Can Tyler Perry please do all the interviews? The actor/writer/director/producer is an enthusiastic quote machine, who raised a lot of eyebrows a couple of days ago when he stated he had no idea who David Fincher was, nor was he familiar with his films before signing up for "Gone Girl." Moreover, he added that had he known how popular both the filmmaker and Gillian Flynn‘s book were, he wouldn’t have signed up for a role in the movie. But in the full quote from Vulture, there is very key bit of context from Perry.
"This is the honest-to-God’s truth. If I had known who David Fincher was, and his body of work … If I had known that the book was so popular, and so many people loved it … Had I known all those things, I would have said no. And my agent knew that! So he didn’t tell me any of those things! Not until after I had signed on to do it," Perry said. "And the reason I wouldn’t have done it is because when things are that magical for people and they become very special for people, there’s a lot of pressure for it to be what they want it to be."
That’s a fair point —fans can often only see their beloved comics, books etc. through one particular lens, and it would be understandable if Perry didn’t want that scrutiny (which doesn’t explain his roles in "Alex Cross" or "Star Trek," both based on popular properties). Nevertheless, Perry was introduced to Fincher’s multiple take method, which of course he didn’t know about beforehand either.
"Nobody told me. The first time I found out he did that was on set. One of my first lines, on the first day, Ben [Affleck] goes, ‘Just want you to know, minimum, 30 takes.’ And the blood was draining from my face. I turned around and I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ He was like, ’Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ But I’ll tell you what I found in it. I love studying people. And I realized that this man sees like no other person I’ve ever known. I think his own vision is hyper, so when he’s doing a take, he’s seeing everything on that screen all at once. I mean, it’s almost like some kind of alien. And until all those things line up, he’s not happy," Perry said. "But he is brilliant at getting the perfect shot. So once I realized that it’s not me, or it’s not Ben —it could be a napkin turned the wrong way, he’s just looking at every little detail in the scene— so once I realized that, I was ready to go with it. He is the master, man. He is just great. I loved working with him. I learned how to make a movie, number one. I was just soaking everything up. I was paying attention to every move, every word, everything he was saying when he’d talk to the camera people, the DP —just the level of communication and director-speak was awesome. It makes me want to approach [my next project] with just a little more patience."
Again, Perry’s excitement about making the movie is pretty great, and it seems he used it as opportunity to observe someone else’s method. But the big question is how it all turned out? Perry says he’s seen a rough cut of the movie, and not surprisingly, he really, really likes it.
"I was beyond impressed, blown away. I laughed and I was moved and I just thought the performances were amazing. It’s incredible. He’s brilliant. It’s pretty awesome. He nailed it. I didn’t read the entire book, because I didn’t want to take in a lot of the backstory of the characters if it wasn’t in the script for the film. I didn’t want to have a lot of that in my head. But I think he nailed it, though," Perry stated.
Find out for yourself on October 3rd.