David Sims

95 sketches, 1,091 claims, and 378 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 41–60 of 95 sketches.

Blank Check — Patreon: David Fincher Music Videos (host)

Reads the Wikipedia tidbits and Fincher lore, loves Madonna and Fincher's glamorous Vogue-era work, and is a Dirty Dancing evangelist. Is the Brit in the room and a soft touch for pop. Sour on Justin Timberlake as a performer.

Stances

  • Vogue and Freedom 90 are the top two videos
  • Dirty Dancing is a masterpiece
  • Annoyed by Timberlake's visible effort

Humor: Dry insults and bossy-Brit bits.

In their words

  • “I think Dirty Dancing is a masterpiece.” (0:45:37)
  • “I just don't want to be German, okay?” (1:55:47)
  • “This, to me, is peak annoying Justin Timberlake.” (2:15:04)

Blank Check — Patreon: Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) (host)

Fincher fan from a 16-year-old Empire-reading start in England; loves Clint Eastwood late-career oddities and reads the dossier. Thinks Panic Room is deeper than a B-programmer.

Stances

  • Panic Room is a great director showcase movie
  • Fincher's craft is the point

Humor: Dry, dropping reads and recommendations mid-riff.

In their words

  • “I was a big 16-year-old film Empire magazine reading film nerd.” (0:27:35)

Blank Check — Patreon: Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) (host)

Loves the film's ending and admires the look; finds the last hour tiring and the philosophy trite on rewatch. Loves Limp Bizkit without irony, worked in video stores, and defends Fincher's craft.

Stances

  • The last hour sags but the ending is great
  • Gen X angst reads as stupid on rewatch
  • Fincher's later digital coldness is not all bad

Humor: Dry, exasperated reactions and unashamed pop taste.

In their words

  • “I love Limp Bizkit.” (3:03:38)
  • “the ending of this movie is so effective” (1:07:45)

Blank Check — Patreon: The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) (host)

Loves The Game (watches it yearly, loves the Criterion), is a Fincher interviewer, and gets the research in hand. A sucker for Douglas movie-star energy and the Christmas Carol reading.

Stances

  • The Game is better than Se7en
  • Fincher's 'Christmas Carol' reading is the key
  • Douglas is America's dark id of the 90s

Humor: Dry, precise, and ready with a quote from the dossier.

In their words

  • “I think this is better.” (0:07:49)
  • “I think it fucking rules.” (1:56:37)
  • “I think I said he was America's dark id for the 90s.” (0:25:42)

Blank Check — Patreon: Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) (host)

A critic who champions Fincher and wants the series done on the show; prefers the later half of Fincher's career. Grew up partly in England, where his dad described Se7en to him.

Stances

  • Pitched Fincher for the show
  • Se7en is great but not top-tier Fincher
  • Interested in the Spacey career arc

Humor: Dry, brittle one-liners and film-critic digressions.

In their words

  • “Sims, I have a question in the in the UK cut of seven.” (0:24:36)
  • “None. Not at all.” (0:12:49)

Blank Check — Patreon: Alien³ with Matt Singer (Ad-Free) (host)

Admires Goldenthal's 90s scores, Henriksen, and Fincher's control; fond of the Ridley Scott sequels. Uneasy with studios that sand a director down. Attribution is inferred.

Stances

  • Dutton's performance is in the conversation for the best non-Ripley Alien role
  • Ripley's shaved head is an incredible move

Humor: Dry asides and character-actor deep cuts.

In their words

  • “I love his Joel Schumacher Batman scores.” (2:00:04)
  • “Not only just visually striking, like it gives the whole Joan of Arc thing to the movie.” (1:30:33)

Blank Check — Patreon: The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) (host)

Loves tight genre moves, big visual invention, and box-office trivia; skeptical of Burton's recent output and studio notes culture. A sucker for Demolition Man and the Disney Renaissance era.

Stances

  • Selick is a more consistent stubborn experimentalist than late Burton
  • This is Elfman's masterpiece
  • Santa Claus is right to be mad too

Humor: Dry bluster and mock-outrage, with a taste for tangents.

In their words

  • “Oogie Boogie is the only person who seems to get pleasure out of torturing other people.” (2:05:58)
  • “Pay attention.” (0:33:49)

Blank Check — Patreon: Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) (host)

Loves Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon and is a proud texter. Likes Sidney Pollack as an actor and wants to age into him. Can't stand the idea of the film being dismissed as hermetic.

Stances

  • The film is open and inviting, not closed off
  • Pollack's performance is the film's engine

Humor: Dry riffs on pop culture and his son Asa's texting.

In their words

  • “Sims prides himself on being a top tier texter.” (1:32:51)
  • “I just want to be him.” (1:15:36)

Blank Check — Patreon: Doctor Sleep (host)

A critic who gave Doctor Sleep a positive-but-mixed review, then reversed within two weeks and now rates it highly, in the director's cut especially. Likes Ewan McGregor and, by his own account, enjoys Stephen King but is not a deep reader of him.

Stances

  • the theatrical cut was slow, the director's cut improves it
  • the conditions you see a film in shape your opinion
  • he reversed on the movie

Humor: Dry, cutting asides about celebrities and trailers, plus a weakness for a long filmography rundown.

In their words

  • “And my review is positive.” (0:03:21)
  • “I'm sort of like, I like praise the craft of it.” (0:03:28)

Blank Check — Patreon: Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus (Ad-Free) (host)

Film-historian type who places the film in the late-80s Vietnam cycle and the Oscar race, and reads Herr and Hasford material aloud. Likes the film's structure and its dark comic cuts.

Stances

  • Full Metal Jacket belongs to the late-80s Vietnam film cycle
  • Kubrick's humor lands in tension cutters

Humor: Dry, sets up pop-culture parallels and lets Jon escalate them.

In their words

  • “Well, I was just going to talk about like, it's, this is the time when Vietnam movies are suddenly everywhere.” (0:26:06)
  • “But it's the thing that like Woman King goes into a lot as well of like, how much you have to break your brain to survive an environment like this, right?” (0:56:40)

Blank Check — Patreon: The Shining with Timothy Simons (Ad-Free) (host)

Rates movies by kills and gives The Shining a high grade; fond of Nicholson and Pacino performance analysis. Says he is less of a Kubrick guy than most, but this is top tier for him. Will go along with the weird bit and then defend it.

Stances

  • The Shining is a top-tier Kubrick film
  • Nicholson's performance is big but grounded
  • Skeletons at the end are slightly weak

Humor: Dry jabs and pop-culture trivia answers.

In their words

  • “I rate movies by many deaths?” (0:05:31)
  • “I feel like I'm less of a Cooper guy than most, but this is at the very top tier for me, even still.” (2:33:07)

Blank Check — Patreon: Barry Lyndon with Karina Longworth (Ad-Free) (host)

Treats Barry Lyndon as a favorite and likes to research box office. Interested in actors' careers and press behavior.

