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The Game (1997)
The Game is a 1997 American mystery thriller film directed by David Fincher, starring Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger and James Rebhorn and produced by Propaganda Films and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. It tells the story of a wealthy investment banker who is given a mysterious birthday gift by his brother—participation in a game that integrates in strange ways with his everyday life. As the lines…
Directed by David Fincher · Shot by Haris Savides · Cut by James Haygood · Music by Howard Shore · 128 min
How it was made
- Fincher used a Technicolor printing process called ENR to give the film's night sequences a smoother look.
- He shot with a single camera for most scenes, reasoning that using multiple cameras 'runs the risk of boring people with coverage.'
- Cinematographer Harris Savides and Fincher kept Nicholas's protected world 'rich and supple,' inspired by The Godfather, then let fluorescents and neon lights become overexposed once the character entered the outside world.
- Production shot mainly on weekends in San Francisco's financial district so the crew could control the normally busy streets.
- The historic Filoli Mansion in Woodside, California, stood in for the Van Orton family mansion.
- The close-up of Michael Douglas trapped in a sinking taxi was filmed on a Sony Pictures Studios soundstage in a large water tank, using a small mock cab interior captured by three cameras.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by David Fincher
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