One of the most interesting by-products of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is the apparent boredom shared by many celebrities, who are self-quarantined like the rest of us. Musicians are performing impromptu concerts from their homes via social media. Talk show hosts are interviewing people via webcam. And apparently, legendary film directors, like David Fincher, are teaching masterclasses.
Recently, Fincher lent his services to the UK’s National Film and Television School, as he joined 450 quarantined students via webcam to teach a surprise masterclass on filmmaking. Fincher, like the rest of us, finds himself without much to do, as the global pandemic runs its course. And considering he’s not able to work on his upcoming Netflix film, “Mank,” the director surprised hundreds of film students with the class of a lifetime.
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Jon Wardle, the school’s director, said, “It’s been a tough week so we wanted to do something to lift the spirits of the National Film and Television School students. So this afternoon 450 students sat down for a masterclass via Zoom with THE David Fincher. David is a legend.”
As mentioned, Fincher had already finished principal photography on his upcoming film, “Mank,” and considering Netflix has shut down production on all of its film and TV projects for the foreseeable future, it appears that the director found some extra time on his hands. And obviously, if you’re a school that has the opportunity to have the director of films such as “Fight Club,” “Zodiac,” “Seven,” “Gone Girl,” and “The Social Network” teach a class, you do whatever it takes to make it happen.
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In addition to those projects, Fincher most recently worked on his Netflix series “Mindhunter,” as well as serving as a producer on the animated anthology, “Love, Death + Robots.”