Meet the Contenders: Rosamund Pike "Gone Girl"
Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 6:40PM Each weekend a profile on a just-opened Oscar contender. Here's abstew on this weekend's breakthrough leading lady. Mild tonal spoilers follow
Rosamund Pike as "Amazing Amy" in Gone Girl
Best Actress
Born: January 27, 1979 in London, England
The Role: Based on the best-selling novel from Gillian Flynn, Pike plays the beautiful, ideal "cool girl", Amy Dunne. After she and her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) find themselves unemployed and strapped for cash, they move back to Nick's hometown of North Carthage, Missouri. But the marriage isn't the idealic relationship it once was and on the morning of their 5th wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing - with Nick as the prime suspect. To say more would ruin the film, but let's just say that Amy looms large over the rest of the story...
Reese Witherspoon bought the rights to the book, hoping to cast herself as Amy. But when David Fincher came on board to direct, he had a very specific idea of the character in mind, citing Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy as his model and considered well-known stars like Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Olivia Wilde, Abbie Cornish, and Julianne Hough (?!). Fincher went with Rosamund Pike because she wasn't as recognizable and he loved her "opacity" as an actress, having seen her in several films but never quite getting a read on her, allowing the mysterious character to remain so through her anonymity.
Previous Brushes with Oscar and Critical Takes after the jump...
Previous Brushes With Oscar: Pike has already co-starred in two films that brought Best Actress nominations to their leading ladies: Pride and Prejudice (2005) with Keira Knightley and An Education (2009) with Carey Mulligan. She also received some British awards attention for her supporting role in Made in Dagenham (2010), which never really caught on as an awards-hopeful in the US.
What Critics Are Saying:
"For Amy, many readers envisioned Cate Blanchett or Charlize Theron; each could play a blond vixen capable of seducing and scaring a husband. But instead, the role went to the lesser-known Rosamund Pike. (Among her roles in Hollywood films: Andromeda in Wrath of the Titans and Tom Cruise’s helper in Jack Reacher.) Pike’s relative unfamiliarity to the mass audience allows her to draw Amy in careful cursive on a blank slate."
- Richard Corliss Time
"With her serenely cool beauty, Pike is ideally cast in the role of the privileged, manipulative and calculating Amy. An under-utilized and terrific actress, the British Pike plays sophisticated New Yorker Amy impeccably."
-Claudia Puig USA Today
"As a toxic villain without much conviction, Ms. Pike manages to be both ravishing and riveting."
- Rex Reed New York Observer
"For Pike, a Brit best known for supporting roles, this is a smashing, award-caliber breakthrough you'll be talking about for years."
- Peter Travers Rolling Stone
My Take: Alfred Hitchcock once described Grace Kelly as a snow-covered volcano, with that cool exterior belying the fire burning beneath. Pike's work as Amy is a sister to Hitchcock Blondes, surely, but she's more like an ice berg than volcano; that visible chilly surface only a hint of the depths of jagged and treacherous shards hiding below. And that's ultimately the problem with Pike's performance as Amy, it's too distant, too stilted. She could've used some of that volcanic fire to give Amy life. Her Amy is calculated and ruthless, but there's not enough insight into the motivations. Even her voice-over, which should be giving us a look at her thoughts, seem highly implausible and Pike's delivery is too blasé to ever believe that this woman would do what she does.
Fun Fact: Rosamund Pike made her film debut as the icily named Bond Girl, Miranda Frost, in Die Another Day (2002). If she wins the Oscar, she will be the third actress to be both Bond Girl and Oscar winner after Kim Basinger's Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again (1983) and Pike's own Bond co-star, Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson.
Probability of a Nomination: Likely. From the moment the book was announced as having a film adaptation, it seemed likely that whoever took on the meaty role of Amy Dunne would be be in the awards conversation. Fincher's past 3 films have brought Oscar nominations for their leads and there's no reason to believe that Pike won't join them. Especially because her journey - relative unknown landing a coveted role in a Fincher film based on an extremely popular novel - closely mirrors that of Oscar-nominee Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Reader Comments (22)
I think you mean Never Say Never Again instead of Thunderball... right?
