22 unknown facts about David Fincher’s film “The Game” (16 photos + 1 video)

David Fincher originally planned to direct The Game first and then work on Seven. But Fincher began to adapt to Brad Pitt's schedule. As a result, work on “The Game” was postponed for two whole years.





1. This is David Fincher’s third feature film after “Alien³” (1992) and “Seven” (1995) (for information, by the end of 2023 the director had directed 12 films). It was originally planned for production in 1995, but Brad Pitt suddenly had a “window” and the director decided to shoot “Seven” first.

2. Michael Douglas's partner in the film was supposed to be Jodie Foster - she was offered the role of Nicholas's sister. For unknown reasons, she insisted on changing the degree of relationship :) to daughter. Neither Fincher (it would have required additional work on the script) nor Douglas (he is only 18 years older than Foster) liked the idea. And then Robert Zemeckis invited the actress to the filming of “Contact” (1997) and, in general, nothing worked out. More precisely, Sean Penn did it.



3. Nicholas van Orton is 48 years old, and Michael Douglas, who plays him, is 53. Conrad van Orton is 20 years younger than his brother, but they were both born in October (11 and 19, respectively). Seann Penn is 16 years younger than Douglas.

4. Nicholas lives in the Filoli estate museum. You may ask: what about graffiti? Was the walls of the mansion really painted with this disgusting stuff? Graffiti was applied to lightweight cardboard sheets, which were then attached to the walls.

4.1. All scenes in Filoli were shot in one day. Incredible...

5. Jim Feingold (James Rebhorn) suggests that Nicholas take “a couple of tests,” calling them the MMPI and PAP. The first is the Minnesota Multidimensional Personality Inventory, a technique that is still used to study mental states of the individual. The search for the second one led me to the Philippine Psychological Association :) Apparently, Rebhorn mispronounced the name: but in the subtitles the test is indicated correctly - TAT: Thematic Apperception Test.





6. Some sources claim that Deborah Kara Unger (Christina-Claire) herself jumped into the trash can and even broke a bone in her foot while performing this stunt.

7. Why does Nicholas agree to lunch with an unknown Seymour Butts? This American cultural phenomenon of asshole humor requires some explanation. In ancient times, the Boy Scout magazine Boys' Life (now known as Scout Life) published a series of funny puns on the theme of "Unwritten Books." If you read the title and author correctly, it could become funny (for example: “Defense” by Barry Kade or “Healthy Foods” by Chris P. Bacon.). The topic went viral and many vulgar parodies were made for it, including “Under the Bleachers by Seymour Butts.” If we literally translate the shadow meaning of this “book”, we get “Under the stands you can see a lot of butts”, “Seymour Butts” = “See more butts”. Apparently, the van Orton brothers were guilty of these memes in childhood and kept them for identification “friend or foe.”

7.1. There is also a pharmaceutical company in the USA, Seymour Butts, which produces a hemorrhoid cream of the same name. The company slogan: “My job is to keep your ass healthy clean.” Now you know everything about Simura Butts :)

8. The hand of the “beggar” in the airport toilet belongs to the film’s director of photography, Harris Savides. I still don't understand the meaning of this scene. Why was she needed? What are your ideas?



9. Listen to the computer sound as Feingold looks at the data on Conrad van Orton: it exactly matches the computer sounds from the Alien franchise! Greetings from David Fincher to the film studio 20th Century Fox, which almost ruined the director’s career with the third part of the film.

10. By the way, the monitor shows many interesting documents from Conrad’s dossier. For example, the birth certificate of a certain James Darrell Edwards III and a detective's ID for the same person, whose photograph completely matches Sean Penn.



Or Nicholas's driver's license (in Conrad's file!) with the parameters of the fat little man - height 5.11 feet (~155 cm) and weight 165 pounds (~75 kg), but with the correct date of birth (October 11, 1949). Personal data protection, bank secrecy? No, we haven't heard. But we’ve heard a lot about Easter eggs and trolling :) <br


10.1. Or maybe CRS belongs to Conrad? Or does he work there? And the presentation with separate payment of the bill at the end of the film is a scam? Or maybe it wasn’t Conrad who paid CRS at all, but, as the head of the organization, he tinkered with the final report? Riddles, riddles...

11. CRS is an octopus! Cable Repair Specialists, Consumer Recreation Safety, California Regal Sedans.







12. Who is it that is detaining influential investment banker Nicholas van Orton? This is Kina Turner, a former famous American football player.



13. How to save on casting and make everyone feel good? We invite members of the film crew into the frame. Meet costume assistant Trish Samerville as the waitress who hands Nicholas the open bottle. But he figured out this CRS trick :) I mean, an open bottle.



14. The underwater taxi scenes were filmed in a special Sony Pictures Studios water tank. This is very clearly shown here at the ninth minute: