Few literary adaptations are as hotly anticipated as David Fincher‘s “Gone Girl.” The novel by Gillian Flynn was a bona fide literary sensation, selling more than two million copies in print and digital editions by the end of its first year of publication, and every aspect of the film’s casting has been obsessed over. With Ben Affleck in the role of Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) mysteriously vanishes, leaving him as the prime suspect, it was just a matter of filling out the supporting cast, something that is very near completion with Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit and Carrie Coon joining the film and Tyler Perry confirmed for a role.
Perry, easily the most high profile supporting player (he does, you know, run a media empire and junk), is set to play Tanner Bolt, the high profile defense attorney who comes to Nick’s aid during the media firestorm that follows his wife’s disappearance. He’s supposed to be a flashy celebrity attorney who takes on the cases that seem totally indefensible. It is, in short, a performance that could easily devolve into hammy overacting, but Fincher has wanted him for a while, probably because he has the necessary charisma. It’s one of the only big roles Tyler has taken outside of his own films (others include a brief role in 2009’s “Star Trek” and the lead in last year’s disastrous franchise non-starter “Alex Cross“).
Dickens and Fugit will play two detectives in the film who are assigned to the disappearance, while Broadway vet Coon will play Nick’s twin sister and confidant (or is it accomplice?). Neil Patrick Harris, meanwhile, seems all but officially signed on as Desi, a mysterious man from Amy’s past.
There are still a handful of roles that need to be cast, including the young girl who Nick has an inappropriate relationship with, Nick’s deranged father, and a Nancy Grace-style television pundit, but given the amount of attention the book has been getting, coupled with everyone’s desire to work with David Fincher, and it should be sewn up pretty quickly.
“Gone Girl” starts shooting this month for release sometime next year.