David Fincher (b. 1962) did not go to film school and hates being defined as an auteur. He prefers to see himself as a craftsman, dutifully going about the art and business of making film. Trouble is, it's hard to be self-effacing when you are the director responsible for "Se7en, Fight Club," and "The Social Network." Along with Quentin Tarantino, Fincher is the most accomplished of the Generation X filmmakers to emerge in the early 1990s.

This collection of interviews highlights Fincher's unwavering commitment to his craft as he evolved from an entrepreneurial music video director (Fincher helped Madonna become the undisputed queen of MTV) into an enterprising feature filmmaker. Fincher landed his first Hollywood blockbuster at twenty-seven with "Alien3," but that film, handicapped by cost overruns and corporate mismanagement, taught Fincher that he needed absolute control over his work. Once he had it, with "Se7en," he achieved instant box-office success and critical acclaim, as well as a close partnership with Brad Pitt that led to the cult favorite "Fight Club."

Fincher became circumspect in the 2000s after "Panic Room," shooting ads and biding his time until "Zodiac," when he returned to his mantra that "entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine. Some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything's okay. I don't make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything's not okay." Zodiac reinvigorated Fincher, inspiring a string of films--"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network," and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"--that enthralled audiences and garnered his films dozens of Oscar nominations.

In the fall of 1901, Charlotte Hawkins Brown (1883-1961) jumped off a Southern Railway train in the unfamiliar backwoods of Guilford County, North Carolina. She was black, single, and barely eighteen years old and had come alone from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to begin her first real job as a teacher at a small, struggling school for African Americans.
She stayed for over half a century. When the failing school was closed at the end of her first year, Brown remained to carry on. With virtually no resources save her own energy and determination, she founded Palmer Memorial Institute, which she would lead for fifty years. As other black private schools across the state vanished, Brown built Palmer up to become one of the premier academies for African American children in the nation.
A remarkable example of achievement in the face of segregation and discrimination, the story of Charlotte Hawkins Brown and her school continues to provide a model of educational success born of dedication and hard work.

David Fincher (b. 1962) did not go to film school and hates being defined as an auteur. He prefers to see himself as a craftsman, dutifully going about the art and business of making film. Trouble is, it's hard to be self-effacing when you are the director responsible for Se7en, Fight Club, and The Social Network. Along with Quentin Tarantino, Fincher is the most accomplished of the Generation X filmmakers to emerge in the early 1990s. This collection of interviews highlights Fincher's unwavering commitment to his craft as he evolved from an entrepreneurial music video director (Fincher helped Madonna become the undisputed queen of MTV) into an enterprising feature filmmaker. Fincher landed his first Hollywood blockbuster at twenty-seven with Alien3, but that film, handicapped by cost overruns and corporate mismanagement, taught Fincher that he needed absolute control over his work. Once he had it, with Se7en, he achieved instant box-office success and critical acclaim, as well as a close partnership with Brad Pitt that led to the cult favorite Fight Club. Fincher became circumspect in the 2000s after Panic Room, shooting ads and biding his time until Zodiac, when he returned to his mantra that ""entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine. Some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything's okay. I don't make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything's not okay."" Zodiac reinvigorated Fincher, inspiring a string of films--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--that enthralled audiences and garnered his films dozens of Oscar nominations.

Brian De Palma (b. 1940) isn't your average Hollywood director.

For years he reigned as the "master of the macabre," the man who massacred the class of '76 in "Carrie" and stalked Angie Dickinson in "Dressed to Kill." By the mid-1980s De Palma found himself assaulting his audience and critics, daring them to watch a chainsaw enter a man's skull in "Scarface" and a power drill disembowel a defenseless woman in "Body Double."

What drove De Palma to such extremes? In the late 1960s, he wanted to be the next Jean-Luc Godard and revolutionize American cinema. Instead, he found himself ostracized when Warner Bros. removed him from "Get to Know Your Rabbit," his first Hollywood feature. De Palma sought the refuge of Alfred Hitchcock until the late 1970s ("Sisters," "Obsession"), when his surreal approach to horror became a genre unto itself ("Carrie," "The Fury," "Dressed to Kill"). Ironically, just as De Palma achieved the success that his fellow Movie Brats George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg had enjoyed since the mid-1970s, he could not hide his resentment toward Hollywood. After battling with the MPAA in the 1980s, he gradually became part of the mainstream with the success of "The Untouchables" and "Mission: Impossible," although he never suppressed his desire to make audiences aware of his camera-eye and his dark, penetrating worldview.

"Brian De Palma: Interviews" follows De Palma's fortunes as he makes the difficult transition from underground filmmaker to celebrity auteur. In profiles and q&a interviews, he emerges as a fascinating figure of excess and ambivalence. De Palma is not afraid to share his opinions about censorship, violence, feminism, American culture, and the fate of cinema in the twenty-first century.

Artisan, entrepreneur, and impresario, British filmmaker Ridley Scott accepts the profit motive as the only way to thrive in an industry where there is little patience for artistic flourishes or overblown expenses. Yet, while he may pay lip service to the free enterprise system, he is an unapologetic auteur, committed to using every element of film-from evocative lighting to digital composition-to overwhelm our senses and redefine how we perceive the future ("Alien," "Blade Runner"), the past ("1492: The Conquest of Paradise," "Gladiator"), and the present ("Thelma & Louise," "Black Hawk Down").

This collection of interviews follows Scott over twenty-five years as he perfects the Ridley Scott look, builds his media empire, and reacts to the twenty-year cult status of "Blade Runner." Throughout, he discusses the triumphs and challenges involved in working with A-list actors-particularly such women as Susan Sarandon, Sigourney Weaver, and Demi Moore-and big-budget special effects. Scott emerges as a consummate English gentleman who acknowledges the legacy of the futuristic "Blade Runner" and "Alien" but who also is adept at taking the pulse of contemporary American culture.

Unlike many of his colleagues in the U.S., Scott did not attend film school. Instead, he developed his visual sensibility at London's Royal College of Art. Years in television production gave Scott the clout and confidence to revitalize feature filmmaking. He hit the jackpot with "Alien" but ran into financial and logistical difficulties with "Blade Runner" and "Legend." In response he shifted his attention to more contemporary genres, offering a continental perspective on America in "Black Rain" and "Thelma & Louise." By the late 1990s Scott had achieved both critical and commercial success with Oscar-winning films "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down."

Laurence F. Knapp, Highland Park, Illinois, is an instructor and lecturer on film studies at Northwestern University and is the editor of "Brian De Palma: Interviews" (University Press of Mississippi). Andrea F. Kulas, Park Ridge, Illinois, is an independent media consultant and a contributor to "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die."