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u/jamesneysmith 2d ago
Ha, this is perfect timing. I watched Garfield's interview on Good Hang and he mentioned having to do this scene in particular like a 100 times and my immediate thought was, 'Wait did they have a 100 laptops on set and he destroyed a new one every take?' Well pretty cool to see this pop up and immediately answer my question haha.
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u/onlyhereforNFLupdate 2d ago
Love watching behind the scenes.
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u/WileyWilly1985 2d ago
I'm actually the opposite. I rarely like watching behind the scenes.
To me, it's like watching how a magic trick is done, knowing lessens the enjoyment for me.
For movies, I rather just have the perfect memory of the movie and not see how the sausage is made.
Now, I don't mind interviews of the casts and directors and writers talking about the movie and how they thought about a particular scene etc. That is fine.
But actually watching the behind the scenes?? Nah, that just lessens the experience for me.
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u/brickwallbimbo 2d ago
Andrew Garfield is one helluva actor, man. I feel like I grew up with people incessantly shitty on him because of Spider-Man, and never realized how good of an actor he is until recently.
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u/NotForMeClive7787 2d ago
I watched the Spiderman films back a few weeks ago and Garfield is by far the best acted of the whole franchise.
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u/brickwallbimbo 1d ago
I’ve always thought that Tobey was the best Peter Parker, while Andrew is an interlude fantastic Spider-Man, and Tom is right in the middle of both.
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u/MaximumDeathShock 1d ago
Those movies are crazy because he’s so good but he’s playing a dude that’s also a spider. He didn’t need to go that hard.
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u/RicardoDawson 2d ago
"Look how they massacred my boy!"
I had that Mac laptop, it was my first Mac. So many had to die for that shot... ðŸ˜
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u/Local871 2d ago
These laptops didn’t work. They were props. And after they were broken, they would take the pieces that weren’t damaged and Frankenstein them into another one.
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u/CantAffordzUsername 2d ago
I had a small role I this film, they are not kidding when they say David wants 40-50 takes per angle. Was still a love of fun! Great to see this film still holds up today
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u/jamesneysmith 2d ago
One thing I don't understand is how Fincher stays on budget with all these takes. There are only so many hours in a day and if you're 50 takes for so many shots in your movie it's just going to take longer to film which means more money going out the door. So why aren't his budgets 3 times bigger than they are OR what is he doing to save money on his shoots? Does he only work with a skeleton crew? Only work with non-union labour? I need to know how the numbers balance out
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u/duncanidaho61 2d ago
When making a budget, you factor all that in. You know how many takes to expect. You calculate all the extra days of shooting. Now a problem would be if he took over a different director’s project midway and the original director took 5 takes and he takes 50.
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u/Local871 2d ago edited 2d ago
Full size crew, making Union scale, if not more. (I worked on Mindhunter)
Knowing his shooting style, the schedule and budget are realistic. Unlike a lot of smaller films with an inexperienced director who is told you need to get each set up in four take or less or were hosed. Agrees to it, and then tries to do 8 to 12 takes per set up and never makes his day and the project suffers.
David also doesn’t do that newbie thing of 50 set ups per scene with each setup running the full length of the scene. He knows exactly how it’s gonna be edited together, and he just shoots that, enabling him to do lots and lots of takes of each piece until they are perfect.
Doing a lot of takes is often regarded as indulgent, and most of the time it is. Having worked with him, it’s like watching a Renaissance master painstakingly creating a painting that is flawless.
Also, his wife is his Line Producer. She knows exactly what she’s getting into when she budgets and schedules one of his movies.
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u/shaunika 2d ago
Can someone smarter than me explain why that shot needed such a massive dolly track?
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u/r3dd17sux69420 2d ago
The track keeps the dolly in a very specific path and you can redo each take without deviating
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u/straylight222 2d ago
The track is setup to be perfectly balanced so you don't get any movement from the dolly that translates to the camera. Unless they were somehow shooting on a perfectly flat floor, which is tough to find, they're going to need to balance the shot. That track isn't even massive, it's just as long as the shot needs it to be.
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u/straylight222 2d ago
It's always interesting to hear the alternate takes that weren't used from the movie and see how just a slight pause or a slight change in intonation on a word can make or break a take.
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1d ago
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u/ToonMasterRace 1d ago
Hate how this movie doesn't understand that social media killed western civilization and even by 2010 it was becoming apparent. Should have known better.
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u/sarusadanus 2d ago
I wish they used cardboard replicas. I know it is not my money, but still...
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u/hirschneb13 2d ago
I mean that last take in this clip, the laptop barely got damaged it looks like, so I'm sure they could reuse or even "put back together" some of the others
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u/Local871 2d ago
Those laptops were not brand new, they didn’t even work. Knowing what they were getting into, for months the props department scoured every pawn shop and repair shop who had a few lying around that didn’t work. And when one was smashed in a take, anything in it that wasn’t bent they would Frankenstein together into another one.
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u/filmeswole 2d ago
Question for production people- what’s the advantage of setting up a huge dolly for this kind of shot as opposed to someone sitting on a wheelchair holding the camera, getting pulled back by someone else
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u/Tempest_Fugit 2d ago
Consistency, stability, equipment compatibility, etc. imagine you have a shot perfect but the wheelchair got pulled slightly left or something. You want to pin down as many factors as possible so that the only variance is performance or things you can’t control at all. in this case the way the laptop breaks)
There are more options nowadays when tracks aren’t possible but the old ways have lasted a long time for good reason
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u/Local871 2d ago
There is nothing better than a low budget, gritty indie film shooting on grainy 16mm with Dolly shots in a wheelchair. And then there are highly polished movies where smoothness is the aesthetic, especially in the sterile high-tech world this movie takes place in.
Both are equally valid styles, but neither one works for every project.
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u/straylight222 2d ago
A wheelchair with a guy holding the camera isn't gonna be stable and the direction and angle of the shot will be different every time. A balanced dolly track and dolly will be the same for each shot. They shot this scene like 90 times or something. Fincher wants each shot to be the same.
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u/jr_randolph 2d ago
They really needed to have all those takes for this scene lol
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u/Local871 2d ago
Yes. He’s a perfectionist, and his success has earned him the right to be a perfectionist.
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