Tomorrow will mark 10 years since the release of David Fincher’s Zodiac, which is on the shortest of short lists of the best films of the century and if anyone tries to tell me otherwise, I am happy to buy them an Aqua Velva and explain how they arrived at the point in their life where “I have the worst takes” is their Twitter bio.
Based on the trailer for his new Netflix show, Mindhunter, David Fincher is obviously feeling nostalgic, so he’s firing up some old Zodiac chestnuts like “Late ’70s Crime,” “Muted Color Palette,” and my personal favorite, “The Depths of Human Depravity.”
Mindhunter is based on the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, cowritten by former FBI agent John E. Douglas, who served as the basis for the character Jack Crawford from the Hannibal Lecter–verse. Crawford has been played by Scott Glenn in The Silence of the Lambs, Laurence Fishburne in Hannibal, and Dennis Farina in Michael Mann’s still undefeated Manhunter.
The book and Fincher’s show are about the early days of criminal profiling, following FBI agents as they strive to learn more about the serial killers they are chasing by extensively interviewing serial killers that they’ve already caught. The show will star Jonathan Groff, Anna Torv, and Holt McCallany. There will be brown suits, plastic yellow furniture, overflowing filing cabinets, copious amounts of cigarette smoke, and a clear theme of human empathy: its limits, and whether or not it is something that can be manufactured for a greater good. This jam hits Netflix in October, and I am vibrating with excitement. Fincher’s home.