I haven't read the book, so I didn't know anything about the film going into it (other than the hype and the people who made it), but my god this movie is good.
It's not perfect, but when was the last time a major Hollywood film was this perverse, dark, AND entertaining? When was the last time a film this mainstream really went there?
That's what I admire most about it. It didn't shy away from the sinister undertones, and it didn't sugarcoat Flynn's critical view of marriage and the American dream (as well as the movie's more prominent view of the media). And throughout all of this, it remained consistently funny and thrilling.
As far as Hollywood cinema is concerned, I'm not sure what more people could want. This film is worth seeing and cherishing, and Pike's performance, while risky, deserves our admiration. She went there right along with Fincher and Flynn, and it shows in every scene.
conrado - whoops! right - corrected, thanks. all those bond titles kinda run together for me...
To me, the most successful part of Gone Girl is the "reveal" narrative shift to Amy's point of view, when Fincher lays out her scheming—a riveting ten minutes of filmmaking that found me perversely rooting for her. I disagree with some of your criticisms and found Pike note-perfect.
The performance won my heart with the beats of utter disdain and contempt for Casey Wilson's character, so deliciously haughty and well-foiled in Wilson's performance. Every dissonant note in Pike's performance is so well teed up and earned.
Yeah, watched it yesterday and really liked it, there were things that felt too "same, same and not different" but that's how the film was written and directed.
It terms of direction, I don't think this is one of Fincher's strongest. The Social Network and Benjamin Button are still his two gems - every speck is impeccably timed and weighed.
I really liked Pike's performance and I'm also one of those people who have never seen her in a leading role. She is absolutely stunning, cold and snappy. During the final important section of the film her character does fall into boredom a little bit but this is not the actor's fault, it's how the character is constructed.
Joseph: Se7en? The Silence of the Lambs?
abstew: I saw it, and no, it's not perfect. (I'd say B+, putting it as the fifth of the seven Fincher movies I've seen, lower than Fight Club, Se7en, The Social Network and Zodiac but higher than Dragon Tattoo (B) and Benjamin Button (C+).) I did LIKE Pike's performance, though it's not quite as good as her An Education or The World's End turns. Best Moment: Tanner Bolt and Nick Dunne meet. If Tyler Perry gets nominated, something from that scene is his clip. Worst moment: The Desi Collings death scene. A stunningly tone deaf staging of that blood bath, considering the more realistic look of the rest of the film.
For all the well-warranted talk of strong performances in this movie, why aren't more people buzzing about Carrie Coon? I'd like to see her name alongside Pike's and Flynn's when award season comes around.
Devin D: Carrie Coon is, at the moment, in the argument, at least.
Surprised to totally disagree with your opinion on Pike. I thought she absolutely nailed it, bringing an extremely difficult and complex character to vivid life. I'm not surprised she did, but she absolutely blew me away. Simply riveting. I can't stop thinking about her performance.
After seeing the film, what sticks in my memory about Pike's performance is the touches of comedy that she brings to it. I don't understand about Fincher and some critics calling her "opaque". To me, Pike communicated to the audience exactly what the character was thinking.
And again, funnier in retrospect, much like her character in An Education. I wouldn't be surprised if the Golden Globes put her in the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, as if the film was a black comedy.
@ Devin D: Agree completely! Coon was perfect - I'm hoping for more roles for her after this.
I have to disagree with you on Pike's performance, I found it to be exactly what was needed in that part. She is funny, scary, intelligent, and riveting every time she is on screen.
I read the book and had definite ideas of what I wanted to see. I was also pleased with Coon's and Kim Dicken's performances as well.
I hope Rosamund Pike gets a nomination and all this attention is obviously going to open more doors as far as her career goes. I just love that the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice" gave us Kiera Knightly, Rosamund Pike, and Carrie Mullligan - what a bumper crop of actresses!
