Atticus Ross

Made films the shows talk about.

Counted as composer, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they scored, which the two lists below run through too: The Social Network (2010); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011); Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (2017); Mank (2020); The Killer (2023).

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, 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) (1998): 3 lines

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)
  2. lineage (adaptation scope) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: The Killer (graphic novel) ⇒ The Killer (the host's read). 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)
  3. unmapped (adapted from) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: The Killer (graphic novel) ⇒ The Killer (the host's read). 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)

Citizen Kane (1941): 2 lines

  1. lineage (visual influence) · through Mank (2020), which they scored: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: David's interview with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt). Messerschmidt told the interviewer he wanted low, deep-focus photography evoking Citizen Kane, not noir.
    “He's like, no, I want to do it low to the ground, lots of deep focus, evoking citizen Kane.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:13:08 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (subject / source) · through Mank (2020), which they scored: Citizen Kane ⇒ Mank (the host's read). Mank is partly inspired by Pauline Kael's essay on who truly authored Citizen Kane.
    “it's in part inspired by that very famous Pauline Kale, story raising Kane, about the true authorship of Citizen Kane”
    The Big Picture · Emergency Mailbag: The Oscars Are Streaming and Hollywood Is Fighting Over Trolls | The Big Picture · 0:58:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)

Mark Zuckerberg: 2 lines

  1. lineage (verbatim source) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: Mark Zuckerberg ⇒ The Social Network (the maker said so). Sorkin says a larger share of the movie than people expect is lifted directly from depositions and emails; the speaker reports he has pointed this out.
    “But that's always a big thing he's pointed out is like a larger percentage of the movie that people, than people would expect is me just using direct transcripts verbatim.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:27:56 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (verbatim source) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: Mark Zuckerberg ⇒ The Social Network (the host's read). The Facebook-creation blog post is almost entirely verbatim in the movie.
    “It's almost entirely verbatim in the movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:48:25 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Andrew Kevin Walker: 1 line

  1. unmapped (idea credit) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

Blue Velvet (1986): 1 line

  1. unmapped (quoted line) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: Blue Velvet ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The fuck-you-you-fucking-fuck shirt is believed to originate from Dennis Hopper's line in Blue Velvet.
    “Hopper says that in blue velvet.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 1:24:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Haywire (2011): 1 line

  1. people (casting origin) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

Jack Fincher: 1 line

  1. lineage (script origin) · through Mank (2020), which they scored: Jack Fincher ⇒ Mank (the maker said so: Fincher's own account as read from the dossier (outlet not named)). Fincher's father wrote the original Mank script, which David set aside until years later.
    “I'm handed this script that my dad wrote about all powerful directors ruining storytelling”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:48:09 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Jean-Pierre Melville: 1 line

  1. theme (genre ancestry) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

Kevin Spacey: 1 line

  1. unmapped (brought Fincher on) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: Kevin Spacey ⇒ The Social Network (the host's read). The hosts say Spacey optioned the book and got Fincher on board.
    “And was the one who got Fincher on board.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:06:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Prometheus (2012): 1 line

  1. people (casting origin) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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 (1954): 1 line

  1. lineage (homage) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

Stieg Larsson: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: Stieg Larsson ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The film is Zaillian's abridged adaptation of Larsson's novel, which loses nothing major.
    “I think this is an excellent piece of adaptation that does not really, like, skip anything major.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:49:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Sven Nykvist: 1 line

  1. craft (visual reference) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: Sven Nykvist ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the maker said so). Someone on the shoot (Fincher, or the DP by the garbled name) wanted a Sven Nykvist look: warm fires, cold rooms.
    “I wanted to do a whole Sven Nikfist thing”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 1:11:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Cable Guy (1996): 1 line

  1. lineage (callback joke) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish, 2009) (2009): 1 line

  1. lineage (remake) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish, 2009) ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). The Fincher film is the American remake of the Swedish original; its director says he was not worried.
    “Everyone who loves film will go see the original.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 0:54:19 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

The Lost Weekend (1945): 1 line

  1. craft (visual echo) · through Mank (2020), which they scored: The Lost Weekend ⇒ Mank (the host's read). The election-night drunk sequence in Mank is called self-consciously reminiscent of The Lost Weekend.
    “almost self-consciously reminiscent of the last the lost weekend”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:03:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

