Hollywood’s hottest role up for grabs
AMONG THE Manhattan cognoscenti, it was the most widely read work of pop fiction in 2012. Now Hollywood is on the edge of its seat, waiting to see whether a dark novel set amid the psychological wreckage of the recession can spawn one of the great female roles of modern times.
Gone Girl, a thriller by Gillian Flynn, tells the story of Nick Dunne and his ‘‘dazzling’’ wife, Amy. Their journalism careers destroyed by the internet, they decamp from New York to his tiny hometown. On their fifth wedding anniversary, he arrives at their home to find her missing.
What follows has been described as ‘‘a Hitchcock story written by a very mean Candace Bushnell’’ – a reference to the author of Sex and the City.
Published last summer, Gone Girl sold 2 million copies, spending months at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Now Hollywood hopes that it will be to thirtysomethings what The Hunger Games was to teenagers: an irresistible tale – if deeply unsettling – ready to be spun into box-office gold.
First, however, a decision must be made on who will play the pivotal part of Amy. Adaptation rights have gone to 20th Century Fox, which bid an estimated US$1.5 million (NZ$1.8m). The producers include actress Reese Witherspoon, stoking speculation that she may star.
Fans of the book say she is just too chipper. One critic compared Amy to Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as an example of a new-generation of literary heroine ‘‘unafraid to throw – or take – a punch’’.
British actress Emily Blunt has been seen reading the book. She has ‘‘ played super- sweet and utterly evil – but never in the same film’’, one insider said. Others in the running are said to include Charlize Theron McAdams.
In the book Nick describes himself as having ‘‘a face you want to
and
Rachel punch’’, as he is so disarmingly handsome. That has prompted speculation that Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper in Mad Men, could be in the running. But he might have to fight off Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender.