tribute to Gatsby, and the film otherwise resembles the story in name only.
    “He calls the love interest daisy as a tribute to the Great Gatsby.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:42:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: One older body double had mime training, so his motions were too exaggerated for Pitt's still face and scenes were reshot.
    “Benjamin was an older man who was like in his 70s but had mime training.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:58:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Fincher said the hummingbird is the opposite of Gump's feather because it has its own agency.
    “The hummingbird has its own agency.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:26:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The body doubles for the aging scenes wore a blue sock over their head and were called smurfs.
    “They would call the people who play the body double smurfs because they wore a blue sock over their head.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:28:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Fincher's challenge for the Swinton role: if Pitt could not name someone better in five minutes, they would go with Tilda; Pitt called back and conceded.
    “And then, like, Pitt called him 3 minutes later and said, tell us one.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:37:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Fincher's single biggest fight with Paramount was over Benjamin leaving without a word, which he refused to move on.
    “Fincher has said that this was, unsurprisingly, his single biggest fight with Paramount”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:56:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Who the speakers said made it

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