The Social Network (2010): 1 line, within their own work

  1. people (casting led to) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). Pascal saw the dailies from The Social Network and picked Rooney Mara for Lisbeth Salander.
    “Pascal basically sees the dailies from this movie and is like, Rooney Morris, Elizabeth Salander.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:59:02 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Twin Peaks (1990): 1 line

  1. theme (plot payoff) · through Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (2017), which they scored: Twin Peaks ⇒ Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (the host's read). Part 8 finally ties up Jean Renault's season 2 claim that Cooper's arrival ruined Twin Peaks by showing the evil predates him.
    “So like episode eight, finally, it's like we've tied up the genre now plotline from season two.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff · 1:34:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Twin Peaks season 2 finale: 1 line

  1. unmapped (weirdest-ever) · through Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (2017), which they scored: Twin Peaks season 2 finale ⇒ Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (the host's read). Part 8 is Lynch topping his own season 2 finale as the weirdest thing ever on prime time, building something weird in relation to the template of weirdness he already set.
    “he's like, no, I need to make the thing that is weird and relation to the template of weirdness I have already set, much like the season 2 finale”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff · 0:07:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992): 1 line

  1. lineage (location callback) · through Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (2017), which they scored: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me ⇒ Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (the host's read). The convenience store was only seen inside, upstairs, in Fire Walk with Me; Part 8 shows its exterior and it is where nasty business happens.
    “Wait, so we've been to the convenience store and in the past?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff · 1:21:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016): 2 lines

  1. theme (character template) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (the maker said so). Snyder's reported reasoning: the modern-day Lex Luthor would be Mark Zuckerberg.
    “yeah, the modern day Lex Luthor would be Mark Zuckerberg.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:44:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. people (casting led to) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (the host's read). Snyder offered Eisenberg Jimmy Olsen in BvS in the wake of The Social Network.
    “Zack Snyder offers, uh, Jimmy Olsen. to Jesse Eisenberg in the wake of this movie, for BVS.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:43:43 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Friends with Benefits: 1 line

  1. people (casting led to) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ Friends with Benefits (the host's read). Pascal watched The Social Network early and committed to more Timberlake pictures.
    “It's like Pascal watches this movie early and it's like, you know what? 'm wrong. Justin Timberlake, we're all in.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:58:52 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Gone Girl (2014): 1 line

  1. people (casting approach) · through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which they scored: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ⇒ Gone Girl (the host's read). The speaker thinks Fincher's exhaustive casting search on Dragon Tattoo informed how he cast Amy with someone new to the audience.
    “that exhaustive casting search, which I do think informs the way he approaches Amy going into this movie as well”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:55:22 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

In Time: 1 line

  1. people (casting led to) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ In Time (the host's read). Pascal watched The Social Network early and committed to more Timberlake pictures.
    “It's like Pascal watches this movie early and it's like, you know what? 'm wrong. Justin Timberlake, we're all in.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:58:52 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Jackie Brown (1997): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Killer (2023), which they scored: 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)

On the Air (1992): 1 line

  1. lineage (callback) · through Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 (2017), which they scored: Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 8 ⇒ On the Air (the host's read). The woodsman wanting to be on the radio and finding the people find him boring is read as a callback to the Lynch-Frost sitcom On the Air.
    “I'm like, oh, this is a callback to on the air, the Lynch Frost sitcom.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff · 1:50:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Steve Jobs (2015): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ Steve Jobs (the host's read). Steve Jobs is called a worthy sequel to The Social Network on big tech and innovation.
    “I think this is in many ways a worthy sequel to the social network”
    The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:56:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

The Big Short (2015): 1 line

  1. lineage (ripped off) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ The Big Short (the host's read). David says The Big Short is the most obvious movie ripping off The Social Network, and that people do not make the connection enough.
    “I think the big short, which is not a movie I love, is the most obvious movie that's ripping off the social network, even though people maybe don't make that connection enough.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:11:44 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): 1 line, within their own work

  1. people (casting led to) · through The Social Network (2010), which they scored: The Social Network ⇒ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the host's read). Pascal saw the dailies from The Social Network and picked Rooney Mara for Lisbeth Salander.
    “Pascal basically sees the dailies from this movie and is like, Rooney Morris, Elizabeth Salander.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:59:02 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Music (7) everyone in music

What was said about them, by kind

people (1)

  1. people (people): Trent Reznor → Atticus Ross. Atticus Ross is Reznor's permanent Nine Inch Nails partner and scores with him.
    “and he does his scores with him, obviously, and he's a lovely British man.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff · 1:02:55 · host (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.