Stances

  • The 1975 Oscars lineup was stacked
  • Barry Lyndon holds up as a comedy

Humor: Quick quips and mock-serious analogies.

In their words

  • “Do you want to play the box office game, Griffin?” (1:51:56)

Blank Check — Patreon: 2010: The Year We Make Contact (host)

Finds slow, adult, conversation-heavy pre-2000 sci-fi and mid-grade legal thrillers deeply relaxing. Holds a grudge against Don't Worry Darling and likes the movie's seriousness. A sucker for starry, grown-up casts.

Stances

  • 2010 is a comfort-food movie
  • the plot is more confusing than 2001, which answers no questions
  • strong anti-Don't Worry Darling position

Humor: Deadpan nitpicks and fully committed rants on plot logic.

In their words

  • “This is a very David movie.” (0:06:07)
  • “The movie's dumb.” (0:09:43)

Blank Check — Patreon: A Clockwork Orange with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) (host)

Plays the show's running Brit, leaning into a bit that he grew up in England and is the only one who can speak to the film's culture. Brings the research dossier and keeps trying to steer back to the movie. Jokes that he sympathizes with the authority figures like Mr. Deltoid. Is the target of the hip hop Sims joke.

Stances

  • Is wary of the long tangents and wants to keep to the movie
  • Sides comically with the authority figures against Alex
  • Reads the dossier aloud to anchor claims

Humor: Deadpan exasperation and mock-pedantry as the foil to Griffin and Alex.

In their words

  • “I moved to England in 1995.” (0:17:16)
  • “Well, I just want to move forward.” (2:02:33)

Blank Check — Patreon: 2001: A Space Odyssey with Jordan Hoffman (Ad-Free) (host)

Reads the film as a perfect alignment of hard sci-fi, psychedelia and Apollo timing. Respects but is cool on The Graduate, likes the box-office history, and enjoys the production design. Evidence for his lines is low confidence since the transcript has no speaker labels.

Stances

  • The film's design still holds up
  • Respects The Graduate more than loves it
  • Interested in how the film was marketed and received

Humor: Dry, quick riffs on the guest and cultural references.

In their words

  • “Like it's one of those movies I never revisited.” (0:34:25)
  • “It's the actual cut. It's the break.” (0:38:55)

Blank Check — Patreon: Dr. Strangelove... with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) (host)

Reads the dossier and brings box-office lists, Oscar-year trivia and a spreadsheet of retroactive winners. Draws links to comedy lineage (the Zuckers) and to Fincher's collaborators.

Stances

  • Strangelove was a big influence on the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker style
  • Kubrick was a real collaborator at his best
  • Frankenheimer's 1962 to 1966 run is underrated

Humor: Plays the pedant with a straight face, running the research like a game show.

In their words

  • “So George C. Scott is my winner in 1964 on my beloved spreadsheet.” (0:43:30)
  • “I did finally have the breakthrough watching this of how much of an influence this movie must have been on the Zucker Brothers and John Abrahams.” (0:53:55)
  • “And it really does remind me of Fincher.” (1:07:10)

Blank Check — Patreon: Lolita with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) (host)

A critic's frame of reference: star systems, box-office history and old reviews. Grew up in England and is tired of the British comedy canon. Likes the Sellers work in Strangelove more than in Lolita.

Stances

  • The film suffers from the Hays Code and cannot match the book
  • Sellers creeps him out here
  • Box-office trivia is part of the Lolita picture

Humor: Dry and self-aware, including deadpan wedding-speech bits.

In their words

  • “And I think that really has turned me against all the great British comic figures” (1:50:24)
  • “He creeps me out in this movie.” (1:51:04)
  • “I think Strange Love is a masterpiece and he's so funny in it.” (1:50:57)

Blank Check — Patreon: Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) (host)

Reads the dossier quotes aloud and defends Spartacus as a great movie despite Kubrick's own verdict; loves epics and Gladiator. (Speaker attribution inferred; moderate confidence.)

Stances

  • Spartacus is a great film, whatever Stan the Man thought
  • The Hollywood epics are a real era worth respecting

Humor: Dry readings of dossier quotes and quick pop-culture riffs.

In their words

  • “I'm I disagree with Stan the Man.” (1:05:24)
  • “I love this movie.” (1:05:26)

Blank Check — Patreon: Paths of Glory with Sarah Marshall (Ad-Free) (host)

Film-critic host who loves a legal drama and Practical Magic, knows the production dossier and the box-office lists. More drawn to war films than Griffin; fond of character actors and trivia about old Hollywood.

Stances

  • Practical Magic is a fantastic movie
  • Paths of Glory sits very close to Strangelove
  • Kubrick cared about commercial success more than critics

Humor: Dry, deadpan, quick with a pop-culture analogy.

In their words

  • “Practical Magic is a fantastic movie.” (0:15:30)
  • “I can give you some context, Griff, or do we want to talk about the plot?” (0:32:05)
  • “I grew up in the United Kingdom.” (0:05:36)

Blank Check — Patreon: The Killing with Patton Oswalt (Ad-Free) (host)

Film nerd with deep catalog knowledge: Sinatra rights, Oscar oddities, the 1956 box office. Fond of noirs like I Wake Up Screaming and relishes obscure trivia; not a fan of Victor Mature or The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Stances

  • Hollywood in 1956 is bloated by epics
  • Kubrick wins on lens and style but fights Ballard
  • The movie is a psychologically lofty B movie

Humor: Sets up trivia as a bit and plays along with the jokes about his own name in Crime Wave.

In their words

  • “Oh, shout out to me.” (0:17:08)
  • “I just, I need to film nerd correct you.” (0:14:27)
  • “it is like a psychologically lofty, uh, uh, B movie.” (1:21:30)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Their claims

Showing 401–500 of 1,091 claims.

