Rosamund Pike joins Ben Affleck in 'Gone Girl'

The wait is over. Two weeks after announcing that Ben Affleck would play the male lead in Gone Girl, casting for the female lead was announced. Rosamund Pike, who has been seen with Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher, as well as the upcoming feature The World's End and the 2009 indie An Education, has won the coveted part. The juicy role requires the character to make quite a transformation--but I won't
go any further. In the book, the story is first told through the perspective of the husband (Affleck), then moves to the perspective of the wife (Pike). Her character goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, and her husband becomes the number-one suspect. They each see each other through completely different lenses, which hopefully these talented actors will be able to convey.

Now that the casting is in place, production is set to start in September. Author Gillian Flynn, a former TV writer for Entertainment Weekly, adapted the screenplay of her novel, which was her third published thriller. What promises to set this adaptation apart, however, is having David Fincher as a director. His 2007 crime thriller Zodiac remains one of the scariest movies I've ever seen, and there will be plenty of opportunities for him to apply those touches in Gone Girl. My one concern when it comes to the box office is that the book hinges on its twist ending--and for the millions who have read the book, that twist is forever spoiled. Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, another literary adaptation, underperformed despite being impeccably made. That movie, however, had a double death-knell. Not only had many people already read the trilogy, spoiling part of the mystery, they were so excited to see a movie of the books, they had already gone out and seen the entire trilogy of the Swedish-language adaptation, which had a dramatically successful run at the U.S. box office. At least in this case, Fincher will be the first to adapt the work. If this is anything like Zodiac, or its cousins Se7en and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, audiences will be in for a treat.