Based on the bestselling Gillian Flynn novel, Gone Girl is right up Fincher's alley. The adaptation stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike as Nick and Amy Dunne, a picture-perfect married couple whose perfection is superficial. When Amy disappears without a trace on their fifth anniversary, Nick almost immediately emerges as the prime suspect, hounded by the police, media, and his community. But did he do it?
Reznor recently discussed the score and notorious perfectionist Fincher's mandate on how to score Gone Girl. "He said, 'Think about the really terrible music you hear in massage parlors,'" Reznor tells The Wall Street Journal. "The way that it artificially tries to make you feel like everything's OK. And then imagine that sound starting to curdle and unravel."
"I said a spa, not a massage parlor!" Fincher disagrees, recalling that the idea started when he was having his back adjusted. "I was listening to that calming, placating music and thought, we need to tap into this. The movie is about the facade of the good neighbor, the good Christian, the good wife. So the notion was to start with music that's attempting to give you a hug."
Listen to that weird hug with this first sample of the soundtrack, which arrives on September 30th, with a vinyl edition also on the way.
Possible spoilers, obviously, but here's the full track listing for the Gone Girl score:
SIDE 1A
1 WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO EACH OTHER?
2 SUGAR STORM
3 EMPTY PLACES
4 WITH SUSPICION
5 JUST LIKE YOU
6 APPEARANCES
7 CLUE ONE
SIDE 1B
1 CLUE TWO
2 BACKGROUND NOISE
3 PROCEDURAL
4 SOMETHING DISPOSABLE
5 LIKE HOME
SIDE 2A
1 EMPTY PLACES (REPRISE)
2 THE WAY HE LOOKS AT ME
3 TECHNICALLY, MISSING
4 SECRETS
5 PERPETUAL
6 STRANGE ACTIVITIES
SIDE 2B
1 STILL GONE
2 A REFLECTION
3 CONSUMMATION
4 SUGAR STORM (REPRISE)
5 WHAT WILL WE DO?
6 AT RISK
Gone Girl opens in theaters on October 3rd, positioning it as a possible early awards season contender. The jet-black material isn't exactly the right fit for an awards favorite, though.
Anyways, Fincher isn't just reteaming with Reznor and Ross. Gone Girl is also shot by his frequent cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and cut by editor Kirk Baxter. You can get a sense of their work on this particular project thanks to a new TV spot:
