Anyone else think Carrie Coon might steal GONE GIRL?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/20/14 at 4:16pm

I just finished the book (loved so much of it, not happy with the denouement). It strikes me that the movie, which seems likely to be a hit no matter how good it is, could be a huge coup for Carrie Coon. Go (Margo, Nick's (Ben Affleck) sister) is a great role and if the script does it justice, Coon - so great in LEFTOVERS, and inspiredly cast as Go - could make it extraordinarily memorable.



Updated On: 9/20/14 at 04:16 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 9:54am

Ok, guess it's just me.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 11:08am

I am very excited for her performance, and for the film in general (although I think I was a little cooler towards the book than you, henrik). Fincher's films are usually so well-cast; obviously, he could have gone with a much bigger actor than Coon (or Pike), but he didn't.

The other performance I'm most curious about will be Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 12:29pm

Perry's an interesting choice, AC. In the book Tanner is a white guy married to his law partner, a tall and imposing black woman (not sure if the wife, who livens up several scenes in the novel when it's most needed, is even included in the movie). I'm also very curious about the casting of Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings. I hope it doesn't inspire a knee-jerk interpretation that this very odd character (not one of Flynn's better creations in my opinion, some of his scenes are the novel's least convincing) is really gay (not that there's anything wrong with odd gay characters, I just see Desi as being very odd - including in some ways often associated with gay men - and, as it happens, straight).


Updated On: 9/21/14 at 12:29 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 1:24pm

I don't see a listing for Betsy Bolt on the IMDb page, so I would assume that the character has not been included in the film. It probably won't be a great loss. I suppose Flynn and Fincher are not necessarily keeping to the exact letter of the way characters are described in the books--I mean, Detective Boney is described as being almost aggressively unattractive, yet Kim Dickens is nowhere near anyone's conception of ugly.

As for NPH/Desi. As you point out, some of his characteristics (in the novel) have queer undertones: the fussiness of his grooming, his attention to detail, the persnickety-ness of his seasonal drink preferences, etc. etc. If you were an academic you could probably write an article about Desi being a coded queer character. But Harris hasn't had much trouble playing straight believably throughout his career, and I imagine he'll strike the right "odd" balance here. Or, at least, I hope so.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 1:54pm

Hope so too, and I certainly didn't mean to suggest that Harris isn't capable of convincing as a straight character; my concern was much more specific to Desi's quirks which although potentially queer-coded are never cited as such by either Amy or Nick, characters who would not hesitate to do so. I'd add to your list, and place forefront, Desi's consuming and perhaps emotionally incestuous relationship with his mother.

It's said the script will depart from the novel, particularly in the ending. It could very well be an improvement. The book has its problems. But for the most part, I found the book clever, engrossing and right on as critique of pop culture's twisted, skewed and smug obsession with scandal, crime and commoditized perceptions of people. And mostly very well written.



Updated On: 9/21/14 at 01:54 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 5:00pm

I started the book and got about a third of the way through before just wanting to be done already it -- he either did it or he didn't, and I lost patience with the damned thing and just checked out the Wikipedia synopsis.

As far as I can tell, any changes they'll make won't do the story any harm.

There's a very interesting little book by Patricia Highsmith entitled A SUSPENSION OF MERCY that plays some very interesting games with a somewhat similar storyline -- during a brief separation, a crime novelist decides to pretend that he murdered his wife, even going so far as to bury a rug in the woods that might contain her body. Suspicions are inevitably raised by neighbors and family members, and the guy finds himself the prime suspect in a murder he knows he didn't commit, and it goes along from there far more interestingly, I think, than anything I was reading in GONE GIRL.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 5:04pm

HORNS looks a million times more interesting

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/21/14 at 9:50pm

^hilarious trailer