Up until The Social Network (2010), when a version of this article first appeared, David Fincher was, moderately, a creature of habit when it came to casting. Certain character actors would pop up in miniature roles in more than one film though only one star was a recurring lead (Brad Pitt). Since then it's been more of a free for all with (mostly) new faces in his films.
For Gone Girl it's all new faces but for three men who you'll miss if you blink:
Darin Cooper, Brett Leigh, and Lee Norris
Brett Leigh appears as a nervous intern (he was previously a Phoenix Club hazer in The Social Network); Lee Norris, best known for "One Tree Hill" and "Boy Meets World," shows up as "Officer Washington" after a gig in Zodiac; and Darin Cooper, who played one of Facebook's lawyers in The Social Network, returns as "Moustached Man"
We hope next time Fincher finds a way to reuse these three and pulls more performers from his past, too. Why? When directors apply previous actors like favorite daubs of paint from their auteurial palettes, it adds a little magic, don't you think? It's like the films are all part of the same universe no matter how different they are. Let's investigate further with...
(Quantitatively Speaking)
4 Films.
There's a three way tie for the top honor, each beating Brad Pitt by one film, albeit with much much smaller roles...
• Richmond Arquette
Yes, that's the least famous member of the Arquette clan (brother to Alexis, David, Rosanna & Patricia). Fincher gives him tiny roles but some are key: he makes the dread box delivery at the end of Se7en, makes the first two kills in Zodiac and he's also in Fight Club and Benjamin Button. He recently had a fine co-leading showcase in Chad Hartigan's This is Martin Bonner.
• Christopher John Fields
He stretches the furthest back with the director, all the way to Fincher's debut feature Alien³ (1992) where he played "Rains" one of the first victims of the acid-blooded beastie (pictured left), poor guy. He's also The Game's Detective Boyle, Fight Club's dry cleaning man and a copy editor in Zodiac. He appears to no longer be working, though.
• Bob Stephenson
You might recognize this actor from series regular gigs on TV's Jericho or The Forgotten. He's part of the SWAT team in Se7en (pictured left), a security officer in Fight Club and a killer in both The Game and Zodiac. He recently appeared on an episode of both Agents of SHIELD and Mom.
3 Films.
Much more and this man that needs no introduction...
• Brad Pitt delivered two of his signature legend-building star turns, Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999), under Fincher's hand which is probably why they reunited for a third, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). That and Brad's bankability though now Fincher has a bit of his own now. Perhaps Gone Girl will top it at the box office, but Button is Fincher's biggest hit to date. It even won Brad an Oscar nomination hough entire scenes are stolen from him by the make up f/x and the supporting actors. But crossing fingers they find a way to reconnect for a fourth collaboration.
2 Films.
The Fincher filmography is, we hope, just barely starting its second act. Gone Girl is his tenth feature and several actors have now appeared in two films. We'll take the two-fers in alpha order...
Getz in The Social NetworkJohn Casini is one of the cops in Se7en and "man in airport" in The Game.
Darin Cooper is one of the Facebook lawyers in The Social Network and "Mustachoed Man" in Gone Girl
Charles S Dutton is the prison colony's spiritual leader in Alien³ and a cop in Se7en
John Getz is Zuckerberg's lawyer in The Social Network and Templeton Peck in Zodiac. Poor man is always shot sitting behind a desk. Does he have legs?
Elias Koteas is one of dozens of cops caught up in the Zodiac case and he's Monsieur Gateau in Button.
Brett Leigh is "Nervous Intern" in Gone Girl and "Phoenix Club Hazer" in The Social Network . Will he get an actual name in a future Fincher film?
Leto in Panic RoomJared Leto Remember that Fight Club line "I felt like destroying something beautiful?" used in connection with the destruction of Jared Leto's dreamy face? Leto and Fincher both obviously took that to heart in subsequent projects, too like Panic Room. And think of the visual beating Brad Pitt takes in every Fincher film! Fincher definitely wants to destroy his beauty.
Rooney Mara broke out with her brief but engaging work in The Social Network. Fincher upgraded her to star status with the coveted lead role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Supposedly he still wants to make the sequel and my hunch is that even if that doesn't happen a third project will come together between them. Will she eventually rival Brad for most recurring headlining status with Fincher?
McCallany in Alien³Holt McCallany, who gets a lot of work in tv and film including short lived series regular gigs, is the tattooed prisoner who tries to rape Ripley in Alien³ (clearly he had never seen Alien or Aliens) and he's also one of Tyler Durden's disciples/bruisers in Fight Club. He'll next be seen in Michael Mann's Blackhat
Lee Norris is "Young Mike MacGee" in Zodiac and "Officer" in Gone Girl
Paul Schulze, best known as Nurse Jackie's pharmacist/lover, appears in both Panic Room and Zodiac (with hair!)
