David Fincher directed George Michael’s 1990 music video “Freedom! ’90,” which starred five famous fashion models.
The video featured Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz. George Michael himself did not appear on screen. Instead, the models were filmed in stylized scenes that used fashion imagery, dramatic lighting and objects associated with Michael’s earlier “Faith” video.
Fincher had already developed a reputation for visually ambitious music videos before moving into feature films. His work on “Freedom! ’90” helped turn the models into mainstream pop-culture figures and reinforced the idea that a model could carry a high-profile music video as its central visual presence.
The video is often discussed as a landmark of the supermodel era, but it is also part of the history of music-video production. Its cast and director connected fashion, photography and popular music at a moment when MTV had enormous cultural influence.