  1. lineage (lineage): Eraserhead → The Meteors. The Meteors are named among the bands who covered the Eraserhead song.
    “The meteors would do it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:02:47 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): Eraserhead → The Pixies. The Pixies covered the Eraserhead song, on one of the John Peel records.
    “Yeah, the pixies, it's on one of the John Peel records, I think.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:02:53 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Jack Fisk → Killers of the Flower Moon. Fisk's latest Oscar nomination was for building a town for Flower Moon, but he lost to Poor Things.
    “Which is he built a fucking town.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:34:07 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. people (people): Caleb Deschanel → Gardenback. Deschanel wanted to shoot Lynch's Gardenback script at AFI.
    “The cinematographer wants to shoot this film.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:43:23 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. people (people): Jack Fisk → Terrence Malick. Fisk, who plays in Eraserhead, worked with Malick, who was friends with a man Lynch showed footage to.
    “Obviously, Jack Fisk has worked with Terrence Malik.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:51:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. career (career): Frederick Elmes → Blue Velvet. Elmes replaced the first cinematographer on Eraserhead and later shot Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and worked with Ang Lee.
    “shot blue velvety, shot wild at heart, works with Ang Li.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:54:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. craft (craft): Pleasantville → Randy Newman. Pleasantville is described with a tree catching fire under the swelling strings of Randy Newman, who scored it.
    “It teaches his mom how to masturbate and then a tree catches on fire to the swelling strings of Randy Newman.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:27:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. lineage (lineage): H.R. Giger → Eraserhead. Giger called Eraserhead one of his big eye-opening moments, and Lynch later accused him of stealing his ideas.
    “H.R. Gigger, loves this movie, says it's one of his, like, you know, big eye-opening moments in his life”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:29:28 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  9. industry (industry): Ben Barenholtz → Pink Flamingos. Barenholtz of Libra Films, a midnight-movie distributor, had already handled Pink Flamingos before he bought Eraserhead.
    “He had distributed like pink flamingos, the John Waters movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:44:28 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. industry (industry): Ben Barenholtz → Eraserhead. Barenholtz phoned to buy the film halfway through a screening and it played 15 to 20 cities by word of mouth.
    “Halfway through the screening, he gets on the phone and is like, by this movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:44:31 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. industry (industry): Eraserhead → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In the box office game, Close Encounters was the number one film in the Eraserhead period.
    “Number one of the box office is a film that came out in 1977.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:45:48 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  12. industry (industry): Eraserhead → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars was only number nine in the box-office game for the Eraserhead release period.
    “Not Star Wars, which is number 9 at the box.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:46:00 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): Antonio Banderas → The 13th Warrior. Banderas is miscast in a realism-minded role: the film tamps down his flamboyance and musicality.
    “I think this movie's aiming for sort of realism that hurts him.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:48:51 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): The 13th Warrior → Tom Savini. McTiernan's R-rated reshoots bolted on gore effects in the vein of Tom Savini, though there are not many of them.
    “just doing like Tom Savini gags, which, yeah, there aren't even that many.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:00:32 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. people (people): Michael Crichton → Jerry Goldsmith. Crichton, who took control of the cut, replaced Graeme Revell's score with one from Jerry Goldsmith, whom he called his guy.
    “We're getting Jerry Goldsmith, who's like my guy and we'll give you swelling orchestral medieval music”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:02:39 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. 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)
  17. 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)
  18. unmapped (shared work ethic): Michael Fassbender → Daniel Craig. Fincher says Fassbender is like Daniel Craig: both keep asking for more takes.
    “He says, Fincher says he's like Daniel Craig.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:55:43 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  19. 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)
  20. people (casting-director crush): Arliss Howard → Men Don't Leave. Laray Mayfield told David she has had a crush on Arliss Howard since Men Don't Leave.
    “She cited this movie that he's in as like a romantic lead, I think.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:03:12 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  21. industry (Oscar season 2020): Mank → Nomadland. Nomadland and Mank are both nominees in the pandemic Oscar year.
    “Nomadland certainly fell into that trap, I think.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:05:01 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. unmapped (rebuttal): Pauline Kael → Peter Bogdanovich. Bogdanovich wrote a big rebuttal essay to Kael's Raising Kane.
    “Peter McDanovich famously wrote a big rebuttal essay.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:38:45 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. unmapped (subject): William Randolph Hearst → Citizen Kane. Mankiewicz's script was a thinly veiled attack on his friend Hearst.
    “I'm going to make fun of my my pal, Jordan, you know, William Randall first.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:39:21 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. unmapped (documentary then drama): The Battle Over Citizen Kane → RKO 281. David says the documentary was then remade, and he watched both; he means RKO 281.
    “Battle over Citizen Kane is also the excellent documentary that then was remake.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:42:18 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  25. unmapped (history as Shakespeare): The Social Network → Mank. Sorkin's Social Network uses Zuckerberg like Shakespeare riffs on kings, as the Mank makers use film history.
    “I think, like, uh, the Finchers and Eric Roth and old men are all doing the same thing here”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:02:33 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. people (shared crew): Erik Messerschmidt → David Fincher. Messerschmidt shot Mindhunter and then Mank, his first Fincher feature.
    “It's the 1st time he's working with Venture film wise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:12:44 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  27. lineage (visual influence): Citizen Kane → Mank. 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)
  28. people (same writer-director question): Mank → The Social Network. Griffin says Mank is a talkie without the entertaining dialogue of The Social Network.
    “It's a talkie movie, but a talking movie without having the kind of like wildly entertaining dialogue of a social network.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:14:55 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. people (shared actor): Tuppence Middleton → Possessor. Tuppence Middleton was in Possessor and Mank, then Downton Abbey 2.
    “Instead, it's like, she was in possessor and mank.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:17:34 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  30. unmapped (Netflix black and white): Mank → Roma. Netflix is where you go for a script nobody else wants and for a black and white movie: Roma, Mank, Blonde, Maestro.
    “Not only is Netflix the place you go to for your script that nobody else wants to buy, but it's where you go and you want to make your black and white movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:18:33 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. unmapped (black and white): Mank → Nebraska. Studios' old resistance to black and white (TV, VHS, foreign sales) shown by Nebraska's regrade for Paramount.
    “Especially when so much of Studios opposition to black and white movies was it doesn't play on TV.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:18:42 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. craft (score style): Bernard Herrmann → Trent Reznor. Reznor and Ross wrote a 1940s-style old-school score using period instruments.
    “this like 40s style old school Edward Herman score”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:23:06 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  33. craft (score pastiche): Max Steiner → Trent Reznor. Reznor and Ross's score is called a self-conscious recreation of 1940s scoring, as if doing Max Steiner or Miklos Rozsa.
    “It's obviously like a self-conscious recreation of something, but to just be like, yeah, I'm doing Max Steiner.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:23:22 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  34. unmapped (rosebud theory): RKO 281 → Mank. David asks whether Mank's denial of the Rosebud explanation answers RKO 281; Sean says it is a really popular theory instead.
    “Do you think that's just directly responding to a 20-year-old HBO TV movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:42:23 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  35. unmapped (Hollywood scum): Babylon → Mank. Both films treat the decision-makers of old Hollywood as scum who exploit creative people.
