The notoriously reclusive director David Fincher delivered a surprise virtual masterclass to quarantined students of the United Kingdom’s National Film and Television School yesterday.

As reported by IndieWire, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker joined a Zoom teleconference with 450 students to discuss his 30-year career and share some details about his upcoming film Mank. It was a rare opportunity for the students, considering Fincher’s infamous reticence to give many public appearances or PR events for his work, but the pandemic has made us all act out of character. The school’s director Jon Wardle shared the news in a tweet, saying “It’s been a tough week so we wanted to do something to lift the spirits of the National Film and Television School students. So this afternoon 450 students sat down for a masterclass via Zoom with THE David Fincher... David is a legend.”

Mank, a film about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, is Fincher’s first film since 2014’s Gone Girl. The director has been fully involved with Netflix in the meantime, producing the crime thriller series Mindhunter and the sci-fi anthology series Love, Death & Robots. Mank is set to be distributed by Netflix as well, and is still on track for a release later this year despite all of the production delays and shutdowns created by the coronavirus. The film, written by Fincher’s late father, follows Mankiewicz as he struggles with addiction while trying to complete the Citizen Kane screenplay. Gary Oldman stars as Mankiewicz, with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, and Charles Dance in supporting roles. Fincher is once again collaborating with Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on the film’s score.