studio fixer protagonist

His films like 'Sunset Boulevard' and 'The Apartment' center on morally compromised protagonists navigating corrupt studio systems and using manipulation to survive.

Films such as 'Gone Girl' and 'The Social Network' feature calculating protagonists who engineer situations and control narratives to achieve their goals.

His noir-influenced works like 'Chinatown' and 'The Tenant' explore protagonists caught in webs of conspiracy who must use cunning and deception to uncover truth.