David Fincher’s done way too many grim crime thrillers centered around murder, right? There’s serial killer film “Se7en,” serial killer procedural “Zodiac,” serial killer mystery “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” and "Panic Room" and "The Game" both have elements of murder, crime and mystery. But it’s not really by conscious design.
"All you need to do is look at my filmography to know that I have no idea what people want," Fincher told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year admitting that he may have been "too beholden to the source material," vis a vis ‘Dragon Tattoo.’ His latest film, an adaptation of Gillian Flynn‘s murder mystery thriller, "Gone Girl," is well, another crime thriller with a secret in it.
It’s about a man (Ben Affleck) who becomes the focus of an intense media circus after his wife (Rosamund Pike) mysteriously disappears. Perhaps like the unapologetic and unrepentant Fincher himself, his character tend to be prickly and disagreeable. And Affleck’s character in the film is a shifty, narcissistic liar, which is why he becomes a suspect. "I don’t know what ‘likable’ is. I know people who are doting parents, who give to charity, drive Priuses, all those things, who are insufferable assholes…. I like people who get shit done," he told the magazine. Ha, fair enough.
The movie also stars an eclectic cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Scoot McNairy, Boyd Holbrook, model Emily Ratajkowski and many more.
Sonically, it boasts another score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Oscar winners for their ‘Social Network’ score, also for Fincher), and this will be their third collaboration in a row with the filmmaker. The film is also includes another creative regular Jeff Cronenweth who shot “Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination).
So, is Fincher’s latest an Oscar contender or just another dark seedy thriller? Either way, audiences probably win. Judge for yourself with the new trailer below. 20th Century Fox releases this one on October 3rd.