Gone Girl

Al BLACK SCREEN Al

NICK (V.0.)

When I think of my wife, I always

think of her head.

FADE IN:

INT. BEDROOM - SOMETIME

We see the back of AMY DUNNE’S HEAD, resting on a pillow.

NICK (V.0.)

I picture cracking her lovely

skull, unspooling her brain,

Nick runs his fingers into Amy’s hair.

NICK (V.0.)

Trying to get answers.

He twirls and twirls a lock, a screw tightening.

NICK (V.0.)

The primal questions of a marriage:

What are you thinking? How are you

feeling? What have we done to each

other?

AMY wakes, turns, gives a look of alarm. *

BLACK SCREEN:

2 EXT. NORTH CARTHAGE - MORNING 2

A carved faux-marble entry—reading FOREST GLEN—ushers us into

a ruined HOUSING DEVELOPMENT. Mostly VACANT houses. A few

Fourth of July decorations hang in windows. A weird, BUCOLIC

air:
swaying grasses, stray wildlife.

3 EXT. NICK DUNNE’S FRONT YARD - DAWN 3 *

TITLE CARD:

JULY 5th, 2012

THE MORNING OF:

NICK DUNNE, 30s, handsome, is taking out the trash; his yard *

is the only one mowed—all around him WILDERNESS encroaches.

The SUN rises over the treeline and blares its FIRST-DEGREE

SPOTLIGHT in his face. He looks ILL.

GG - Blue Draft - 8/29/13 2.

He turns and stares back at his HOUSE as if girding himself.

He strides across the yard, opens the door. His shadowy

figure fills the doorway for a moment. He SHUTS the door. *

4 EXT. BAR PARKING LOT - DAY 4 *

NICK—wearing noticeably different clothes—arrives under a *

glaring SUN. Down the street, a troupe of HOMELESS MEN walks *

single file along the river.

5 INT. THE BAR - DAY 5

Nick’s twin sister, GO, 30s, nerdy-hot, is washing mugs. The

bar is packed with ‘80s k±tsch: board games, toys, posters.

Their very own CLUBHOUSE.

GO:

Ah, the Irish prince graces us with

his presence.

He sits on the bar’s customer side. She flicks suds at him. *

NICK:

Brought you a present.

He sets a decrepit ‘70s—era Master Mind on the bar.

GO:

(sweet - smile)

Master Mind! I hated this game!

NICK:

You loved it.

GO:

You loved it. Thanks.

She places it behind the bar alongside SORRY!, CLUE, LIFE.

NICK *

Pour me a bourbon, would ya?

GO glances pointedly at the clock: 11:09 a.m. She pours two *

bourbons. Settles in.

GO:

What’s up, Jitters?

He shrugs. She tries to wait him out. Fails.

GG - Blue Draft - 8/29/13 3.

GO (CONT’D)

If you don’t talk, I’ll fill the

silence with:
an Excruciating Story

by Margo Dunne.

He smiles. This is an old, reliable routine.

GO (CONT’D)

I could tell you about my customer—

service experience while changing

Internet providers. *

NICK:

I do like that one.

GO:

Or the time I saw a woman who

looked exactly like my friend

Monica but it wasn’t Monica, it was

a stranger—

NICK:

—whose name was.. .Monica.

GO:

Made it kind of interesting.

She gives a look: Talk.

NICK:

It’s a bad day.

GO:

Amy?

NICK:

Our anniversary. Five.

GO:

Five?! That came fast.

NICK:

And furious. *

6 INT. SOMEWHERE - SOMETIME 6

CLOSEUP on a PEN, cursiving across a DIARY. The pen is GIRLY,

topped with pink feathers. We see at the top: January 8,

2005. We hear the words as we see them written in pink.

AMY (V.0.)

I’m so crazy, stupid happy.

GG - Yellow Revisions 9/27/13 4.

7 INT. BROOKLYN APARTMENT - NIGHT 7

AMY ELLIOTT, early 30s, gorgeous, is in a crowded hipster

party. Dude-heavy. She weaves her way through the guys.

AMY (V.0.)

I met a boy.

She spots her FRIEND deep-flirting a guy, and stops midway,

stuck with TWO BEERS. She makes her way toward a table with

picked—over food and scans the room for anyone she knows. She

spots NICK DUNNE—he spots her.

AMY (V.0.)

A great, gorgeous, sweet, cool-ass

guy.

Nick weaves his way over. She’s setting down her beer.

NICK:

It’s dangerous to set down a monk— *

brewed Belgian wheat beer when the *

party is down to three Beast Lites

and a bottle of Pucker.

AMY:

Might attract some desperate

characters.

He gestures toward a group of Williamsburg musician-types:

suspenders and broad-brimmed hats.

NICK:

Things could get ugly. The Amish

are on Ruinspringa.

AMY:

They already relieved me of my

artisanal meat platter.

NICK:

Finally, someone to tell me how to

pronounce that word.

AMY:

Meat?

NICK:

One syllable.

He picks up the beer.

GG - Blue Draft - 8/29/13 5.

NICK (CONT’D) *

Whose beer am I drinking? *

(moving closer to her, so *

they have same POV) *

What’s your type? *

They scan the crowd together. Cozy. Nick points to a hornrimmed,

haughty DOUCHEBAG. *

NICK (CONT’D) *

I can’t picture you sitting still *

while he bloviates about his post- *

grad thesis on Proust. *

Nick points to a sideburned guy in a NOVELTY TEE. *

NICK (CONT’D) *

Ironic hipster so self—aware he *

makes everything a joke? *

AMY *

I prefer men who are funny, not *

‘~funny.” *

Nick points to a wavy-haired granola-yoga type. *

NICK:

Please tell me it’s not Deeply

Sensitive Emo-Dude

—who says things like “I love

strong women.”

NICK:

Code for ‘~I hate strong women.”

A beat as they scan the room, then face each other. *

AMY *

And what type are you? *

NICK:

Corn-fed, salt-of the earth *

Missouri guy.

AMY:

Missouri?! How cute.

NICK:

Ah:
native New Yorker!

GG — Yellow Revisions 9/27/13 6.

AMY:

World ends at the Hudson. I’m l~my.

NICK:

So tell me, Amy. Who are you?

AMY:

A. I am an award—winning

scrimshander. B. I am a moderately

influential warlord. C. I write

personality quizzes for magazines.

NICK:

(taking her hand)

A. Your fingers are far too *

delicate for real scrimshaw work.

B. I am a charter subscriber to *

Middling Warlord Weekly—I’m sure

I’d recognize you. So: C. *

AMY:

And you? Who are you?

NICK:

I’m the guy to save you from all *

this awesomeness.

8 INT. APARTMENT ELEVATOR - NIGHT 8

They head down:
tipsy, not touching, but thinking about it.

AMY:

So if you write for a men’s

magazine, does that make you an

expert on being a man?

NICK:

In theory, I know what men drink,

what men wear-

AMY:

How men bullshit.

NICK:

Not with you.

Amy laughs:
ha, ha.

NICK (CONT’D)

I’m serious.

She stops, studies him.

GG - Blue Draft - 8/29/13 7.

AMY:

It’s hard to believe you. I think

it’s your chin.

NICK:

My chin?

AMY:

It’s quite villainous.

She places a finger over his chin. Tests the view. *

NICK:

No bulishit. 100% truth.

9 EXT. BROOKLYN - NIGHT 9

They are huddling together, walking to hail a cab.

NICK:

I love New York parties because I *

get to leave and walk out into New *

York. The Great What Next? *

They turn the corner and step into a cloud of powdered sugar

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