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Gillian Flynn wrote a 2012 thriller called Gone Girl it has sold 8 million copies worldwide. It follows Nick and Amy Dunne a couple experiencing a marriage gone wrong. When Amy mysteriously goes missing on their fifth anniversary Nick becomes a prime suspect in the investigation of her possible murder. It is now filmed by David Fincher. Here is the trailer for Gone Girl. Nick Dunne probably the most hated man in America right now. Killing your wife. Nick everyone told us and told us. Marriage is hard work. Not for me. Nick as you all know my wife Amy disappeared three days ago . I had nothing to do with the disappearance of my wife. I have nothing to hide. Sammy got friends. We can talk to. I really don't know if she has friends. You don't know what she does all day and you don't know your wife's blood type. Just being a good guy so I can see him being a good guy. Boy you really don't like Andy. I'm trying to do is be nice to the people who are volunteering to help find him. I will practice believing my husband loves me. But I could be wrong. You see that kind of bias just before Amy is the kind of girl who attracts admirers we his bound to bring her back. I'm hoping you can tell me what this means to solve Amy's treasure treasurer. Seen this girl right here. Yeah I remember. I know you. I saw you with the volunteer center. I wanted to help you all she wanted a gun . We are all scared but we are all here now. I feel like something to be jettisoned if necessary. I feel like I could disappear. Perhaps a lack of empathy. Amy lost a lot of blood in there. Then somebody mopped it up while they mop up the blood. If they're trying to stage a crime scene whatever they found I think it's safe to assume that it's very bad. I finally realized I am frightened of my own with joy because if you do a deposition what to say what not to say trained monkey trained monkey who doesn't get lethal injections to keep you alive. You assaulted her. That's not good enough for you hit her. It's not even close. Absolutely not. I never touched her. We now believe Nick is involved in the disappearance of our daughter without a body double murder weapon. Their only hope is a confession I'll know anything you need to tell me. How was your marriage. Asking me if I killed my wife man of my dreams . KELLY What about my son. This man may kill me in her own words . This man made a truly you ever hear the expression the simplest answer is often the correct one. Actually I've never found that to be true . Joining me now David Fincher the director Gillian Flynn the author and screenwriter and two of the film stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. I am pleased to have him here at this table . Welcome. Thank you very much. Explain the popularity of the book first. Explain yourself. Yes here . You know I think it was the relationship that's at the heart of the story . You know I think there are a lot of different kind of thrillers that you know that are have a whodunit element. But I think it was one of those things you know when they wanted to talk about it men wanted to talk about it. People finished reading it and handed it on to someone else. But because it's about relationships at the core I think at the core you know there's a lot of entry points to it. You know there's gender stuff there's the you know the media and what's that that's doing to society. There's relationship stuff. There's a lot of ways into the book and ways to have opinions about it. Tell me about the cast. I mean you basically said that that based on Ben's smile. Yeah it's a little late. Yeah exactly. It's a little little out of the. No I I never dreamed that he would be available because it actually at the time that we were we're crewing up to make the movie. We were sort of jockeying to get the laughs grips and electricians and camera department people because he really was. Right. Yeah. And and and it was. And it was obviously I mean everybody was discussing at the studio was saying Oh funny man Affleck was available if only. And why were they saying that. Because it's just too perfect. What is it . I think that you need to have somebody who has great wit about the situations that this guy finds himself in. I mean you don't want somebody who has you know he he needed to be somebody who could could understand the the global aspect of the film the impression that he's making over the course of the two and a half hours as opposed to you know finding yourself in a situation that's particularly embarrassing at any given moment given. Tell me how you saw it . Because you've said this is the trickiest role. Yeah I mean I think it's really it's the role that the movie hinges on. It's that there's so much subtlety to it. There's so many different nuances to it but we can't really know that there are nuances being played and so I have an actor you know like Ben and you know I I thought of him kind of immediately. Once I start writing the screenplay because I kind of knew you know I loved films like Hollywood Land and he was like that where he saw kind of that darker side and I certainly had that great acting ability to pull off making us wonder what this guy was thinking without saying too much. And at the same time this real core likeability because he don't want the audience to turn completely off on him . So what was the challenge for you here both of you guys here are for us or morally suspect character. There was that I said more than air as you put it some magazine but now the truth is I think what was really interesting for me was I mean yes there's the things that I've certainly and I'm not the only actor who's been through the tablet experiences and has photographers. You know outside their home that sort of thing . But it's something that I've sort of made peace with. And there's a particular sort of quality to that experience in my life that is parallel in some ways to the to some of the RTS . Right yeah. I didn't have to. I didn't have to spend ise time researching that. But there was also no hindsight resentment . But I mean I