Following up news that had come around last week, Rosamund Pike (The World’s End, Jack Reacher) is one stroke of the pen away from securing the lead position in David Fincher‘s Gone Girl. Playing the spouse to Ben Affleck in a widely revered filmmaker’s new film, all based on a hit novel, ought to be some significant boost for any actress, though rising above a fine slate of performers — Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, and Emily Blunt had all been noted as contenders — is, we would think, an even stronger sign of career progress. And who would object to the pick, anyway?

The casting game gets a little stranger, however, when it’s noted that Neil Patrick Harris and (do not adjust your monitor) Tyler Perry have been in the mix for supporting roles, the critical question of “who” or “why” going unanswered. (One who has read the book may posit Harris as an ex-boyfriend of Amy’s — a brief spot — while Perry could fit the role of a detective on the case or potentially Nick’s defense attorney; this is simply speculation.) Casting matters, of course: as with any good thriller, it would sound as if all parts are instrumental as to how the action is deliberately structured and thrillingly falls together — but Fincher has not, to this writer’s memory, ever made a truly bad casting call, so minds ought to be open. It’s a mystery in and of itself, etc.

For Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn will adapt her own novel, a best-selling yarn about the disappearance of a woman (Pike) on her fifth wedding anniversary, the circumstances of which put a supposedly loving husband (Affleck) under suspicion. You can imagine that not everything will prove to be as it seems.

The evidence will accumulate as more actors are secured before cameras roll this September, courtesy of Fox and New Regency.

Does it seem like Fincher is playing this one right? Do any choices inspire a reaction?

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