Entertainment

What Does this Poster For 'Gone Girl' Reveal?

by Celeste Mora

As fans patiently endure the well-spaced release of posters and trailers for Gone Girl, the tides seem to turn more and more against Ben Affleck. In the first trailer, he seemed appropriately ambiguous, giving off neither a guilty stench or a perfectly innocent air. By the time the crime-themed posters and second trailer had dropped, fans who had not read the books saw Affleck in a new, sinister light. And now, we have an even newer, even more damning visual for Ben Affleck's Gone Girl character of Nick Dunne.

In the poster, released originally on Saturday, we see Affleck in silhouette, almost crushed by Rosamund Pike's eyes and the film's title, both shrouded in a wispy cloud. Affleck is pixelated and situated among the words "SEARCH FOR 'AMAZING" and "CONTINUES," which Buzzfeed points out is a fragmented version of the FOX crawler that rounded out the first official teaser image.

It's possible this is an image of Nick Dunne through Amy Dunne's eyes, or a representation of his famously disconnected narration, which will undoubtedly be a feature of the film. The progression of trailers and images has seemed to follow an arc that is unraveling Dunne's character before the film even starts, which would suggest that the gritty noir flavor of the book will be honored in the movie version.

Or perhaps it could mean that screenwriter Gillian Flynn has once again decided to deviate from the book, and make Dunne an unambiguous villain by the end of the pre-release hints. After all, we won't know what we've got until it's on a dark-hued, cryptic poster.

Image: New Regency Pictures