Alien 3: Gillis and Woodruff see signs of Fincher's fighting spirit

leading from

Alien 3

Gillis and Woodruff were walking to have a meeting with Fincher at Pinewood Studios, and it was a cold day with snow.

Three Fox executives had flown in from LA to get a handle on the situation regarding the production and they wore their long cashmere coats.

All three of them were huddled around each other smoking, saying  "I don’t know, what do we? He’s out of control"

Then they saw Gillis and Woodruff and said ‘Oh, hi!’

Gillis and Woodruff walked off saying "That's weird"

They looked in the big picture window. David Fincher was inside, warm and on the phone with his feet up on the desk while the three Fox executives were shivering in the cold smoking outside , looking like the scene from Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks.

Gillis and Woodruff walked by then and David's assistant tells them "He's been waiting for ya"

They went in and there was the twenty seven year old first time director with his feet on the desk and he's saying "then ship me home right now and take my name off this fucking piece of shit”, before they started shooting the film."

Night Hawks (1942) by Edward Hopper

Gillis and Woodruff responded "Wow! Who were you talking to?"

Fincher replied ‘the head of Fox, what do you got what do you have to show me?’.

So they showed him their work for him and their response to what they saw of him on the phone was "This guy is unbelievable, he’s amazing. How do you get that self-possessed at age 27 to go ‘fuck off, head of Fox'"

They could see that he was a fighter and a protector of the project

They found him to be a man with clear opinions and that was exactly what they wanted

Bearing in mind that this was his first  feature, he was steadfast, a very engaging personality,  someone who cut through all the political games,

With the constant script changes, Fincher always told them which characters and special effects would survived, and that way they could worked stay busy and not waste time and money

1. Alec Gillis: “I’ll tell you a quick David Fincher story. We [Alec and Tom] were walking to have a meeting with him [Fincher] and at Pinewood Studios and it was snowing out it was really fricken’ cold. We walk up and we see three Fox executives that had flown in from L.A., to get a handle on the situation, and they’re all in their finery their long bitchin’ cashmere coats. All three of them are huddled around reach other smoking, you know, really close-in together and talking going ‘I don’t know, what do we? He’s out of control’ and then they see us and go ‘Oh, hi!’ we walked off going ‘that’s weird’. We look in the big picture window it’s like Edward Hopper, you know that painter Edward Hooper look up Nighthawks.. big picture window with David Fincher inside warm and on the phone with his feet up on the desk and three Fox executives shivering in the cold smoking outside it was a such a great image. So we walked by them we go in and David’s assistant says he’s been waiting for ya. We go in and there is first time director 27 years old David Fincher with his feet up on the desk and he’s going ‘then ship me home right now and take my name off this fucking piece of shit”, this was before we started shooting, ‘take my name off this piece of shit’ and he hangs up the phone and we go ‘wow! who were you talking to?’ and he said ‘the head of Fox, what do you got what do you have to show me?’. So we showed him a bunch of stuff and we’re like ‘this guy is unbelievable, he’s amazing’. How do you get that self-possessed at age 27 to go ‘fuck off, head of Fox’ he was definitely a fighter and a protector of the project. I don’t what level of pride he takes of it but it’s obviously renowned that he wasn’t part of the publicity and all that.” (https://hnentertainment.co/interview-studio-adis-alec-alec-gillis-talks-alien-3-stan-winston-problems-with-the-film-and-a-ballsy-young-david-fincher/)
6. Tom Woodruff: David Fincher was geweldig. Hij had duidelijke opinies en dat is precies wat we wilden. En hij was standvastig: geen gedraai. Een heel innemende persoonlijkheid, en iemand die dwars door alle politieke spelletjes snijdt – en dit was zijn eerste speelfilm! De opnames werden uitgesteld vanwege veranderingen in het script en volgens mij was dat terecht. Maar omdat we daar toch al waren, werd besloten dat wij zouden blijven. Fincher vertelde ons bij de voortdurende scriptwijzigingen steeds welke personages en special effects het overleefden. Zo konden wij bezig blijven en tijd en geld verspillen. Het duurde allemaal te lang, maar de productie was nu eenmaal in gang gezet en het zou een grotere verspilling geweest zijn hem uit te zetten en later weer op te starten.’
   ‘De benadering van het alienpak was heel anders dan in ALIENS. Deze keer maakten we een compleet lichaam, zoals H.R. Giger dat zelf voor de eerste film had gedaan. We maakten ook nog losse handen en voeten en een los hoofd. We gebruikten Gigers Necronomicon als referentie voor de kleurtonen en details, zodat we uiteindelijk iets hadden dat zich kon meten met het werk van de meester. Er was een aantal shots waarin ik de Xenomorph kon spelen; eigenlijk ieder shot waarin je haar vanaf de heupen in beeld ziet. Voor shots van het hele lichaam gebruikten we een pop op een schaal van 1 op 4, gemaakt op basis van onze ontwerpmaquette en geschoten tijdens post-productie.’ (Google Translation: "David Fincher was great. He had clear opinions and that is exactly what we wanted. And he was steadfast: no twist. A very engaging personality, and someone who cuts through all political games - and this was his first feature film! The recordings were postponed due to changes in the script and I think that was justified. But because we were already there, it was decided that we would stay. With constant script changes, Fincher always told us which characters and special effects survived. That way we could stay busy and waste time and money. It all took too long, but the production had just started and it would have been a bigger waste to turn it off and restart it later. " (https://www.schokkendnieuws.nl/interviews/5525-interview-met-tom-woodruff-jr )