***SPOILERS, go see it!***
The problem with movie Amy is that everyone is impressed Fincher managed to retain so much of the humor, since that's not typically his strong suit (though The Social Network succeeded because Eisenberg managed to mix humor and venom with such flair), but Amy is not designed to be as funny as she was in the book. Part of the book's appeal is that such dark, intense material is bust-a-gut hilarious at all the least appropriate moments, and Amy is so wickedly clever that I ended up enjoying her more than Nick, in a twisted way. That doesn't translate to the screen, but I can't think of any director who could have done a better job alternating between the intense thriller and the tongue-in-cheek humor. Pike nails what she's supposed to do, and I'm not sure a two hour film can jockey the audience's emotions in the same way an entire novel can.
The only character in the book that comes across as sane is Go, and it's no surprise Coon is so appealing here. She nailed every note, but it's because she's the closest the movie comes to having a likable character.
Warning: Spoilers Abound
Let me first say that I love Rosamund Pike. I thought she was spectacular in An Education and I really fell head over heels for her in Made in Dagenham. I did not, however, love this performance.
The mark of a sociopath is outward charm masking inward deviance. I never once got a sense of that outward charm from Pike. From the moment Amy meets Nick at the party to the final scenes, all I felt was a firm sense of distrust. Part of this is the fault of the script-- the film basically starts on the day of Amy's disappearance so there's not a lot of focus on how their marriage really played out on a day-to-day basis-- but Pike did have control over the aura she gave off in their background scenes (in the party where they met, at the Amazing Amy marriage press gathering, etc.), where she seemed distant and arrogant, and in the voiceovers, which reminded me of the sinister, secretive narrations that opened 'Desperate Housewives' episodes. When the plot called for Amy's outward charm with Desi or with the press in the last act, I never got a sense of Amy's charisma from Pike's work, only from the reactions of those around her.
I never read Gone Girl but I find the idea of switching the audience's allegiances throughout the plot to be fascinating. Unfortunately, in the movie, I think Pike kept me from ever seeing her side of the story. I'm happy for her that she's getting recognition for this role so that she might find more opportunities in the future, but I do regard this as far from her best work.
I watched it last night here in the uk,my sister and i couldn't stop talking about it,she loved the leads,i thought they were slightly miscast but I loved the supporting cast Harris,Coon,Banes,Perry and especially the wonderful Dickens who shot str8 to the top of my supporting actresses,I kept thinking of Theron in Pikes role,a more attuned actress was needed maybe Blunt too both more capable of selling the bad which Pike for me fails,plus her voice was so wispy and never changed really when the big reveal comes i,Pike is just not oscar worthy but Dickens totally,I wanted to know why she was divorced,what was her relationship with the rookie,why do skeptical of both the Dunnes etc.
i know people view it first and foremost as The Amazing Amy show ... but i kept thinking SAG ENSEMBLE because all the peripheral roles are so well played. Carrie Coon is so good and I can't believe I didn't know her until this year (also great on THE LEFTOVERS) and i found Affleck and her absolutely believable as twins.
I thought she really shined in the last 3rd of the movie... In fact, the last chunk saved the film for me, elevating to something really delicious and amazing.
SAG ensemble nomination, definitely. Carrie Coon was great, but I kept mentally replacing "twin" with "sister". I kept thinking, he's at least 10 years older than her, they can't possibly be twins.
Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit also made a great team. I'd like to see Patrick Fugit get some good roles.
I thought Carrie Coon was good as well, but no one is mentioning Kim Dickens as much. I thought she was the true supporting standout in the movie. Goes to show this is a really great ensemble film as well. Everyone was perfectly cast.
Everyone in this film is so perfectly cast, down to the smaller roles: Casey Wilson, Missi Pyle and Tyler Perry were all good too.
The only disappointments for me were Amy's parents, but that's mostly because they left out so much about her parents from the book.
What no one seems to be pointing out is that Pike's big "cool girl" speech is exactly what negates her performance in the first third of the film. In all those flashbacks, if she's allegedly trying to be the Cool Girl, it's not on the screen - she's stilted, stiff and remote. That's the problem with the performance.
DJDeeJay: Exactly! All of the work that she does in the first act of the film is completely nullified by almost everything that succeeds it, though I'm not quite sure yet if it's the performance alone or a combination of that and the writing. I left the film with no clue who this woman is, and I don't think that was the intention.