think you were incredibly hit you well. Yeah. And God that that this was you don't have any say in it. It's not about you. It's beyond you. And I think that that was the thing that the effortlessness that you were able to bring to you I think. And I think what what these guys put together was a really interesting challenge and a really interesting and unusual protagonist. It's not a conventional protagonist because it's somebody that Hollywood has this obsession with likeability. Like if you read studio's notes Well the first of six the guy's not likable enough we're not invested with him enough and to make somebody likable the theory goes well you have to like it here to these six or seven you know articles of behavior. Yes and. And this movie is book and movie seem to totally want to abandon that is so that what happens is that sometimes he makes choices that sometimes you can understand empathize with and then things start to happen to all of. But I'm not sure that I would do that exactly. And he's sometimes obtuse and sometimes a student. And what's interesting about that is that I think the audience is forced to project himself onto a more honest protagonist because that's what we were with then one that is conveniently manufactured to you know sort of reassure us of our own virtue. How did you know about this film now there's a very good point things in this film. Likability is not important. It is a big really. I think they have a problem . I heard about the role you went after because you heard it. I didn't want. You can't go off to something when he is directing it. I mean different now he has a very singular process which everybody. I mean I I think that's the point. I know enough about directors to believe fundamentally that you can't be dead and you can sort of pet your ways to a director and anything that's how it works. I mean people try show that the approach has to come. That's an interesting idea is that true you think M. You mean suppose there's someone who really has to convince somebody maybe at first instance they don't think that you might be right. You have to convince them because you think cool. And then you do keep the temptation . They are happy that you do it. The temptation to do that is obviously very strong. But I I don't know how many times I've been convinced. Yeah. If you can make it so you can make an impact. I don't know how David just like you get to make it . It's appealing to see that somebody has a tremendous amount of commitment and is willing to like walk through fire which raised it. I mean she did everything you can possibly do for this movie. And that was clear and so I mean other than that I think sometimes actors get me in the movie but and are getting the part. No yes. During the movie. Yeah. Like you weren't willing to do to go to any lengths to to accomplish that. You had to play the part. But you know there's something actors do where you know they're playing like the war hero come. You know heroine ise. You know my dad I actually was a heroin addict too . You know you get a little I've done it myself you know like starting out as an actor. I remember that TV show and were like Can you play tennis. And I was like Oh yeah I'm actually pretty good and that's so that the whole scene was like hitting tennis balls because I was just like it comes out. So there's a there's a ball thing that goes on it. That's why it's sort of hard to tell. But what is easy to see is is commitment and that's easy to see that I imagine David said early on you certainly saw but what he said. Go ahead. Well I feel that also you know I feel when David wants to meet you all you're only responsible is he has to try and you know show him some truth. You know he's good because he isn't he's not a guy who's going to take whatever's been packaged already. He's got his own very particular scanner. And when he talks to you he's going to you know scan the substructure and find out who you really are and you know you just got to go in there with willingness to tell sort of hours and hours and hours and hours and it's interesting and yeah I read this book and thought well I you know I kind of I know I've got this in me some way which is disturbing enough as it is. But you mean you had Amy and you. Yeah this is what you said about her. I know exactly. You needed an only child. You needed an orchid and you needed a hothouse flower. Well what I said was what I said was when I met her I had seen Rosemary's work. I'd seen or I'd seen a lot of it . And I'd seen it kind of past you know it would be like I'd see a movie and then two years later I see another movie. And I'm one of those people who you know I watch actors all day long . That's all I do. And so I kind of you know you think you develop a radar for there for there. How many arrows they have in their quiver. And I never got a bead on Rossman which was something that was very different for me. So when when we started talking about Rosemont I was like Well I don't have I don't have a full impression of her which is weird because I've seen four movies that she's been in. And then I met her and I realized that there's a sort of opacity and there's a and there's a there's resistance to being pinned down. And as we started talking I was I was drawn to her and curious about her and we started talking about her upbringing and she she revealed that she was an only child it suddenly occurred to me that Amy is an only child who has a cartoon as a twin. And this and obviously it made sense why I why couldn't quite grasp it so I expect no facts filling out your instincts. Yeah exactly. You go. I don't know something's something's something's off there something's different something special. And what is it and now then I realized what are we saying about marriage. You know it's like a girl you know I certainly started the story with that idea of you know what. How honest are we ever in relationships. You know I like that idea that we are kind of emotional con artists when we when we start in on you know on any sort of medium that we're presenting are our best self for it. And I liked that idea that you know this was you know a murder mystery but marriage was the mystery. You know if you want to solve the murder you have to solve the marriage and figure out who these two people really were and that idea you know especially in this very media saturated world you know how much are we ever really our true selves and that's why I like that idea of the media is almost the third character in this film. And this also pervades this idea of what are they thinking. Yeah exactly what. You know what. Do you ever really know what the person's thinking you know just because they tell you what they're thinking you know or are they are they truth telling there. This is a book that we all know the ending from reading the book. Does it bother you at all. I mean we all do. You know everybody's read the book now. Well yes exactly. But you have to create a mystery. I mean I think the reason movie studios buy hit books is because it's in this arena. Yeah. But in this arena it means more than two 3 million people handed it to somebody and said you got to read this. So it has been wind tunnel tested in a in a way that this is a story that works. Yes. And it also also we've made this film painstakingly over a long period of time . And it's not just about knowing what happened. I think there's so much more in it. All that stuff is like was a T.S. Eliot I think said that that if you think of a playwright as trying to break into the mind of the audience that the plot is basically just a sort of meat you saw the guard dogs to distract them while you you get into the subconscious and that's really what's to me what's going on here. You know this plot it's not that it's discarded but that it occupies the conscious mind the front brain while underneath this very provocative questions asked which is how much of marriage is lying which I think is sort of scary. Everyone you know wants to have a good marriage and does and doesn't think of themselves as a liar. But by the same token there is a sort of dance of how do I present myself and the question of at what point do I. And so do we find out in marriage it that there is an element of lying. I think it depends on your marriage. I think you know to play the game because you know Gillan says this couple who are trying to set up this guy who set of for narcissistic reasons of their own have slightly shifted their true selves to sort of slot in with who they'd like to be perceived to be by the other suggestion is that any couple could be this couple they could go this way and that these tendencies are at the root of marriage. Along with all of the love and the purity and that stuff there's also this underbelly that could be potentially quite toxic. Let me go back to casting because there's so many interesting people here . How did you approach that did each of them . Like Tyler Perry I'd met Tyler in real life and I just. Plays a classic defense attorney. Well buddy but in the book I mean he's much more of you know he's yeah he's a little more razzle dazzle. He's also a little more cynical. You know I think that in the in the book he's and he's much more of a kind of a huckster. And what I love as we were starting to sort of see the faces and and have the pictures and kind of get a look at the team. You know one of the things that I sort of felt was we have so little screen time with Tanner. Maybe he shouldn't be this guy who's totally smooth maybe he should be a guy who's totally honest and puts you at ease and when you talked to Tanner Bolt Tanner Bolt who is introduced as the shyster you know like you know and you see him and he's like you've got to go take it on the chin. You got to walk out there you've got to take your lumps and this is the best way to do it . Show contrition and and and that's what is and what I love is his voice and his manner and as an actor he watches everything . So you know he's so wrapped in it. He watches everybody and I thought that was something Jeff Tyler Perry Yeah he's just you know it is that good. Oh yeah. He's the he's the talk show host. He's like somebody who's gonna sit you down and make you feel calm and you're going to you're going to spill what is it . Tell us about in the end about media and how we those of us who don't. I don't do a lot of that but but we all are obsessed by celebrity and in fact we bring a prism to it that's on. Well it's not. It's we're not talking about the media we're talking about a very narrow spectrum which is tragedy vampirism and that's a bit fidgety vampire as vampires. Yet firm you going . I've trademarked. No. I don't know any of the way to describe it. Yeah exactly. Green jacket. Yes. I like that better . But it's it's it's when . When you see these programs that are designed to stoke your righteous indignation about what is such an obvious you know when it's nine times out of ten that's the husband . And it's so obvious this is one of those nine times. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about that rush to judgment. We're talking about the stoking of the of the of the lynch mob it's sort of profiteering that I think is unseemly. Where and inserting of oneself into a story. And when it doesn't seem to be you know scandalous or prurient enough they're trying to dig around for four more days. It's like look clearly someone murdered someone in their family. I mean you know it's appropriate to report on it it's appropriate to. But then there are companies like huckster lawyers who show up and want to sue somebody and for more in a show show up and I think there is this sort of chicken and the egg thing where the people who are doing this you know my hysterical reportage around murder say well it's what the game was giving people they want. This is the demand is there for it. So we give them but I think that's the sort of sophistry. Not unlike you know what a crack dealer might say to you. We go why you do this. Well people want to crack with us . They want all smoking to begin with. If you sold it to somebody in Mexico who sells it makes only drug because you Americans want them. Exactly what they do is there's a market .