For most franchises, Hollywood is keen to set a production schedule that sees future installments released in a timely, financially-keen fashion. This is certainly not the case with David Fincher‘s take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. With the initial film released in 2011, racking up over $230 million worldwide (but still below Sony’s expectations), many have wondering if we’ll ever see the pair of follow-ups, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.
Following strange reports that Daniel Craig might not take part and the focus would shift to Rooney Mara‘s character, Fincher has now opened up about the state of the films. “I think because [Sony] already has spent millions of dollars on the rights and the script so it will result in something,” Fincher tells Afton Bladet (via Film Divider). “The script that we now have a huge potential, I can reveal as much as it is extremely different from the book.” He is, of course, referring to Steven Zaillian‘s completed screenplays, but there’s no telling when exactly when it could move forward. In all honesty, unless Fincher could quickly shoot these back-to-back, I’d much rather see him spend his time developing something else, but we’ll have to wait and see what he decides.
Switching gears to his latest film, Gone Girl, there’s been much talk regarding exactly how close (or not) the project is to the book. The last word was that it indeed stays true to Gillian Flynn‘s source material, and now Fincher has detailed how he approached the adaptation. First up, though, running 145 minutes, we’d thought all the characters from the book would make it in, but that’s not the case. Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Amy’s former boyfriend Desi in the film, tells Vulture that his character’s controlling mother, Jacqueline Collings, has been chopped out of the adaptation.
Back to Fincher, he’s given an extensive interview with Film Comment regarding the structure. “I can’t wait to see what will go on between couples at dinner after they see the movie. There are so many interesting tectonic shifts. When the people I’ve shown the movie come out of it, they are either Team Amy or Team Nick. Team Amy doesn’t have a single quibble about her behavior, and Team Nick doesn’t have any problems with his. Then there are people who primarily measure it against the book and how they felt about the characters in the book,” the director says. “And the narrative of the movie is vastly denuded from the way it’s allowed to grow and bloom in the novel. It wasn’t a defoliation as much as a deforestation. Once you got it back to the branches and the trunk, it was pretty easy to see that this movie was going to be about who we are and who we present to those we are endeavoring to seduce. And the absurdity of that difference needed to be part of the two-and-a-half-hour fabric in a much bigger way than in the novel. For me, the 30 percent of the novel that’s about who we present—our narcissistic façades—becomes the entire foundation of the movie.”
Fincher also added that the “biggest concern” of adapting the project “was how we would represent the two voices.” He adds that Flynn “quickly adapted to the structure that the “she said” is in flashback and the “he said” is being lived out in front of you. And you question which one is reliable or if either of them are. When we pruned back, Amy’s “cool girl” speech becomes central to the exploration of “we’ve been married five years now and I can’t get it up any more to be that person you were initially attracted to and I’m exhausted by it and I’m resentful that you still expect this.” And you throw in a little homicidal rage and it’s a fairly combustible idea. Does that make sense? [Much laughter] I’m so sorry I made this movie: it’s just not marketable.”
Fox seems to be doing a fine job of that that aspect thus far and for those all across the world, find out when you can see it below (sorry, Italy, Japan and Venezuela), as well as a plastic-looking Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck in an international poster.
Gone Girl opens on October 3rd.
Do you want to see Dragon Tattoo sequels? What do you think about Fincher’s comments regarding Gone Girl?