Rosamund Pike, "Gone" No More
Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 1:07PM 
Murtada reporting. Thanks for such kind comments on my first post last week.
Rosamund Pike became a star when she stared blanky at French speaking Carey Mulligan in An Education and calmly said “no you didn’t, you said something completely different”. A new delicious take on the ditzy blonde. She shifted that cool blank blonde vibe to convey ruthless smarts, to grand Oscar-nominated results in Gone Girl. We’ve been wondering how Hollywood will capitalize on her breakthrough ever since.
Earlier this week it was announced that she will be joining Jon Hamm in the political thriller High Wire Act. This marks the third high profile project for her since that breakout. She’s also been cast opposite David Oyelowo in Amma Asante's Belle follow up, also an interracial romance, A United Kingdom, and alongside Jason Clarke, Jack O’Çonnell and Mia Wasikowska in the World War II drama HHH. Three roles, three leading men, three different genres, three period pieces: a political thriller, a historical drama and a love story taking place during WW II, right after it and in the 1970s. They look great on paper given the collaborators and topics but are they well written or will it be the cool blonde in stock wife / love interest mode?
Here's what little we know about the roles.
In Kingdom she will be Ruth Williams, a British woman who faced controversy because of her interracial marriage to Seretse Khama, Botswanan royal. In HHH she’s Lina Heydrich, wife of Reinhard one of the main architects of the Holocaust. Supposedly she was the one who introduced him to the Nazi party. We don’t know anything about her role in Wire beyond being a CIA undercover operative tasked with protecting Hamm’s character.
the famous photographer Margaret Bourke White shot this photo of Ruth Williams and Seretsa Khama
She’s not the headliner in any, though Kingdom sounds like a strong two-hander. Hopefully the movies deliver for us and for her. (Announced last year but maybe not happening as things have quieted down, is Hany Abu Assad’s The Mountain Between Us with Charlie Hunnam.) Which of the upcoming projects excites you and who would you most like to see her paired with next?
Reader Comments (10)
All 3 projects are appealing. I like the cast in HHH, I want to see more of director Amma Asante's work, and the political thriller sounds like fun.
I loved Pike in An Education too. Oddly, her part is the part I remember best. I've liked her ever since 2001's Love in a Cold Climate where she plays the shy and sweet mousy narrator Fanny (think the second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca).
I'd like her to work with some more interesting directors next. I love her with every actor she works with (Paul Giamatti, Bruce Willis, her P&P co-star, etc.). Maybe Christian Bale next? He responds best to smart actresses loaded with talent.
She was supposed to play a drug-addicted model opposite Bale in THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY but it's been set aside.
Steve: aww, sounds like just the kind of thing I'd like to see.
My favorites are Barney's Version and Made in Dagenham. Looking forward to A United Kingdom, but I'm kind of done with movies set in WWII. She's also great at comedic roles which she has said she enjoys, so it might be fun see her take a few roles similar to some of Rose Byrne's recent choices.
Pam...she was really good in Barney's Version!
As for the three new ones, HHHH interests me, as I'm a WW II buff. A United Kingdom also sounds interesting, but the one set in Beirut doesn't, so much.
HHHH is a fantastic book, but A United Kingdom sounds like it'll be the best role for her.
Yay! This made my day. I love Rosamund Pike. I remember all those press junkets she was doing for Gone Girl (a film I love even though it's so, so flawed)and in most of her interviews she came across as a fresh,deep, immensely intelligent woman. Barney's Version is the next film of hers I want to see.
Speaking of which, did anyone manage to catch Return To Sender? It was like one of those trashy 90's movies Sharon Stone would have made, without any of the sexiness or ironic tone. It was actually shot a few months before Gone Girl and I was surprised by how much better she was in it.
So excited for Rosamund Pike. Go get that Oscar now, girl!
All three seem interesting and her latest Return to Sender also looks fun.
All three sound good. Crossing fingers for the Bale/ Pike combo getting some refreshing air and finance and support
Oh, Rosamund. For her pitch-perfect acting and looks, I never understood why she wasn't as big as, say, Carey Mulligan. (Which in turn reminds me of the roles Carey was remarkably ill-suited for and Rosamund would have been fantastic for, like Daisy Buchanan)