Just as I was sitting down to write up Rosamund Pike’s Variety interview, Bedhead sent me this link – apparently, Ben Affleck does full-frontal nudity in Gone Girl. Just FYI. I think the idea of Batfleck Junior is kind of gross, but some of you might be into it. Believe it or not, that little factoid comes up in Rosamund’s Variety piece – at one point, she talks about how happy she is that the film got an R-rating and that they got to keep all of the sex and blood in the film. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Being a Bond Girl at 21 backfired: “It cemented a sort of patrician, frigid, English, standoffish cold image. People think I lie about my age. I never had a chance to do those young roles.”
Getting Gone Girl at 35: “I’ve always been given roles that are more mature than I am. Now it could be that it’ll all start reversing, and I’ll stay around 30.”
She had a 103-degree fever the night before production began: “I threw up three times. My body was going through a lot of changes.” As she burned up, she fired off an email to an old friend — Tom Cruise. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to reach out to somebody who has been in this position,’” says Pike, who co-starred with Cruise in “Jack Reacher.” He promptly wrote back, telling her about his pre-fame jitters on 1981’s “Taps,” and offered a pep talk: “Trust yourself,” Cruise said. “You’re in the hands of a great director. You’re ready.”
She cried when she got the part: “I was unbelievably excited and unbelievably scared. You suddenly feel so small. I thought, ‘I’m embarking on this thing I’ve always wanted.’” Her voice cracks. “I’m going to cry now,” she says, as her eyes well up. “Someone is giving me that chance, which is something I’ve wanted since I’ve been a tiny girl.”
Fincher’s multiple takes: “I think probably around take 18 of getting my head bashed against the wall, I literally saw stars.”
So much blood: “I think if David hadn’t been worried about animal rights, he would have used pig’s blood. It is one of the hardest things to get screen blood to have texture and get it to dry in the correct way. Blood goes through so many stages as it dries. It becomes sticky and changes color. And arterial blood is different from other types of blood. We had many blood tests. I had so many showers” — up to 20 a day, she estimates — “Your skin becomes raw.”
There’s a ton of other interesting stuff, like how Rosamund had to keep gaining and losing weight for the weird film schedule, and how she did a shower scene with Ben Affleck where he was in awe of her abs. Fincher wanted Rosamund to sound like Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Rosamund’s dialect coach had her read Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers and the New Yorker aloud to get it right. The coach tells Variety: “We didn’t read down for Amy.” Fancy!
There’s also a fascinating sidenote about how Fox bought the rights to the book and how Reese Witherspoon never, ever owned the rights, contrary to widespread reports. Reese did produce it, but only after Fox bought the rights.
Oh, and did anyone else think the Tom Cruise story was sweet? It might have been a fever-dream, you know. With that kind of temperature, you might be like “I NEED TO EMAIL TOM CRUISE ABOUT THIS” too.
Photos courtesy of Variety.
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