The best of 2013 is already in our rear view, so now let’s start looking forward to 2014. One of the most anticipated releases of this year will be Gone Girl, David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s popular 2012 novel. The thriller is the perfect material for the director, who has made stylish crime dramas like Zodiac and Seven. This is right up his alley.
For those who haven’t read the novel, it focuses on Nick Dunne, a journalist who just lost his job, and his wife, Amy. The couple now live in Carthage, Missouri, where Nick grew up and bought a bar with his sister, Margot. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing and everyone starts getting suspicious of Nick’s actions. But in Flynn’s world, nothing is as it seems and the second half of the novel has a surprising twist that no one should see coming.
While the book seems at first like a tough one to bring to the screen, as it moves along, one can see the influence of film noir and crime films on Flynn’s writing. Flynn is actually writing writing the screenplay and, as the creator of this dark world, she has every right to make some changes. In fact, she told Entertainment Weekly (her old employer) that she’s changing the last act.
She said that when star Ben Affleck read the script, he was surprised, notes Time. “He would say, ‘This is a whole new third act! She literally threw that third act out and started from scratch,’” Flynn recalled.
Affleck will star as Nick, while Rosamund Pike has been cast as Amy. Pike is a relative unknown, although she’s been in Jack Reacher, Pride & Prejudice and An Education. This role will surely raise her profile considerably, as Amy proves to be more than what we think she is.
The rest of the cast is intriguing. Neil Patrick Harris will be Desi Collings, one creepy character. He recently told Out that Fincher had him and Pike rehearse every moment of a sex scene. Fincher “wanted it to be almost robotic, that we know exactly where we are, position-wise, where everything goes,” he said. “And yet, through all of that, the whole ‘I’m gay’ element was never even thought about.”
Probably the most interesting casting choice is Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt, the lawyer Nick hires when things get really bad for him. Fincher will make it work, but it is an interesting twist on the character, who was so self-absorbed. He’s a man who appears to have every word scripted out in his head before he says it. We’ll see how Perry can deliver on that.
For Fincher, Gone Girl will be the latest in a series of films based on books, going back to The Social Network. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was based on one of the most popular novels ever written and that turned out great. Hopefully, Gone Girl does better with audiences.
The film hits theaters on Oct. 3. We haven't seen an image since December and we can only wait for the trailer.
image courtesy of Amazon