There’s a reason why the Chris Mundy series, Ozark, is an Emmy favorite. Apart from a talented cast that includes Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, and more, Ozark has some truly compelling characters. But did you know the famed director, David Fincher had some influence over the show? The actor shared how the veteran director inspired the idea of the credit scene on Jimmy Fallon’s show. 

Jason Bateman explained David Fincher’s connection to Ozark

The actor was very clear about what he wanted for the show. He was sure that he didn’t want a long same old credit scene with a title.

“Like don’t you hate you got to watch a minute and a half of credits for a show you watch all the time. It’s like, let’s get to the story,” he said. 

“I work with this great graphic artist, Neil Kellerhouse, who’s worked a lot with David Fincher and I’m a huge Fincher fan. And so I reached out to him. I didn’t want to do like a credits sequence.  So I wanted to do something that was just, like 5 minutes – 5 seconds long,” he shared.

How did they create the symbols at the beginning?

Netflix didn’t agree with Batsman’s idea. They wanted a credit sequence that had the show’s name. So, to appease the streamer, Jason Bateman was forced to add Ozark to the opening scene. “So we’re going to put the name of the show in this little 5-second thing, but we’re going to not do it OZARK. We’ll do symbols that are in the shape of Z A R K. The symbols are in the shape.”

According to him, Nile was the genius behind it. The actor would just give certain pointers about each episode to the graphic designer. And he would work on those symbols, which then undergo changes as suggested by Bateman.

It is common knowledge that a lot goes into creating a series or a film. But who knew there was such thought put into a 5-second opening credit?