David Fincher‘s new film, The Killer, just premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The thriller stars Michael Fassbender as an international assassin whose character traits include being a big fan of The Smiths. The score is by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, who have worked with Fincher on The Social Network, Gone Girl and other films, but The Killer‘s soundtrack includes such Smiths classics as “How Soon is Now,” “The Queen is Dead,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “I Know It’s Over,” and more.
“Trent and Atticus are our first call, and if they choose to return the call, I deem myself lucky,” Fincher said at Venice Film Festival press conference on Sunday (via Indiewire). “The Smiths were a post-production addition because I knew I wanted to use ‘How Soon is Now?’ and I love the idea of that song specifically as a tool for assuaging his anxiety. I liked it as a meditation tape, I thought it was amusing and funny.”
Fincher added, “I don’t think that there’s a library of music by recording artists that have as much sardonic nature and wit simultaneously [as The Smiths], and we don’t get an awful lot of access to who this guy is. I thought through his mixtape it would be amusing, that that would be our window into him.”
Based on the Editions Casterman graphic novel series of the same name by Alexis Nolent (a.k.a Matz) and Luc Jacamon, The Killer was written by Kevin Andrew Walker, who wrote Fincher’s breakout, Seven (and worked on Fight Club and Gone Girl), and also stars Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte and Tilda Swinton. Here’s the synopsis: “After a fateful near-miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.”
The Killer gets a limited theatrical release on October 27 before hitting Netflix, who funded the film, on November 10. You can watch the trailer, which feature Reznor/Ross’ score (but no Smiths songs), below.
