Gillian Flynn rewrote the entire ending for the big screen version of Gone Girl

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With GONE GIRL a bona fide bestseller, fans of the novel have been anticipating the big screen version starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. With David Fincher at the helm, many were excited to get a faithful adaptation in the vein of Fincher’s last film, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, author Gillian Flynn shared some news about changes the fans can expect in the movie version.

Flynn, who wrote the screenplay herself, decided to change the ending of the film to add some new twists and turns for the movie. Every movie features changes from the source material in one capacity or another, but it sounds like the changes to GONE GIRL are fairly substantial.

“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.’”

GONE GIRL, which follows the mystery surrounding Nick and Amy Dunne and whether Nick may have had a hand in his wife’s disappearance, was envisioned by Flynn as being directed by David Fincher from the get go. She also thinks the selection of Ben Affleck is spot on as well.

“Ben knows inherently what that experience is like. He knows what it’s like to be hunted. You have to wonder if Nick did horrible things to his wife, and you have to see him do some really not good things, but at the same time you have to able to say, ‘I’d like to have a beer with that guy.”

There is little chance that GONE GIRL is going to be a bad movie, but just how good it will be depends on whether or not it will be something unique on the big screen. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, while not lighting up the box office, was a well-made movie that suffered from being compared to not only the source novel but also the film version released just a few years prior. GONE GIRL, being adapted by the original novelist, and being given some fresh material, should certainly delight fans of the book and Fincher buffs alike.

GONE GIRL hits theaters on October 3, 2014.