Andrew Kevin Walker is the screenwriter of Se7en but he also acts in the film (he plays one of the dead bodies). He's also in Panic Room as "Sleepy Neighbor". Hee!
1(+) Film
Patrick Holland was Brad's stunt double on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but onscreen as a newscaster in Dragon Tattoo
James Rebhorn (RIP, 2014) acted in The Game but he's also in the Madonna video "Bad Girl". Just think. If his date with Madonna had gone well, maybe she wouldn't have gone home with that serial killer!? Fincher sure loves the serial killer trope. And "Bad Girl" sure is an interesting piece in understanding David Fincher; the "angel of death" is visualized therein as a film director.
Sahlima is a flight attendant in Dragon Tattoo but possibly left on cutting room floor given the "credit only" tag on IMDb and she's uncredited as one of the mass of reporters in Gone Girl
Kevin Spacey was just brilliant as John Doe in Se7en and Fincher worked with again for House of Cards
Justin Timberlake is, of course, a huge part of The Social Network. As follow up David Fincher directed JT's "Suit & Tie" music video, an irregular foray back into the world that gave him his career... that's phrase applies to both men actually.
Trevor Wright appears in The Social Network but when he was a little kid he also appeared in the Fincher directed Paula Abdul video "Forever Your Girl".
Robin Wright was on the cusp of her major career rejuvenation when she made The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and her next project with Fincher, Netflix's House of Cards clinched it: she's experiencing an indisputable late career bloom.
1 Film.
Thousands of SAG card holders share this distinction and we really hope he finds use for nearly all the Gone Girl players again especially Missi Pyle, but here are 10 previous actors (in alpha order) he's worked with that we hope he finds room for in something else sometime soon...
Helena Bonham-Carter because she was so against-type revelatory in Fight Club
Embeth Davidtz, who appeared in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, because her career is nowhere near the size her turns in Junebug and Schindler's List indicate that it should be
Denise Grayson because she's very good as Gretchen, a tough lawyer, in The Social Network (and, full disclosure: she and I are friends)
Nicole Kidman because she was supposed to get locked up in that Panic Room but ended up just being a disembodied voice on a phone in the same film.
Deborah Kara Unger had a large role in The Game but she has the right sinister seductiveness to fit right back into Fincher's favorite genre: the thriller/procedural
Douglas Urbanski this producer rarely acts but he was so great in his big scene in The Social Network as Larry Summers
Gwyneth Paltrow, because she's a fine actress, and we'd like Fincher to try to top Gwyneth's gruesome exit from Se7en
Christopher Walken who was the Angel of Death in Madonna's "Bad Girl" and wouldn't it be neat to see him with a speaking role in a Fincher film?
Lesley Ann Warren because she's now an egregiously underused Oscar nominated actress and played a key role in Fincher's classic Aerosmith video "Janie's Got a Gun"
Elijah Wood was in Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" when he was a wee 8 year old. He still looks the same.
And Finally... MADONNA herself
Fincher made his name on gargantuan Madonna videos that further iconized her and elevated that particular art form. He won two consecutive Best Director statues at the MTV Music Video Awards for directing "Express Yourself" and "Vogue" (hilariously in both years he was competing against himself since he had three of the nominations in the category both years). Though Fincher escaped to feature films in 1992 with Alien³ he has made semi-rare returns to music videos since then. I wish he'd do one last Madonna video as reunion. That'd be fun.
David Fincher's second (of three) MTV Music Video awards for Best DirectionI've tried for years to find a picture of the two of them together. They must exist since they worked together four times with lots of cameras around and attended the same awards shows (the only video I can find online of him on an MTV show is when he won Best Movie for Se7en) but even my trusted Madonna sources can't seem to find one.)
P.S. This post is about director's actor preferences but Fincher, like most of the great auteurs, reuses top behind the scenes personnel even more frequently than favored actors; Sound design is usually by Ren Klyce (8 films - 5 of which were Oscar-nominated for sound); Casting is usually by Lara Mayfield (7 films which might explains the repetitive bit players); Production Design is usually by Donald Graham Burt (past 5 films) but previously it was Arthur Max (2 films) who is Ridley Scott's favorite; Fincher's editors often pair up and then pass the baton so it's Angus Wall (5 films), Kirk Baxter (4 films) and James Haygood (3 films) sometimes in unison sometimes individually; Jeff Cronenwerth (4 films) is his new favorite cinematographer, and the scores always seem to be by composers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (last 3 films) though it was Howard Shore (3 films) before that; and for costume design it was previously often Michael Kaplan (4 films and he should've been nominated for Fight Club, though they rarely nominate contemporary work) but he seems to have switched to Trish Summerville (past 2 films)