I caught a screening of David Fincher’s new film Gone Girl last night, and after the credits rolled my theater presented a streaming Q&A with author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn, hosted by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine. The presentation was part of the New York Film Critics Series, a national screening series that provides advance screenings of upcoming films and exclusive simulcast interviews with major cast and crew involved in the film — and at no extra cost, which is probably one of the biggest perks.
At one point during the post-screening interview, after speaking about some of the major themes the film examines, Travers asked Flynn about her approach to adapting her own best-selling novel for the big screen. Namely, he was curious how she went about excising events and tweaking the storyline of the book in order to fit her new medium.
Flynn responded that, during her screenwriting process, she kept a sticky note on her computer that read, “THIS IS A MOVIE” — a statement I’ve bolded and capitalized given Flynn’s emphasis. As she explained, this was her way of reminding herself the story in the book needed to be re-shaped and streamlined in order to resonate on screen. I’ve not read Flynn’s novel, but her response perfectly hits on the head something audiences will have to keep in mind as they watch Gone Girl, and really any adaptation for that matter.
Too often when novels are adapted for the screen, and bestsellers bring this out the most, fans begin to worry about how the story will be portrayed on screen. The first question seems to be, “How are they going to screw this up?”, a fear that likely stems from the fact fans have a preconceived idea of what the movie should look like, and they don’t want what they see on screen to differ too greatly from the images they’ve created in their minds.
But surprisingly (and refreshingly), Flynn was the one leading the charge on the conversation, practically urging the audience to not be overly protective of what they’ve created in their imaginations. After all, she wasn’t, and she penned the novel.
“I did my absolute best to not be the author who is too precious about the story I have in my head,” Flynn added, emphasizing that she understood from the get-go that whatever she imagined in her mind might not wind up being the final product, and she was okay with that. There were, however, a couple of things the author-turned-screenwriter insisted on during the development and post-production processes.
The first: “Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck. We should get Ben Affleck,” Flynn says she clamored to director David Fincher during the casting process. Aside from that, she was very hands off about casting, but she felt Affleck was perfect for the role of Nick Dunne and wanted to make sure her director knew as much.
There’s also a brief shot that Flynn asked be re-inserted in the final cut, something Fincher and his editing team previously excised. During a meeting with police early in the film, Nick is questioned for not knowing his wife’s blood type (see the clip to the right).
Fincher initially had the scene end after Nick leaves the conference room, but Flynn said she felt she needed to “let the men in the audience off the hook” so they weren’t left wondering if this is information they should know about their own spouses, interesting in that it plays well into one of the film’s many themes.
When we read books, we imagine the story in our head, and when what we see on screen or what we believe we’ll see on screen differs from that, we tend to be disappointed. It’s an understandable sentiment to an extent, but as Flynn asserts, it’s important to also understand books and movies are different canvases for storytelling, and we can’t become too attached to the story we see in our minds, even if we’re the one who created that story in the first place.
If you’ve seen Gone Girl, share your thoughts here and you can read Brad’s review of the movie here.
