'Dragon Tattoo' Director David Fincher on New Yorker Embargo Fight: Ban All Critics From Early Screenings

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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo director David Fincher agrees with producer Scott Rudin, who said New Yorker critic David Denby was "lousy and immoral" to break an embargo and review the film early, on Dec. 5, and banned Denby from future screenings.

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But Fincher fought with Rudin over the very idea of early screenings and advocates banning everyone.

"Embargoes … look, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t show movies to anybody before they were released," Fincher told Miami Herald critic Rene Rodriguez. "I wouldn’t give clips to talk shows. I would do one trailer and three television spots and let the chips fall where they may....If I had my way, the New York Film Critics Circle would not have seen this movie and then we would not be in this situation. I would be opening this movie on Wednesday Dec. 21, and I would have three screenings on Tuesday Dec. 20 and that would be it."

"That’s where [Rudin] and I get into some of our biggest fights," he continued. "My whole thing is 'If people want to come, they’ll come.'"

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Fincher thinks word of mouth sells movies, not critics: "The most valuable film critics are usually those people who come see a movie with their Blackberry and then text their friends 'It sucked,' or 'It’s awesome -- You should see it.'"