The Killer: How David Fincher is 'going back to his Fight Club roots'

Virgin Radio

6 Oct 2023, 11:22

The sound designer behind David Fincher’s latest film, The Killer, has revealed how the iconic director has revisited one of his biggest movies for inspiration. 

The much-anticipated new film, starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, sees an assassin left with no choice but to retire from the world of professional killing, after a botched hit. However, his shadowy past isn’t so willing to let him go – making him a target for his former employers, and indeed his own demons.

Not only is Fincher at the helm of this next big-screen release for Netflix, but he’s also the name behind some of Hollywood’s most-celebrated movies, from 1999’s Fight Club to 2010’s The Social Network. 

Fincher was in attendance at The Killer Headline Gala at the BFI London Film Festival yesterday (5th October) alongside his long-time collaborator and sound designer Ren Klyce, who has worked on every Fincher film since 1995 flick Seven. 

Speaking exclusively to virginradio.co.uk, Ren shared how the filmmaker is often “very demanding”, but it’s all to produce a look and sound that audiences will find captivating. 

When asked about perfecting the sound for an assassin thriller, Ren explained: “One of the things that Fincher pushed me and the team on was an aggressive approach to sound. So having it be very sharp and punchy, and vertical in terms of its editing technique. Oftentimes, we're trained as sound designers and filmmakers to smooth out the soundtrack so that people aren't aware of editing and they don't see cuts. 

“David wanted people to see the cut and feel the cuts visually…and train the audience in a way to kind of experience an aggressive approach from the very beginning.”

The Killer is like Fight Club in a lot of ways, according to Ren, who said there’s “a lot of narration” which brings “a sound that’s different from when we’re looking at the killer.”

He continued: “Each film brings its own challenges, Mank was mono, we've done films with big broad sound, this one is in 5:1, which is getting back to our kind of Fight Club roots in terms of layout.”

Speaking of Fincher, he also told virginradio.co.uk how The Killer is an adaptation of Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon’s graphic novel. “The graphic novel that inspired it has a running sort of, not a monologue, but it has a running thought process that's intercepted, and the audience gets access to this character's thoughts.

“It was intriguing to me the idea of what that means to an audience, if you're intercepting a character's thoughts. Are you hearing the truth, or are you hearing what they say to themselves to try to convince themselves that maybe what they're doing is, in some way, noble or at least morally and ethically inert and not heinous? And so that is intriguing. And, you know, very few mediums put you inside another person's head quite as effectively as cinema.”

Regarding Michael Fassbender’s role as the professional killer, Fincher said: “He's unafraid to play people that audiences might not embrace.”

Following sold-out screenings at LFF, The Killer will have a limited theatrical release on 27th October, 2023, before streaming on Netflix from 10th November, 2023.