Has Amy Elliott Dunne Been Found?

The adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is coming together rather nicely under the direction of David Fincher and the auspices of Reese Witherspoon’s production company.

Ben Affleck is circling the part of Nick Dunne, the thirtysomething husband of the titular MIA lady.

And now it seems that Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher) is in the running to play Amy Elliott Dunne, the New York woman who goes missing from the home she’s sharing with Nick back in his Missouri hometown (on the day of their fifth anniversary).

Now, I’m still making my way through the book, so here’s where I am on both these actors potentially playing these roles: I...don’t quite see it.

Pike is uppity-looking enough to play Amy, a rather selfish – as in self-ish (she does think of others, but, man...s--- be all about her all the time) – well-bred woman from the Big Apple who’s in the later half of her thirties, right?

I mentioned in the comments at EW.com that I kinda think that Gwyneth Paltrow may be a better fit. Especially if she’s paired with her Proof co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, who could play her slightly younger husband, a surprisingly dark and equally self-ish kind of fella (I liked someone else’s suggestion of Scott Speedman, too, but that killer grin of his might be a bit too much for Nick – Jakey-bear’s seems just right).

Anyway, back to G.P. Upon further reflection I will admit she might be a little too, well...G.P., knowwhatImean?

And Pike, a Brit, reads much too British to me.

So I would suggest Taylor Schilling, the star of Netflix’s new prison dramedy Orange Is the New Black, which I finished watching yesterday. Her character is a version of Amy: a yuppie-type who’s rather unaware of how the real world works (at least that’s my impression of Amy so far in the book).

This may not interest Schilling, though, but I thought it was funny that there her character was, all locked up, reading Gone Girl on the fifth episode. I saw that and something I’d been feeling just clicked: Taylor Schilling would make a great Amy Elliott Dunne!

Pike I’d have to research a bit more. Nothing against her: Her American accent in Jack Reacher was pretty good and she did a beautiful job in Pride & Prejudice. But.

If anything, if she is cast, I will look forward to being surprised. Which is why I love going to the movies, anyway.

Photo: VanityFair.com.