David Fincher is already doing well with Netflix; he executive-produces House of Cards, and directed the first two episodes, helping kick off the original streaming show gold rush. But not content with ruthless political scheming, he’s returning to his first love in a new Netflix series about hunting down serial killers.
Mindhunter, set in 1979 and based on the 1996 nonfiction book, follows the work that went into building the FBI’s famous “profiling” program, where they interviewed serial killers looking for common links and traits that might help them spot murderers before they killed again. Needless to say, being in close proximity with some of the most dangerous people in the prison system doesn’t really do much for their mental health, and the agents struggle to keep it together. But, hey, at least one of them is a generous lover, if one of the flash cuts we see are any indication, and it’s nice to see what boils down to basically two guys doing scientific grunt work getting their own TV series.
Fincher, of course, first came to prominence with Se7en, but this doesn’t look like a throwback to the ’90s era where everybody was chasing Hannibal Lecter or the many, many photocopies that filled the screen. Hopefully it also digs into the many criticisms of the profiling program, as there’s a lot of debate among criminologists that the FBI’s work is all that accurate or effective. If this series sticks to the story behind the FBI’s profiling unit, it should make for fascinating drama. Just make sure the agents don’t open any boxes.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