    “I think that both of those movies are about the people who are effectively in decision making roles in Hollywood are scum.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:53:14 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  36. unmapped (drunk movies): The Lost Weekend → Leaving Las Vegas. Speakers list drunk-protagonist films: Leaving Las Vegas, The Way Back, the Hangover trilogy.
    “There aren't enough movies these days about guys who get hammered drunk.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:04:11 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  37. unmapped (gaffer to DP): Erik Messerschmidt → Ferrari. Gone Girl's gaffer is now the director of photography on Ferrari (and Mindhunter, Mank, The Killer).
    “He also is now the DP on Michael Mans Ferrari.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:43:35 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  38. unmapped (hired a lighting mind): Michael Mann → Erik Messerschmidt. Mann told the speaker he likes Messerschmidt because he was a gaffer and cinematography is lighting.
    “And he was like, you know why I like that guy because he was a gaffer. And to me, cinematography is all lighting and no one understands lighting anymore.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:43:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  39. industry (opening-weekend rival): Gone Girl → Annabelle. Gone Girl and Annabelle opened to almost the same money.
    “Two movies opening to the same amount of money, essentially.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:50:30 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  40. unmapped (template): The Muppets → Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. The Force Awakens uses the Muppets' fan-driven legacy reboot as its template.
    “it feels like Force Awakens is using that as the template.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 2:38:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  41. theme (attitude / genre): The Social Network → Dumb Money. Dumb Money has no pretension of being the next Social Network but its attitude is that of the earlier film; the speakers say the film became a genre.
    “there's nothing about that movie's attitude that's like, this is the next social network, but the attitude of that movie is like social network.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:11:03 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  42. lineage (closest descendant): The Social Network → Blackberry. Blackberry is named as the only movie to come close to The Social Network in the 13 years since.
    “I think Blackberry is the only thing that has come close and then now 13 years since this movie came out.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:11:24 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. people (shared writer): The Social Network → Moneyball. Moneyball is set aside as a Sorkin script written after The Social Network, so it does not count as a successor.
    “Don't count those, right? Because those are Sorkin scripts.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:11:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  44. people (shared writer): The Social Network → Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is set aside as a Sorkin script written after The Social Network, so it does not count as a successor.
    “Don't count those, right? Because those are Sorkin scripts.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:11:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  45. lineage (ripped off): The Social Network → The Big Short. 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)
  46. unmapped (adapted from): 21 (Ben Mezrich book) → 21. Kevin Spacey bought the rights to Mezrich's book, which became the movie 21.
    “Kevin Spacey bought the rights to Ben Mazrich's book that became the movie 21, which he costarred and produced.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:14:53 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  47. lineage (loose adaptation): The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) → The Social Network. The film is technically an adapted screenplay but the speakers say Sorkin was working from the same research and the book proposal, not using the book as a template.
    “But it's basically like this movie is using the same research that the book has called rather than Aaron Sorkin reading this book and using it as a template if that makes sense.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:15:37 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  48. 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)
  49. unmapped (title sequences): Tim Miller → David Fincher. Miller worked with Fincher a lot and did many of his title sequences.
    “Tim Miller, who eventually makes the Deadpool movie, but worked with Fincher a lot and did a lot of his title sequences and such.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:20:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  50. unmapped (became): Seared (unmade) → Kitchen Confidential (series). Fincher's Seared later became the TV show Kitchen Confidential, based on Anthony Bourdain's writing.
    “One point Fincher was attached to a movie called Seared, which later becomes a television show called Kitchen Confidential, because it is based on Anthony Bourdain's writing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:21:05 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  51. unmapped (became): Chef (Fincher/Keanu Reeves version, unmade) → Burnt. Fincher's unmade Chef project eventually becomes Burnt.
    “Uh, that transmutes and takes form and eventually becomes burnt.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:21:31 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  52. people (performance model): Max Landis → Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. David's pet theory is that Eisenberg chose to play Max Landis as Lex Luthor.
    “It also feels like he chose to play Max Landis more than he chose to play.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:44:48 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  53. contrast (contrast): David Fincher → Aaron Sorkin. Fincher's technical precision is set against Sorkin's play-it-fast-and-loose habits.
    “Fincher's technical precision, very difficult, uh, very different from Sorkin's hole, play fast and loose.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:46:37 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. unmapped (obsessive detail): The Social Network → Zodiac. Fincher's Bex for the beer in The Social Network is linked to his stickler's hunt for the pen Graysmith would have used in Zodiac.
    “I remember reading some piece about zodiac when it came out and they talked about him being a stickler about like, what is the actual pen that Robert Graysmith would have used at his desk.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:49:46 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  55. contrast (tonal contrast): The Social Network → 21. The Social Network is set against 21, a fun story about rebels, in tone.
    “in opposition to something like 21 where it's like a fun story about a fucking a bunch of rebels.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:08:05 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  56. unmapped (many takes): David Fincher → Stanley Kubrick. Fincher's 100 takes are compared to Kubrick as a search for something that surprises the director, not a fixed target.
    “It's sort of, much like we talked about, Kubrick, where it's like, he's not doing 100 takes looking for them to achieve a thing he's waiting for.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:35:26 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. lineage (sequel): Wall Street → Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a long-awaited legacy sequel to an Oscar-winning 80s drama.
    “a much minded sequel, long-awaited, a legacy sequel of sorts, to a Oscar winning 80s drama.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:46:56 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  58. lineage (remake): Let Me In (original film, unnamed) → Let Me In. Let Me In is called one of the better American remakes of a perfect movie that never needed remaking.
    “Obviously not as good as the original, but one of the better American remakes of a perfect movie that never needed to be remake.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:50:13 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  59. unmapped (cheap knockoff joke): Alpha and Omega → Balto. Alpha and Omega is joked to be Balto runoff.
    “It's sort of Balto runoff?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:50:47 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  60. unmapped (cheap knockoff joke): Alpha and Omega → The Land Before Time. Alpha and Omega is joked to be the new Land Before Time.
    “Alpha Omega is the new land before time.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:50:51 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)
  61. verdict (verdict): Quentin Tarantino → The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Tarantino said on a Video Archives episode this was the Wilder film to end on.
    “this is the one he should have ended on.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:05:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  62. people (first-choice director): Michael Mann → Shame (The Motels video). Martha Davis first wanted Michael Mann (after The Keep); he was unavailable and her agent suggested Fincher.
    “originally expressed interest in working with Michael Mann after seeing his 1983 film The Keep.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 0:13:44 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  63. unmapped (song in film): Gypsy Kings → Toy Story 3. The Gypsy Kings did a Spanish rendition of You've Got a Friend in Me for Toy Story 3.
    “the Gypsy Kings did a rendition of, you've got a friend in me for Toy Story 3”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 0:56:52 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  64. industry (awards rival): Real Love (Jody Watley video) → Express Yourself (Madonna video). Real Love lost the best-direction VMA to Express Yourself, also Fincher's.
    “because he lost to a video directed by, let me check my notes here. David Fincher.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:05:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  65. lineage (visual homage): All That Jazz → Cold Hearted (Paula Abdul video). A host reads that Cold Hearted was inspired by All That Jazz, and another says it directly references it.
    “this film was uh, inspired by all that jazz, her belly button's exposed.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:14:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  66. unmapped (novel adapted): James Ellroy → The Black Dahlia. Fincher circled the Black Dahlia, which is based on an Ellroy novel.
