From A-Z: A Guide To The Lost & Unmade Films Of David Fincher

In advance of “Gone Girl” opening on Friday, Fincher Week continues here on the Playlist, and we’re moving forward on a subject that’s rather less heavy on the Paula Abdul than yesterday's guide to his music videos. It’s difficult to get any movie made, and as a result, every filmmaker has their ones-that-got-away, a brace of projects that got lost down the back of the proverbial settee for one reason or another: indeed, the smartest filmmakers are the ones who develop multiple projects and jump on whatever’s moving forward fastest.

But David Fincher seems to have more than most. In a features career of nearly twenty five years, Fincher’s only made ten movies, including some significant gaps (five years passed between the release of “Panic Room” and “Zodiac,” for example). And part of that time has been spent developing projects that never saw the light of day (or that saw the light of day with different filmmakers, or that might still be on the way).

Indeed, there are so many of...