It looks like David Fincher has found his Gone Girl.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the notoriously meticulous filmmaker has offered the lead role of Amy Dunne in his movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel, Gone Girl.
Flynn’s novel, which has sold over two million copies and received rave reviews, centers on a couple—Nick and Amy Dunne—who are struggling through a difficult marriage. After Nick is laid off from his journalism job, he relocates the couple from New York City to the tiny town of North Carthage, Missouri, where he uses the last of Amy’s trust fund money to open a bar. When Amy goes missing, Nick is becomes the prime suspect in her mysterious disappearance. The first part novel is told in the first-person via Nick’s narration and Amy’s journalism entries—which will reportedly appear as flashbacks in the film—while the second half casts more light on these two unreliable characters.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pike joins Ben Affleck, who had already been cast in the role of Nick Dunne, while Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry (?) are reportedly being eyed for supporting parts. A plethora of other actresses had been rumored to be vying for the coveted role, including: Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, Olivia Wilde, Abbie Cornish, Natalie Portman, and Emily Blunt—recalling the casting chaos surrounding the role of Lisbeth Salander in Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (Rooney Mara, of course, eventually won out after months of auditions and earned an Oscar nomination for her mesmerizing performance.)
The 34-year-old Pike is a British actress who graduated with a degree in English literature from Oxford, and is fluent in French and German, as well as an accomplished cellist. After appearing in several plays, including David Hare’s Skylight, and a few British TV shows, she briefly considered quitting acting due to a dearth in opportunities and mulled a job at her Waterstone’s bookshop. Then, she landed the role of Miranda Frost, a traitorous Bond girl-MI6 agent in the 2002 film Die Another Day, marking her feature film debut. She later landed roles as Elizabeth Malet, the wife of John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester (played by Johnny Depp) in The Libertine; Jane Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice; a hard-nosed lawyer with the hots for Ryan Gosling in Fracture; and a supporting role in An Education. Most recently, she starred opposite Tom Cruise as a defense attorney in the action-thriller Jack Reacher, and will next appear in the Edgar Wright comedy The World’s End, in theaters Aug. 23.
Pike was engaged to her Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright—but the wedding was called off in 2008. Since 2009, she’s been dating Robie Uniacke, 53, who has been described by the British tabloids as a “popular bohemian society figure,” and the two had a son, Solo, in May 2012.
Fincher’s film will be distributed by 20th Century Fox and New Regency, and produced by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Pacific Standard. Witherspoon’s company and Fox acquired the screen rights to the novel for a reported $1.5 million, and tapped Flynn to adapt the screenplay to her novel.
