David Fincher, Ben Affleck and the

vanishing Gone Girl. By Rene Rodriguez

 

When Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl, which has sold more than 2mn copies, finished writing her screenplay for a film, she gave it to her husband to read — along with a yellow magic marker. “I told him to underline anything he objected to,” says Flynn, author of two other novels and a former writer for Entertainment Weekly. “I told him I would delete or rework anything he objected to, because these characters are pretty mean to each other, and I didn’t want anyone to think I had based any of it on him.”

Her husband read the script and returned it unmarked. One of the bleakest and most honest depictions of a troubled marriage to hit the best-seller list — as well as a corker of a mystery and a commentary on the US’ economic instability and the carnivorous nature of the media — Gone Girl seemed perfect for a movie, except for one thing. The novel was filled with flashbacks and diary entries that would require voiceovers, the bane of most filmmakers. The story also had the chronology of a puzzle, with not everything making sense until the last page.

Still, when Flynn’s script started making the rounds, it caught the attention of David Fincher (The Social Network, Seven, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), who asked Flynn if she would have dinner with him in St Louis, where he was shooting a project. “My wife had read the book and told me there was something really interesting there,” says Fincher. “I was blown away by it. But I also knew Gillian was contractually bound to deliver a first draft of a script soon, so I waited for that. I didn’t know if you could solve the diary, the flashbacks, if you could integrate all that without it feeling intrusive. I wasn’t convinced it was possible. And then I read her script and thought ‘You can do this! She had cracked it.’”

Except for a slightly different ending (which still preserves the tone of the book) and the omission of a few minor characters, Gone Girl, which opens October 3, is one of the most faithful film adaptations ever made. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike play Nick and Amy Dunne, whose happy existence in New York City is derailed when they lose their jobs writing for magazines and move back to Missouri to take care of Nick’s ailing mother. He opens a neighbourhood bar with his sister and settles down into a blue-collar life, while Amy becomes increasingly unhappy about their new home. Then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick is at the bar when he gets a call from a neighbour, saying his front door is ajar.

Nick rushes back home and finds signs of a struggle — broken furniture, shattered glass, traces of blood — and no Amy. The police become involved and, as usual, the husband becomes the primary subject. But without Amy’s body, which has vanished, no charges can be brought against anyone. And the longer the body is missing, the more guilty Nick appears.

Like the book, Gone Girl is a terrific thriller. But it also has a lot to say about the nature of marriage and questions how well we can ever really know another person. When Nick and Amy are lying in bed, and he caresses her hair, his hand looks like a claw trying to extract information and find out what she’s really thinking. And this is before things turn really bad.

“A truly mature relationship means being completely comfortable and honest with the other person,” Fincher says. “People are too complex and too needy. They change. They start off in a great place. The idea of finding our soul mate, no matter how bogus and bull**** that is, is incredibly prevalent. That’s the conversation I want people to have after they see the movie. But I don’t want to have it for them. This is first and foremost a thriller.”

For the role of Nick, Fincher cast Affleck, who survived the Bennifer media storm and came out of it unscathed. He’s happily married to Jennifer Garner, a Best Picture Oscar winner for Argo and cast in the role of the Dark Knight in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman.

“Ben is extremely bright, but people don’t give him that credit,” Fincher says. “I told him I need a character who went through all the s*** he went through in his real life. He got put through the woodchipper. But in the movie, he walks into the firestorm leading with his chin. He has great wit.”

Affleck agrees his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, which fed gossip columnists daily, came in handy, because Nick is being constantly watched and hounded by news crews. “On the set, I was the leading authority on that,” Affleck says, laughing. “Nowadays, it’s much more common. It was a little different 12 years ago before the Internet. Today, these things last two days, and then it’s on to the next scandal. But when it happened to me, it was frustrating seeing the false funhouse image of what the media represented.”

Fincher is known primarily for his visual style and penchant for violent movies (Gone Girl only has one bloody scene, but it’s a doozy). But the director works just as closely with his art director, cinematographer and set designer as he does with his actors, many of whom have given great performances in his films (Brad Pitt and Ed Norton in Fight Club, Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac, Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network and Michael Douglas in The Game).

“The movies I love and go back to again and again are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Chinatown or Alien or Citizen Kane or All About Eve. They are movies where you find career work from everybody. I want everybody firing on 12 cylinders. So it’s about creating an environment where the actors can be as good as they’ve ever been. I wanted all of Ben’s wardrobe picked out for him. I want pencils and paper and notes and a little tube of Krazy Glue when he’s going through the drawers in the kitchen. I want all that stuff worked out so actors can give themselves over to this moment. It’s all about the cohesion of everyone doing their job. That to me is the difference between a music video director who is a good shooter and a real filmmaker. I don’t want to limit other people’s contributions just because I’m the director.”

Affleck agrees that Fincher was much more detail-oriented than most filmmakers, which takes some pressure off the actors but also means lots of takes of the same scene. — The Miami Herald/MCT

 

READY TO ROLL: Gone Girl seemed perfect for a movie, except for one thing. The novel was filled with flashbacks and diary entries that would require voiceovers, the bane of most filmmakers.

 

I would love to
be a father: Bradley

 

Actor Bradley Cooper, who is dating model Suki Waterhouse, says he is ready to be a father. In an interview with Square Mile magazine, the 39-year-old actor revealed how being a father is his next big step in life, reports mirror.co.uk. “I would love to be a father one day. I’m sorry my father won’t be around to see his grandchildren, but he knows fatherhood was something I was looking forward to. That’s my next big step in life,” said the “American Hustle” star. Cooper’s father Charles passed away in 2011. – IANS

 

 

Lindsay Lohan defends theatre debut

Actress Lindsay Lohan has defended her West End theatre debut after she was accused of forgetting her lines in her first show, insisting the performance “could have been a disaster... but it wasn’t.”

The Mean Girls star began her first theatre run in a London production of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, but the audience claimed she stumbled through the first preview performance and struggled to remember her lines. However, Lohan is insistent she is happy with her first night on stage, reports contactmusic.com. “It could’ve been a disaster, but it wasn’t by far ... Everyone is always going to be judgemental, no matter what. I respect people have an opinion, but I’m doing the best I can and will for the duration...,” she said. “I was nervous on the first night because I’d never done it before. But everyone (working on the show) has been really great... they’ve all been very kind, gracious and comforting,” she added. — IANS

 

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