Zach Grenier

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q139341: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: RoboCop (1987); Philadelphia (1993); Twister (1996); Fight Club (1999); Zodiac (2007).

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.

Seven (1995): 3 lines

  1. career (career) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). Without Se7en's power Fincher does not get to do The Game and Fight Club his way.
    “I think without this movie, he doesn't go on this run”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:27:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (why Fincher was offered it) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Seven made Fincher the first choice for any serial-killer project, Zodiac included.
    “Ever since he makes seven, if there's some serial killer movie, is getting sent it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:51:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. career (career lever) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). Se7en's success is what let Fincher make the seemingly impossible Fight Club.
    “But the fight club is him more being like, okay, guys, I know this seems impossible, but I made seven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:05:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Avatar (2009): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Avatar ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers.
    “It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Batman Begins (2005): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Batman Begins ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The remake is part of the grounded-and-serious wave that followed Nolan; the speakers say this film marks the end of it.
    “The Batman begins effect.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Chuck Palahniuk: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Chuck Palahniuk ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). The film adapts Palahniuk's novel; the speaker says the screenplay cribs straight from the book.
    “obviously the movie is, the book is very, he's cribbing right from the book.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:13:14 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Collateral (2004): 1 line

  1. people (casting) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: Collateral ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Fincher cast Ruffalo partly because he liked him in Collateral.
    “One, Fincher really liked him in collateral.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:24:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Donnie Darko (2001): 1 line

  1. people (casting) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: Donnie Darko ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Fincher liked Donnie Darko and had Gyllenhaal pegged for a while.
    “unsurprisingly, Fincher liked Donny Darko”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:22:44 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Douglas Coupland: 1 line

  1. lineage (literary lineage) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Douglas Coupland ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). The speaker says the early car-recall section is right out of Coupland and Gen X writing.
    “It's right out of like Douglas Copeland or whatever, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Flesh and Blood (1985): 1 line

  1. career (career) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: Flesh and Blood ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). Flesh+Blood is the failure that led Verhoeven to Hollywood and RoboCop, where he built entertainment around his interests.
    “from this film on, he figures out how to take everything he's interested in and put it into the body of a conventionally entertaining Hollywood movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:49:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Industrial Light & Magic: 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Twister (1996), which they acted in: Industrial Light & Magic ⇒ Twister (the host's read). The movie was built out of an ILM proof-of-concept clip of a pickup truck driving toward a tornado.
    “It was a proof of concept clip from Industrial Light Magic”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:11:39 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Jaws (1975): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Twister (1996), which they acted in: Jaws ⇒ Twister (the host's read). Jonas is the Jaws-mayor archetype, a money-motivated antagonist that became a stock character in every movie.
    “The mayor in Jaws is the character that kind of pushes against our lead person.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:54:51 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Jurassic Park (1993): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Twister (1996), which they acted in: Jurassic Park ⇒ Twister (the host's read). Marketing a disaster around unknown leads follows Jurassic Park, where Sam Neill and Laura Dern were known but not famous.
    “coming off of Jurassic Park where it was like Sam Neil and Laura Dern were like well-known, but not famous.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:53:21 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

L.A. Confidential (1997): 1 line

  1. lineage (structure / influence) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: L.A. Confidential ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Leslye says Zodiac feels like it follows in the footsteps of L.A. Confidential.
    “zodiac feels like it follows in the footsteps of that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:50:16 · Leslye Headland (0.80 sure it was them)

Robert Graysmith: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: Robert Graysmith ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). The Salerno script, which Vanderbilt took over, adapted Graysmith's nonfiction book (with a speculative sequel bolted on).
    “So it's sort of like an adaptation of Graysmith's nonfiction book and a speculative sequence.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:50:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Rumor Has It: 1 line

  1. people (casting) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: Rumor Has It ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Jennifer Aniston, on Rumor Has It with Ruffalo, helped him get the role.
    “So rumor has it kind of helps him get this.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:25:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Speed (1994): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Twister (1996), which they acted in: Speed ⇒ Twister (the host's read). Hollywood shifted after Speed; Twister marketed Paxton and others as future stars.
    “The one that changed it was speed.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Tombstone’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:54:13 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)

The Conversation (1974): 1 line

  1. craft (temp score) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: The Conversation ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). The Conversation's score was used as temp music while Zodiac was cut, then Shire scored it.
    “they use the conversation score as temp score.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:14:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

The Shining (1980): 1 line

  1. unmapped (stolen move) · through Zodiac (2007), which they acted in: The Shining ⇒ Zodiac (the host's read). Fincher steals the Steadicam move where the camera turns with the car and keeps it centered.
    “Fincher steals that move of like when the car turns a corner”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Shining with Timothy Simons (Ad-Free) · 2:05:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through RoboCop (1987), which they acted in: The Wizard of Oz ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read). The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart.
    “If I only had a heart is what it's.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

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

Panic Room (2002): 3 lines

  1. career (career) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). Panic Room read as a small antidote to the response to Fight Club.
    “This seemed like a little bit of an antidote to that because what's panic room about.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:19:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). The inside-the-house camera moves Fincher started in Fight Club are fully developed in Panic Room.
    “And there's a lot of like stuff that he had started to do a little bit with Fight Club is like really like fleshed out in panic room”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:53 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (response to) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). A host says Panic Room is a conscious response to Fight Club, which flopped and tried to be about everything.
    “Yes. And I feel like it's a very conscious response to fight club.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:24:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Deadpool 2 (2018): 1 line

  1. unmapped (joke template) · through Fight Club (1999), which they acted in: Fight Club ⇒ Deadpool 2 (the host's read). A joke that Fight Club is the template Deadpool perfected.
    “I walked so that Deadpool could run.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Titanic (1997): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Twister (1996), which they acted in: Twister ⇒ Titanic (the host's read). Twister started a playbook of putting not-yet-A-list leads in a spectacle, which Titanic and later Star Wars followed.
    “It became a playbook for it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:54:01 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (6) everyone in acting

What was said about them, by kind

people (2)

  1. people (people): Zach Grenier → Philadelphia. The that-guy in Jonas's crew is identified as Zach Grenier from Philadelphia and Fight Club.
    “He was in Philadelphia.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:19:18 · Bill Simmons (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. people (recurring actor): Zach Grenier → David Fincher. Grenier is an A-plus Fincher freak, usually cast as a freak.
    “Zach Rennier, who's, you know, A plus Fincher freak.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:48:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.