At the beginning of the year, word emerged that David Fincher‘s “Gone Girl,” based on the best-seller by Gillian Flynn, would throw fans for a loop by switching up the ending. “Ben [Affleck] was so shocked by it. He would say, ‘This is a whole new third act! She literally threw that third act out and started from scratch,’ ” the author herself told EW at the time. But hitting a Reddit AMA today, she tempered her comments a bit.
Asked by a fan about changing the book for the movie, Flynn said it was more a matter of adapting the story to make it work on the big screen. “….those reports have been greatly exaggerated! Of course, the script has to be different from the book in some ways—you have to find a way to externalize all those internal thoughts and you have to do more with less room and you just don’t have room for everything,” she explained. “But the mood, tone and spirit of the book are very much intact. I’ve been very involved in the film and loved it.”
“Working with David Fincher is pretty much the best place to start for a screenwriter,” she continued. “Screenwriting definitely works different parts of your brain than writing a novel. I do love that with novels, you can really sprawl out—it feels quite decadent. With screenwriting, you have to justify every choice. It’s a nice discipline, but definitely not decadent.”
It’s certainly an interesting change from “she literally threw that third act out” and those comments will likely keep fans of the book guessing. As for the rest of us, we’ll just patiently wait until October 3rd to see how the mystery unfolds.