    “And then Fincher starts circling the Black Dahlia, based on a James Roy novel, Elroy novel.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:38:33 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  67. unmapped (replaced Fincher): The Black Dahlia → Brian De Palma. After studios balked at a miniseries, De Palma took over the project.
    “Back then, studios balked at that kind of idea, and Brian de Palma takes over.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:39:11 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  68. unmapped (made by someone else): Catch Me If You Can → Steven Spielberg. Fincher was linked to Catch Me If You Can, which Spielberg made.
    “which Spielberg makes.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:41:24 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  69. unmapped (made by someone else): Confessions of a Dangerous Mind → George Clooney. Fincher was linked to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which Clooney eventually made.
    “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which George Clooney eventually makes.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:41:26 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  70. unmapped (carried-over injury): Moulin Rouge! → Panic Room. Kidman's knee was injured on Moulin Rouge and not healed, and she reinjured it on Panic Room.
    “The whole thing with her knee was that she had actually injured at making Milan Rouge and not known.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:50:06 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  71. theme (comparison (Fincher's words)): Nicole Kidman → Grace Kelly. Fincher compares Kidman to Grace Kelly, glamour and physicality, versus Foster, who is about her eyes.
    “as Fincher puts it, you know, your, you know, Nicole Kidman, Grace Kelly.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:55:00 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  72. unmapped (turned down): Jodie Foster → Hannibal. Foster turned down $15 million to be in Hannibal, calling it gross, and was attacked in the press.
    “Jody Foster had famously to turn down $15 million to be in Hannibal because she thought it was.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:59:13 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  73. unmapped (offered to direct): Forest Whitaker → Panic Room. Whitaker was offered the Panic Room script to direct before Fincher came on.
    “Do you know, at one point, he was offered this script to direct earlier before Fentrick came on?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 1:10:30 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  74. unmapped (formative pick): Alex Ross Perry → Fight Club. Perry's last three picks are called the building blocks of his entire personality, Fight Club among them.
    “It's a new trilogy of movies that basically are the building blocks of your entire personality.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:06:04 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  75. unmapped (brought Fincher on): Kevin Spacey → The Social Network. 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)
  76. theme (Douglas persona): The Game → Falling Down. Fincher, in the dossier, lists the Falling Down fascist among Douglas's friction.
    “he stole the fascist from falling down.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:28:04 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  77. theme (Douglas persona): The Game → Fatal Attraction. Fincher, in the dossier, lists the Fatal Attraction adulterer among Douglas's friction.
    “The adulterer from Fatal Attraction.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:28:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  78. unmapped (R-rated proof): Seven → The Game. Se7en's hit status as an R-rated film convinced the backers to fund The Game.
    “I think convinced, um, people like, okay, like, you can make an R-rated movie a hit.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:33:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  79. industry (distributor): Polygram → The Game. The Game was Polygram's main attempt at a blockbuster distributor.
    “No, this was basically their main attempt at becoming a blockbuster distributor themselves.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:33:30 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  80. industry (control and budget arc): Alien 3 → The Game. Alien 3 had money but no control; The Game is where Fincher gets both.
    “Alien 3 is a lot of money, but they don't give them a lot of control.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:34:40 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  81. contrast (budget contrast): Panic Room → The Game. Panic Room cost 48 million five years later, against The Game's 70 million.
    “it is wild that 5 years later, panic room costs 48.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:35:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  82. unmapped (tried to revive): The Sky Is Falling (unmade) → Gore Verbinski. Verbinski later tried and failed to launch it as well.
    “Gore Verbinsky later tries to take it up”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:39:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  83. unmapped (attached then passed): The Crowded Room (unmade film) → Joel Schumacher. Schumacher first tried to make The Crowded Room with Pitt and kicked it to Fincher.
    “Joel Schumacher was also was first trying to make it, I think, with Pitt.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:40:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  84. unmapped (wrote spec script): John Brancato → The Game. Brancato and Ferris wrote The Game on spec before Fincher took it over.
    “it was written on spec by these guys, John Brancato, Michael Ferris”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:40:59 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  85. unmapped (company): David Fincher → Propaganda Films. Propaganda was Fincher's music video company.
    “David Fincher's music video companies.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:42:58 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  86. unmapped (company): Dominic Sena → Propaganda Films. Dominic Sena was a Propaganda co-founder.
    “Yes, along with Dominic Senna.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:43:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  87. unmapped (ownership): Polygram → Propaganda Films. Polygram invested in Propaganda Films and eventually bought it outright.
    “They eventually bought propaganda outright.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:43:24 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  88. theme (dismissed comparison): The Game → The Most Dangerous Game. Fincher first wondered if the script was a Most Dangerous Game thing, and was relieved it wasn't.
    “oh, is it like a most dangerous game kind of thing?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:43:29 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  89. unmapped (script doctor): Andrew Kevin Walker → The Game. Fincher brought in the writer of Se7en to fix the script.
    “Andrew Kevin Walker, the writer of seven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:44:09 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  90. contrast (contrast): The Game → Panic Room. Fincher called Panic Room the experiment in keeping the audience in perfect lockstep, unlike The Game.
    “that's my experiment making a movie where you're in perfect lockstep.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:44:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  91. unmapped (star power): Brad Pitt → Seven. Pitt's wish to make Se7en bumped it ahead of The Game.
    “Brad Pitt's like, I want to make seven, and so seven like happens, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:28 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  92. unmapped (commercial lead-in): Seven → The Game. Se7en's success gave Fincher an absurd budget for The Game.
    “this is better for me because now I can make this movie at an absurd budget.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:35 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  93. unmapped (template): The Game → A Christmas Carol. Fincher's own framing, as quoted in the dossier, is that The Game is A Christmas Carol and Nick is Scrooge.
    “it's a Christmas carol.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:52 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  94. theme (genre mashup): The Game → It's a Wonderful Life. Calls the film Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life.
    “Kafka's it's a wonderful life.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:50:34 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  95. unmapped (led to): Jodie Foster → Panic Room. The Game casting fell through, and Panic Room happened because she still wanted to work with Fincher.
    “Panic room ends up happening because of how badly she still wanted to work with Venture”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:56:56 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  96. people (composer): Howard Shore → The Game. The score is by Howard Shore.
    “Great Howard Short score.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:08:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  97. craft (early scores): Howard Shore → David Fincher. Shore does all of Fincher's early scores.
    “He does all of Fincher's early scores and they're so good.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:08:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  98. unmapped (successor): Howard Shore → Trent Reznor. Shore scored Fincher before Reznor takes over.
    “before he jumps over to Rezner.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:08:22 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  99. career (career start): Howard Shore → Lorne Michaels. Shore was Saturday Night Live's first music director, a Lorne Michaels guy.
    “He is a Lorne Michaels guy who then became like weird, like thriller score guy”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:09:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  100. unmapped (same city): The Game → Zodiac. Both are San Francisco movies.
    “I mean, obviously Zodiac is another... This is 2 SF movies.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:22:41 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 101–200 of 378 fun items.

