David Fincher has a "confused take" on strikes, says Boots Riley

David Fincher's comments about understanding "both sides" of the strike represent his "distorted worldview," per Boots Riley

By Mary Kate Carr | September 5, 2023 | 4:29pm

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Boots Riley; David Fincher Photo: Dia Dipasupil; Kate Green

Hollywood’s ongoing strikes are making David Fincher “very sad,” on account of him sitting “in the middle of both parties.” Aligning himself with the AMPTP, a collective of executives that have allegedly plotted to starve out the Writers Guild of America, is a ballsy choice for the famed filmmaker. “It’s very sad for me. I can understand both sides,” Fincher lamented while promoting his film The Killer at the Venice Film Festival (via The Hollywood Reporter). “All we can do is encourage people to talk.”

It should be noted that turning the rank and file against each other is Union Busting 101. No one wants to do the AMPTP’s work for them by dividing the rank and file when the true battle is between the union as a whole and the studios. Still, the comments understandably upset some striking guild members. Activist and filmmaker Boots Riley pointed to another of Fincher’s quotes about The Killer: “My hope is someone will see this film and get very nervous about the person in line behind them at Home Depot,” the Gone Girl director had said. “This is who he hopes his films will convince [people] to see as their enemy,” Riley posted on X/Twitter. “This distorted worldview is propagated in many of his films & his confused take on the strike.”

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Regarding Fincher’s encouragement for the striking Hollywood guilds to “talk” with the AMPTP, Riley wrote that it “makes no sense in the context of where we’re at: WGA has countered AMPTP’s (pronounced ‘Armpit’) 113-day late offer & AMPTP is refusing to come back w a counter to that & [are] ‘not talking’.”

For the record, the same can be said with the Screen Actors Guild’s stalemate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In a Labor Day essay for Variety, SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland wrote that the guild communicated to the AMPTP that they were willing to continue negotiating after their contract expired on July 12. “The response was a hard ‘no,’” Crabtree-Ireland said. “The AMPTP went even further and told us it would be ‘quite some time before they would be ready to talk’ with us again. It has indeed been quite some time. More than 52 days later, we are still ready and willing to negotiate a fair deal, but we have not heard a word from the AMPTP.”

If Fincher can encourage the AMPTP to talk (and not just “lecture”), then maybe some progress could be made. For now, playing both sides of the issue isn’t going to endear him to striking workers. Nevertheless, “Fincher has made some great films,” Riley posted. “I can disagree with someone, and even disagree with a common theme in their art, and still recognize and appreciate things that are great about their [art]. I shouldnt need to say this, but apparently I need to make this clear.”