About That 'Gone Girl' Ending: A Timeline of Quotes and Explanations

Meriah Doty
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Fans of Gone Girl, the 2012 bestselling novel from Gillian Flynn, have been extremely anxious about potential unpleasant surprises in the upcoming big-screen adaptation; specifically, on how the movie will end. Director David Fincher caused some consternation back in January when a quote from him implied that his take on the twist-filled story — about a married couple (played by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) whose relationship takes a potentially murderous turn — had some third-act developments that deviated from the book. Flynn, it should be pointed out, also wrote the screenplay.

A recent New York Times profile on Ben Affleck adds to a string of sometimes-conflicting statements made by the director and writer. We’ve assembled a loose reconstruction of those he-said/she-said statements that, ultimately, shed very little light on what Gone Girl audiences should expect.

Jan. 10: Fans went ballistic when Fincher told Entertainment Weekly that Flynn made substantial revisions to her book. “Ben [Affleck] was so shocked by it,” Fincher said. “He would say, This is a whole new third act! She literally threw that third act out and started from scratch.’”

April 22: Flynn countered, telling fans in a Reddit AMA that the director’s claims were “greatly exaggerated!” She added, “Of course, the script has to be different from the book in some ways.”

June 6: Flynn told the Wall Street Journal in a video chat, that readers often share their displeasure with how the book ends: “I really didn’t know how divisive that ending of Gone Girl was going to be… People are not shy at all about telling me how much they hate the ending.” Possibly hinting at changes she made in her script, she added, “I was not married to that ending from the beginning. I thought about different ways to end it.”

Aug. 14: Fincher offered a clarification of his comments to EW, explaining that what changed in the final act is both “everything and nothing.” He went on to say that his cinematic revisions were cosmetic in nature (“changing the bone structure and the muscles and the skin’) and that the movie reflects “exactly what I think Gillian always intended.”

Sept. 3: A line uttered by Nick Dunne (Affleck) before the final act in the film, is revealed in the New York Times: “They disliked me, then they liked me. They hated me, and now they love me.” It’s consistent with the book’s ending — and doesn’t reveal a whole lot of what’s to come. We also learn that Times writer Cara Buckley was granted a private screening of the finished movie. She assures fans: “Contrary to early speculation, the film hews closely to the book.”

Comforting words, if you’re a fan of the book — but given the prevailing level of uncertainty, this particular mystery won’t be solved until Oct. 3, when Gone Girl opens in theaters nationwide.