  1. fun, about The Judge: The judge's tell is that he forgets his bailiff's name; the hosts say it is set up in the first scene and is open and shut at trial, yet they convict him anyway.
    “The bailiff who he's had at his side for like 30 years.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:09:17 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Judge: David would take a dumb spaceship movie over a dumb adult drama, and notes The Judge has no spaceships.
    “I'd rather take a dumb spaceship movie than a dumb adult drama.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:10:26 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Warner Bros.: The Judge's tornado father-son fight is a Man of Steel homage, so Warner Bros. is the go-to studio for father-and-son tornado fights.
    “Warner Brothers has become the go to studios for tornado fights.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:20:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: Pitch to Downey for an Oscar: play Buster Keaton, whose voice was a gravelly surprise after MGM made him do talkies with Jimmy Durante.
    “He'd be great old, sad Buster Keaton.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:24:49 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Matt Damon: David wrote a sarcastic Atlantic article about the Great Wall poster and Damon blamed his own disappointment on the magazine.
    “I wrote a sarcastic article and then Matt Damon gave an interviewer.”
    The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate with Blank Check’s Griffin Newman and David Sims · 0:17:11 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Joel Kinnaman: Kinnaman said his dad, an American soldier, deserted during Vietnam and ended up in Sweden; he spoke English with his dad and Swedish with his mom.
    “I spoke English with my dad in Swedish with my mom.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:19:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - suit: The first suit reveal got an awful response a week or two into filming, so the production panicked and had two weeks to build a second, 80s-style suit that could fit only 15 to 20 minutes of the film.
    “the production panicked when the 1st photos came out and the response was so bad”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:34:47 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - anatomy: The film answers the question: he does not have a dick.
    “They do answer the question, he does not have a dick.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:40:04 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Jackie Earle Haley: Haley told the host while filming The Tick that he was proud of this performance because it was a different thing he doesn't usually get.
    “was like really proud of this performance”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:45:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - Hocus Pocus: The training montage plays Focus's Hocus Pocus, one of the few things the hosts like.
    “Hocus pocus by focus.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - Bing: Product placement for Microsoft Bing in a Sony movie.
    “Microsoft Bing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:49:05 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - ending: The final showdown is Keaton holding the wife and son at gunpoint on a rooftop helipad to get away in a helicopter.
    “The final showdown of this movie is Michael Keaton holding Alex Murphy's wife and sonic gunpoint on the rooftop helipad.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:46:11 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Michael K. Williams: Casting people loved The Wire and Omar and kept giving him small parts.
    “he can play the ninth character.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:50:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Samuel L. Jackson: The film ends with Jackson saying good night; the host jokes that his favorite part of his movies is when he doesn't say motherfucker.
    “It's my favorite part of his movies is when he doesn't say motherfucker.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:55:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - sequel: Neill Blomkamp was attached to a sequel and Neumeier and Miner came back with an old-man script called RoboCop Returns; it never happened.
    “Yeah, it was called Robocop Returns.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:57:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Endless Love: Opened at $13 million; the 1981 original starred Brooke Shields and was Tom Cruise's first screen performance.
    “because the original is a Brooke Shields movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 2:01:46 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about RoboCop (2014) - the hosts' ranking: All four films ranked: original is a clear number one; the hosts put 2 mildly above or below 3.
    “I would say there's a pretty clear number one in the ranking of Robocop.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 2:04:34 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Perfect Dark: The Game Boy Camera cross-compatibility feature that was cut before release.
    “So Nintendo Power magazine announced, this is going to have some cross-compatibility with a Nintendo 64”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:23:27 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Jack Fisk: Fisk, Lynch's high school friend and production designer, plays the Man in the Planet in Eraserhead.
    “plays as we all know, plays the man in the planet in Eraserhead.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:33:48 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Six Men Getting Sick: Lynch's first proper short is a one-minute film of casts of Jack Fisk's head throwing up; it earned him a $1000 grant.
    “It's a one minute film of these like weird casts of Jack Fisk's head throwing up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:40:41 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Gardenback: Fox offered $50,000 to expand Lynch's 45-page script; Lynch asked what people would say to each other to fill it out.
    “Fox is like, we'll give you 50 grand if you want to turn this into a feature.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:43:30 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Grimace: Grimace started as a villainous milkshake thief with forearms and a mean face; Grimacey is the green Shamrock Shake cousin.
    “Grimace was always purple, but he originally had forearms and a mean face.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:47:58 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Eraserhead: Shot on weekends over years, the production cost Lynch his first marriage within the first year.
    “So his 1st marriage does not survive the 1st year production on Eraserhead.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:50:03 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Eraserhead: A financier friend of Malick watched scenes, stood up trembling and screamed that people don't act like that.
    “People don't talk like that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:51:26 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Jack Nance: Lynch hired Nance after Nance admired the wooden rack Lynch built on his Volkswagen.
    “And Lynch said, thank you, Jack, I did that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:52:18 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Eraserhead: Lynch told Nance to play Henry as a blank; the more expression emptied out, the closer they got.
    “The more you can empty out the closer we're getting.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:52:56 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Lady in the Radiator: She wasn't in the script; Lynch drew her sitting in the food room and then saw the radiator in his head.
    “I drew a picture of her and I didn't know where it came from, and then I saw the radiator in my head.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:55:41 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Eraserhead: Lynch never says how the baby was made; guess is organs from the butcher.
    “he won't really talk about how they made the baby or what it's made of.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 0:56:15 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about H.R. Giger: Giger tried to work with Lynch once and Lynch told him he'd stolen all his ideas.
    “tried to work with Lynch once and Lynch was like you stole all my ideas.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:29:28 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Eraserhead: After rejections from Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and the New York Film Festival, a bad Variety review at Filmex led Lynch to cut about 20 minutes.
    “Lynch then cuts about 20 minutes out of the movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 1:43:34 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Ben Hosley: Ben plays with a metal slinky in front of the microphone while the show wraps; the editor will have to clean it up.
    “Ben says as he plays with the slunky directly in front of the microphone.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eraserhead (Ad-Free) · 2:07:47 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  32. 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)
  33. fun, about Andrew Kevin Walker: Fincher's 2008 approach to Walker: backstory is overrated.
    “He's like, I think backstory is overrated.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:14:43 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about Andrew Kevin Walker: Fincher pitched Walker a five-chapter plan for The Killer in 2008, nothing happened for ten years, then in 2018 he recited it back word for word and said he was set up at Netflix. Walker told this at the Q&A.
    “And then 2018, he goes, do you remember that killer thing?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:15:39 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about Michael Fassbender: Fincher keeps card catalogs of actors by type; he filed Fassbender as romantic lead, sociopath after Prometheus.
    “He has these card catalogs and he said, like, romantic lead, sociopath.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:30:44 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about Michael Fassbender: Halfway through the shoot Fassbender told Fincher he finally got it: precision modeling, holding a head position for long takes.
