David Fincher is not what one would call a prolific film director. Since making his big screen debut with Alien 3 in 1992, he’s helmed a total of 11 movies – which averages out to a feature every three years. That being said, with his last effort, Mank, having arrived in 2020, that means we are due to see a new addition to the Fincher filmography in 2023 – and we are beyond stoked that The Killer will be fitting the bill this fall.
Netflix has debuted the first trailer for the upcoming thriller, which is a new movie adaptation of the comic series of the same name by Alexis Nolent (a.k.a Matz) and Luc Jacamon. The story centers on an assassin, played by Michael Fassbender, who sees his employers turn on him when a hit goes wrong. The outstanding supporting cast includes Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte and the brilliant Tilda Swinton, and the film marks the first time that David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker have collaborated on a feature since Se7en in 1995.
It’s particularly exciting to see this movie come together, as it’s a project that David Fincher has been trying to make for over a decade. He first became attached to make The Killer when the project was set up at Paramount Pictures in 2007 (to provide some context, this was between the releases of Zodiac and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). That version of the film never ended up being made and the director moved on to make movies like The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but circumstances changed in the wake of the release of Mank.
With Fincher already having a long established relationship with Netflix (a history including Mank, House Of Cards, Mindhunters, and Love, Death & Robots), it was reported in February 2021 that the adaptation was reenergized at Netflix with Michael Fassbender and Andrew Kevin Walker attached.
Despite being produced by Netflix, The Killer will be the first Fincher-directed movie to play on the big screen in nearly a decade (the last time being 2014’s Gone Girl). The new thriller, which premieres this week at the Venice Film Festival, will be made available for Netflix subscribers to stream on November 10, but that will only be following a release in select theaters starting October 27. Based on the look of this trailer, it seems like the big screen experience will be worth seeking.
Be on the lookout here on CinemaBlend in the coming days, weeks and months for more previews of The Killer, which is unquestionably one of the most exciting features set to be released in the last few months of the year. To learn about all of the films set to come out, head over to our 2023 Movie Release Calendar, and you can consult our 2023 Netflix Release Calendar for everything coming from the streaming service.