Do you want to crowdfund David Fincher’s new film?

 

This article titled “Do you want to crowdfund David Fincher’s new film?” was written by Catherine Shoard, for The Guardian on Sunday 21st October 2012 20.00 UTC

David Fincher’s last film made m worldwide. The one before took m, plus three Oscars, a Golden Globe and a Bafta for best director. On the side, Fincher directs glossy ads for big agencies. Now: give this man your money.

“Help us make a NEW KIND of animated film … one that’s LOUD, VIOLENT and OFFENSIVE TO YOUR GRANDMA.” So runs the invite on the Kickstarter page for The Goon, which would be produced by Fincher and directed by Eric Powell, who wrote the comic strip of the same name, featuring killer robots, demon priests and giant fishmen. They’re not funding a whole film: they’re raising to cut a feature-length storyboard with sound effects “to give Hollywood a complete look at the Goon film’s potential”.

As with most crowdfunding, the process comes with rewards. Pledge and you’ll get digital downloads of the comic, plus access to the production blog. Cough up more and they’ll throw in a pdf of the pitch and a T-shirt; gets you some personalised artwork, “a faux-bronze sculpture of a gorilla-shaped mob enforcer”, plus a private screening with the film-makers in California (“travel expenses paid by donor”).

Why Fincher is going cap in hand rather than just rummaging behind the sofa cushions is unclear. High-profile canaries such as Kevin Smith and David Lynch have emerged from the process with feathers at least lightly ruffled. And Hollywood doesn’t seem entirely adverse to comic book adaptations at the moment.

A recourse to busking is explicable in other fields, of course – such as publishing. And though the stakes are lower, the benefits are proportionately enormous.A new company called Unbound touts online for donations towards Rupert Isaacson’s planned epic novel about an Elizabethan horse whisperer and a new flan-centric cookbook by Tamasin Day-Lewis. Chip in with for that and you get a signed copy, a baking workshop and a tart named for you or a loved one, for which you can suggest key ingredients.

But bargain of the week has to be Julie Burchill. Stump up towards her proposed memoir about loving Jews and you get a signed copy, a digital download, blog access, a handwritten postcard in Hebrew, a night out in Brighton, and you can join Julie for “a small Israeli-style Shabbat celebration at a Jewish restaurant in London”. Sorry, Fincher – with an offer like that, you can shove your monkey statue.

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