    “And Fastbender went precision modeling.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:55:01 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about Michael Fassbender: Fincher says he cited two Fassbender movies from 11 years earlier, and jokes about his own speed.
    “Fincher was like, yeah, 2 movies from 11 years ago.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 1:17:18 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them)
  38. 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)
  39. fun, about Arliss Howard: Casting director Laray Mayfield told David she has had a crush on Arliss Howard since Men Don't Leave.
    “David, I've had like a crush on Arliss Howard, basically, since like the 90s.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:03:05 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about Gary Oldman: Casting director Laray Mayfield: Herman was 'beat to shit', so Oldman's age doesn't matter.
    “But then she says, but look, Herman was beat to shit.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:58:16 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Messerschmidt: He refused to shoot noir: low to the ground, lots of deep focus, evoking Citizen Kane.
    “I don't want to do a noir movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:12:53 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about Nebraska: Alexander Payne shot Nebraska in color then regraded it; Paramount had the contractual option to sell the color version.
    “And they shot that movie in full color.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:18:59 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  43. fun, about Mank sound: Sound mixer Ren Klyce projected the film in a scoring room at Skywalker and recorded the echo back into the mix.
    “they would like project the movie and set up microphones and record the echo and then mix it into the movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:22:27 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  44. fun, about Mank score: Each musician recorded their part at home during COVID with a mic they were sent; Reznor and Ross assembled it.
    “each, um, uh, musician individually recorded their part in their house with a microphone they were sent”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:22:48 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  45. fun, about Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross: David's interview: Reznor opens as 'This is Trent Reznor', Atticus is the fun one in London.
    “Trent Resner's like, hello, this is Trent Resner.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:23:51 · David Sims (0.70 sure it was them)
  46. fun, about Rin Tin Tin: Punished with a Rin Tin Tin picture, Mank turned in a script about a dog frightened by a mouse and a burning house.
    “he turned in a script that began with a dog frightened by a mouse and had the climax of a house on fire”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:35:46 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  47. fun, about Kane (WWE): WWE's Kane started as a Christmas creature in a candy cane-striped costume.
    “was a Christmas themed monster called the Christmas creature”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:39:44 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  48. fun, about Mank: Fincher on credit: the distilled version of importance, 'a 10 pound bushel of amoebas'.
    “he calls it credit is, um, the distilled version of importance.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:55:12 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  49. fun, about Dakin Matthews: The True Grit line, 'He loves to pull the cork', is Ben's favorite scene.
    “He loves to pull the cork.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 1:59:27 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  50. fun, about Come Play: The original title was Dick Cheese; in France it was Sticky Fingers.
    “the original title of the film was Dick Cheese”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:20:43 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  51. fun, about Ammonite: A poster pull quote read 'Get out of here', from David himself.
    “Get out of here, says David Sims of the Atlantic.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 2:24:22 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  52. fun, about Erik Messerschmidt: Michael Mann told the speaker he likes Messerschmidt (Gone Girl's gaffer, now DP on Ferrari) because cinematography is all lighting.
    “to me, cinematography is all lighting and no one understands lighting anymore.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:43:46 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  53. fun, about Christopher Plummer: David's hot take: the best 80s of any actor.
    “Best 80s of any actor.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 1:27:45 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  54. fun, about The Muppets: The Muppets as the original legacy sequel, the template for Force Awakens.
    “it feels like Force Awakens is using that as the template.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner (Ad-Free) · 2:38:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  55. fun, about Torso (unmade): Fincher wanted Torso in black and white and the project fell apart.
    “Fincher wanted to shoot it in black and white. Project falls apart because of that.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:18:21 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  56. fun, about The Social Network: The 166-page script was too long for Sony; Fincher and Sorkin read it aloud against a stopwatch and it came out at two hours.
    “And Fincher was like, you and me are going to sit down and read the script.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:50:41 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. fun, about The Social Network: Sony pushed Jonah Hill for Sean Parker; Fincher wanted Timberlake.
    “Sony wanted Jonah Hill to play Sean Parker.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 0:55:48 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  58. fun, about Armie Hammer: The twin effect (Hammer plus Josh Pence's body) is called one of Fincher's most impressive technical feats, though the 4K shows a little deep-fake tracking on big moves.
    “honestly, maybe one of the most impressive things Fincher has ever done technically.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:01:18 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  59. fun, about Kiefer Sutherland: Kiefer Sutherland was still sore years later about not being cast as Zuckerberg.
    “was still angry about the fact that he had not gotten cast as Mark Zuckerberg in this film.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:14:32 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  60. fun, about Jesse Eisenberg: Fincher gave Eisenberg a list of things Mark is terrified of in a scene: proximity, eye contact, direct confrontation.
    “I want to remind you the 4 things you're terrified by in this scene.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:25:30 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)
  61. fun, about Douglas Urbanski: Urbanski, the non-actor who plays Larry Summers, says in an interview he did not study Summers at all.
    “He says, I didn't study Larry Summers for the role because I quote, I couldn't be less interested in Larry Summers.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 1:50:33 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  62. fun, about The Social Network: Harvard did not want them filming and they shot mostly elsewhere.
    “Harvard didn't want them to. So they mostly use John Hopkins, Johns Hopkins, but of course, the shot through Cambridge”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:41:57 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)
  63. fun, about David Fincher: Studio asked for 200 grand and Fincher said he needed 40 million; he argues he never rents gear he will not use.
    “I know also when he signed on to do this movie, I think Pascal was like, we have this budget for $200000 and Fincher was like, I need 40.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:43:59 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)
  64. fun, about Trent Reznor: Interviewing the Mank crew, Reznor was soft-spoken and tough to draw out, while Atticus Ross was the opposite.
    “And Attics Ross is the most lovely, garrulous British guy ever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network (Ad-Free) · 2:45:53 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  65. fun, about Zodiac: Zodiac was released at Cannes two months after it bombed, to Fincher's confusion.
    “They put it at Cann, 2 months as Griffin is saying, after it had bombed, even to Fincher's confusion.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:18:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  66. fun, about Rick Springfield: Springfield owns one of the great Star Wars action figure collections, though by his own admission he is more a figure fan than a movie fan; the hosts tie it to Fincher's Return of the Jedi credit.
    “Rick Springfield has one of the greatest Star Wars action figure collections in the world.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 0:07:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  67. fun, about Shame (The Motels video): Martha Davis wanted Michael Mann after The Keep; he was unavailable, so her agent suggested Fincher.
    “After man proved unavailable, Davis's agent recommended Fincher instead.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 0:13:57 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  68. fun, about David Fincher: A host says Fincher thinks the death of the music video cost a generation of visually distinctive filmmakers their training ground.
    “the death of the music video has really been at the expense of a new generation of visually distinctive filmmakers coming up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 0:32:11 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  69. fun, about David Fincher: Fincher is the most nominated and most winning director at the VMAs; his last video, Suit & Tie, was his final win.
