TIME

The true purpose of true crime

A HISTORY OF DANGEROUS MINDS Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman investigate biblical murders in Seven

David Fincher, 55, has made a career of delving into abnormal minds, with Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. But he says his newest project, Mindhunter, on Netflix, is something else. He discussed the show’s genesis and the true-crime boom with TIME.

TIME: Why this show?

Fincher: I was fascinated by the notion that at some point, [J. Edgar] Hoover’s creation—this monolithic, bureaucratic organization—had to say, “There are things

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