Close to twenty years ago David Fincher rewrote the crime thriller with Se7en. Twelve years later he would redefine the film procedural with Zodiac. After an American adaptation of the Swedish serial killer mystery The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you would think Fincher would have grown tired of making films involving murder, crime and mystery. But, then again, most of his filmography drifts in that direction if you also include The Game and Panic Room.
With Gone Girl, Fincher again adapts a best-selling mystery, but Gillian Flynn’s murder mystery is far from your ordinary whodunit. In fact, I understand that Flynn, who penned the adaptation, goes as far as to tweak the third act and have it deviate from her original novel.
The story as it is laid out involves a man (Ben Affleck) who becomes the focus of an intense media circus after his wife (Rosamund Pike) mysteriously disappears. As the story develops there are alternating narratives and timelines involving both Affleck’s and Pike’s characters. It’s a rather interesting way to liven up the proceedings. Because as is always the case there more than one side to a story.
Gone Girl also stars an eclectic ensemble that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Scoot McNairy, and Boyd Holbrook among others.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have scoring duties once again (having collaborated before on The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, who shot Fight Club, The Social Network and Dragon Tattoo for Fincher is doing the same with Gone Girl.
Gone Girl is slated to drop on October 3rd from 20th Century Fox. Whether or not this will turn into a prestige pic for Fox this fall is left to interpretation, but audiences will win in the end.