    “Did you know that David Fincher is the most nominated and most winningest VMA for best direction director ever?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:05:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  70. fun, about Saw VI: Saw VI's victim is a health insurance claims adjuster who denied Jigsaw's claim, which David finds satisfying.
    “Now, Saw 6 is the one where, um, uh, a health insurance claims adjuster is the one being tortured.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 2:28:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  71. fun, about Panic Room: The new New York studio the show records in turned out to be a built panic room, windowless and fortress-like.
    “And we found out this was, in fact, intended to be a panic room.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:19:40 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  72. fun, about Nicole Kidman: If Fincher had shut the film down after Kidman's injury, the insurance would have paid out a profit.
    “They basically, I mean, the numbers I saw, there was some sort of calculation of like, if they had shut the movie down and just never started filming again, they would have made $3000000 off the insurance.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:51:42 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  73. fun, about Michael Douglas: Douglas was 53 when he made the film, playing a man about to turn 48.
    “Okay. He was 53.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:17:03 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  74. fun, about The Game: Fincher on Douglas, as read from the dossier: the story is a little prurient and sadistic because you enjoy the central character's suffering, and nobody embraces that as eagerly as Douglas.
    “You want to see him learn a lesson, and nobody embraces that quite as eagerly as Michael Douglas.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:27:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  75. fun, about The Sky Is Falling (unmade): Fincher's post-Se7en idea: two clerics on a dig find proof that God is dead and are hunted by a terminally ill hitman.
    “Two clerics on an archaeological dig, discover proof that God is actually dead.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:39:54 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  76. fun, about The Game: Fincher wanted the audience to have nothing to hold on to; he calls it a movie about movies, where the protagonist doesn't know how to act like a movie star.
    “It's a movie about movies.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:43:58 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  77. fun, about Jodie Foster: She wanted to play the waitress; Fincher said she was too famous; she suggested sister, then daughter, then Douglas refused to play her father; she was written out and sued.
    “She then filed a huge lawsuit saying she was supposed to be in it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:58:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  78. fun, about Daniel Schorr: The newscaster is Daniel Schorr, whose last NPR broadcast was July 10, 2010; he died July 23, 2010, at 93.
    “His last broadcast on NPR, Saturday, July 10th, 2010.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:04:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  79. fun, about Harris Savides: Savides had sworn off features after Heaven's Prisoners, and Fincher basically had to beg him to shoot The Game.
    “And Fincher had to basically beg him to do this.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:28:13 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  80. fun, about Mark Boone Junior: His first credit is 1983's Variety, as a porn customer; here he looks the cleanest the hosts have ever seen him.
    “His 1st credit is 83.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:39:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  81. fun, about The Game: Not in print for a long time (a Polygram issue, per a host); the Criterion Blu-ray in 2012 carried features shot during production for Criterion.
    “This is a movie that was like not in print for a very long time.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:56:44 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  82. fun, about The Game: Shot over 100 days, mostly at night; the airbag scene was shot three weeks in.
    “It was a long shoot, 100 days, most of it at night.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 1:57:13 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  83. fun, about The Game: Opened September 12, 1997, number one with 14 million; made 109 million worldwide against Se7en's 327 million.
    “Um, the film opened September 12, 1997 Griffin.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 2:01:49 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  84. fun, about The Full Monty: At 5 weeks in 387 theaters it was on its way to a best picture nomination; one host picked it down the ballot at an Oscar party against Titanic.
    “This film was nominated for best picture.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 2:11:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  85. fun, about Panic Room: The three-disc Panic Room DVD is called the most comprehensive special-feature package for any movie ever, and the movie is not on Blu-ray.
    “peak DVD Fincher being like every single 2nd of this will be documented.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ with Matt Singer (Ad-Free) · 0:12:22 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  86. fun, about Jordan Cronenweth: The first cinematographer was diagnosed with Parkinson's weeks in, barely shot anything, but set the look; Alex Thomson took over, and the son later became Fincher's DP.
    “He barely shot anything, but he set the look that then was continued.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ with Matt Singer (Ad-Free) · 1:15:37 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
  87. fun, about Sally: Thompson's job was to write Sally's story; Griffin guesses pre-Thompson Sally mooned over Jack.
    “The thing I had to do was write Sally's story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:32:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  88. fun, about Henry Selick: Selick on Burton: five set visits in two years, 8 to 10 hours total; 'it was like me adapting a book that was never actually written.'
    “it was like me adapting a book that was never actually written.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  89. fun, about Tim Burton: Burton and Selick fought over the Oogie ending (Scooby-Doo reveal that he's Finkelstein); the fight reportedly ruined an editing bay.
    “Selleck wanted the ending to be that Oogie Boogie was actually Dr. Finkelstein in disguise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:53:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  90. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Fans on Blu-ray message boards beg Disney to restore the Touchstone logo opening.
    “when will Disney release the version with the touchstone logo at the beginning?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:56:46 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  91. fun, about James Earl Jones: Elfman told him he'd written Santa for him and Jones angrily replied 'you don't know me'.
    “James Earl Jones got very angry and yelled, you don't know me.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:11:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  92. fun, about Box office: The opening-weekend box-office game: Hillbillies #1, Demolition Man #2, Nightmare #3, Cool Runnings #4, Rudy #5.
    “Number 3 is Nightmare for Christmas.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:26:07 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  93. fun, about Rudy: Rudy 'sits on the bench for 3 years, plays for 5 minutes' and still makes a compelling film.
    “The entire movie is he sits on the bench for 3 years.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:30:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  94. fun, about Henry Selick: 1994 Sight and Sound quote read to close: audiences are more open than Hollywood imagines; the stranger the imagery, the straighter the story.
    “But the audience is more open than Hollywood imagines.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:37:57 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  95. fun, about Henry Thomas / Doctor Sleep: Henry Thomas, Elliott from E.T., plays Jack Torrance in the bar scene, shot in profile with his chin down; the host did not recognize him until the credits.
    “And then somehow the moment he comes on screen and the entire scene, extended scene is all done from profile.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 0:20:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  96. fun, about Ewan McGregor / The Island: A studio exec threw The Island under the bus: the mistake was hiring the stars of tomorrow rather than the stars of today.
    “the mistake we made was hiring the stars of tomorrow rather than the stars of today.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 0:41:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  97. fun, about Danny Boyle / Ewan McGregor: Danny Boyle reportedly said McGregor's superpower is depicting physical pain on screen.
    “Ewan is uniquely good at depicting pain on screen.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 0:49:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  98. fun, about Rebecca Ferguson: A host notices her Irish accent slips in on purpose, since Rose has lived thousands of years and the roots are nearly gone.
    “She is choosing to have an Irish accent slip in sometime, because the point is this character has been alive for 1000s of years.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 0:54:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  99. fun, about Doctor Sleep: In the baseball scene a sideline parent is the actor who played Danny in The Shining, now a school teacher who was excited to do it.
    “He's a school teacher.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 1:05:28 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  100. fun, about Doctor Sleep (box office): Opening weekend, November 8, 2019: number two behind Lionsgate's Midway at $14 million.
    “This film opens number two”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Doctor Sleep · 1:27:12 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)