Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, David Clennon, Lisa Banes, Missi Pyle, Emily Ratajkowski, Casey Wilson, Lola Kirke, Boyd Holbrook, Sela Ward, Jamie McShane, Scoot McNairy, Ricky Wood
OUR RATING: ★★½
Story:
Psychological thriller directed by David Fincher, based on the novel by Gillian Flynn who scripted the film. The story revolves around, married couple Nick and Amy Dunne (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike), who seemingly have a very happy marriage, however on their fifth wedding anniversary Amy goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Soon a media frenzy begins and under pressure from the police Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble and he becomes the main suspect in Amy’s disappearance.
Our Favorite Quote:
'When two people love each other and can't make that work, that's the real tragedy.' - Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 108)
[first lines; Nick is stroking his wife’s hair]
Nick Dunne: [voice over] When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brains, trying to get answers. The primal questions of any marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other?
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated January 8th, 2005]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I’m so crazy, stupid happy. I met a boy. A great, sweet, gorgeous, cool-ass guy.
[flashback to Amy at a party meeting Nick for the first time]
Nick Dunne: Excuse me, miss? You know, I just want you to be careful where you put down that , uh, monk-brewed Belgian wheat beer. Because the party’s down to three beast lights and a bottle of pucker.
Amy Dunne: It might attract some desperate characters.
Nick Dunne: It could. I mean, the Amish are on a rumspringa.
[Amy looks across the room at the three Amish looking men and chuckles]
Amy Dunne: They already relieved me of my artisanal meat platter.
Nick Dunne: Finally, someone tells me how to pronounce that word.
Amy Dunne: “Meat”?
Nick Dunne: Yes, “meat.” One syllable. Thank you. Whose beer am I about to drink? Don’t tell me. Let’s see, who’s your type?
[he looks around the room and points to an intellectual looking guy across the room]
Nick Dunne: I don’t see you sitting quietly while he bloviates on his postgrad thesis about Proust.
[he points to another guy]
Nick Dunne: Uh-oh. Is that him? Ironic hipster, so self-aware, he makes everything a joke.
Amy Dunne: I prefer men who are funny, not “funny.”
Amy Dunne: What type are you?
Nick Dunne: Corn-fed, salt-of-the-earth Missouri guy.
Amy Dunne: Oh, Missouri?
Nick Dunne: Mm-hm.
Amy Dunne: Cute.
Nick Dunne: Native New Yorker?
Amy Dunne: World ends at the Hudson.
Nick Dunne: What’s your name?
Amy Dunne: Amy.
Nick Dunne: Well, Amy, who are you?
Amy Dunne: A: I’m an award-winning scrimshander. B: I’m a moderately influential warlord.
Nick Dunne: Hm.
Amy Dunne: C: I write personality quizzes for magazines.
Nick Dunne: Okay. Well your hands are far too delicate for real scrimshaw work. And I happen to be a charter subscriber to middling warlord weekly, so I’d recognize you. I’m gonna go with C.
Amy Dunne: And you? Who are you?
Nick Dunne: I’m the guy to save you from all this awesomeness.
[Amy laughs]
[Nick and Amy leave the party together and get into the elevator]
Amy Dunne: Oh, so you write for a men’s magazine. God, does that make you an expert on being a man?
[Nick chuckles]
Nick Dunne: No. It’s, you know, what to wear, what to drink.
Amy Dunne: How to bullshit.
Nick Dunne: Never with you.
Amy Dunne: Ha-ha.
Nick Dunne: No, I mean it.
Amy Dunne: It’s hard to believe you.
Nick Dunne: Why?
[Amy laughs]
Amy Dunne: I think it’s your chin.
Nick Dunne: My chin?
Amy Dunne: Yeah, it’s quite villainous.
Nick Dunne: Okay, how’s this?
[he puts two fingers on his chin]
Nick Dunne: A hundred percent true, no bullshit.
Amy Dunne: Okay.
[they get out of the elevator]
[they take a walk together]
Nick Dunne: We all move to New York and we end up living in these little cubby holes, and that’s not it. Come outside. Then, you’re in it.
[Nick stops and looks to his right]
Nick Dunne: You have to see this.
[they walk passed a bakery that is getting a sugar delivery and all the sugar is floating around everywhere]
Nick Dunne: I have to kiss you now.
Amy Dunne: Is that right?
Nick Dunne: I can’t let you go through a sugar storm unkissed.
Amy Dunne: Mm.
Nick Dunne: Wait a second.
[he wipes some sugar off her lips]
Nick Dunne: There you go.
[he kisses; later Nick is making love to Amy]
Amy Dunne: Nick Dunne. I really like you.
[back to present day at the bar with Margo and Nick where they’re playing Master Mind]
Margo Dunne: So, is Amy gonna do one of those anniversary treasure hunts?
Nick Dunne: You mean the forced march designed to prove what an oblivious and uncaring asshole her husband is?
Margo Dunne: Wow.
[Nick spins the board]
Nick Dunne: Life. I don’t remember the point.
Margo Dunne: Deep Hasbro thoughts. Spin.
[Nick spins the board again]
Margo Dunne: What was the clue last year she got so mad about?
Nick Dunne: “When your poor Amy has a cold, this dessert just must be sold.”
Margo Dunne: The answer?
Nick Dunne: I still don’t know the answer, Go.
Margo Dunne: A few years ago, you’d have known.
Nick Dunne: A few years ago, it was fun.
Nick Dunne: Year one, the traditional gift was paper. She got me a beautiful notebook. Told me to go write my novel.
Margo Dunne: What did you get her?
Nick Dunne: A kite.
Margo Dunne: Oh.
Nick Dunne: She’d never flown a kite.
Margo Dunne: Okay.
Nick Dunne: Anyway. Year four, flowers. She led me outside to the dying rosebush in the backyard.
Margo Dunne: That’s symbolic.
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
Margo Dunne: What’s the gift for five?
Nick Dunne: Wood.
Margo Dunne: So, what did you get her?
Nick Dunne: There’s no good gift for wood.
Margo Dunne: I know! Go home, fuck her brains out, slap her with your penis. “There’s some wood for you, bitch.”
[the bar phone rings and Margo answers]
Margo Dunne: The Bar. Why, yes. Hang on one second.
[to Nick]
Margo Dunne: Hey, it’s watchful Wally.
[Nick takes the phone]
Nick Dunne: Hey, Walt. What’s going on?
[Nick listens for a moment before replying]
Nick Dunne: Oh. Thanks very much. I’ll be right there. Alright, bye-bye.
[Nick returns home, and goes over to the cat that’s sitting outside on the front lawn]
Nick Dunne: Hey, buddy. What are you doing out here?
[he looks across at his neighbor, Walt, who’s on his front porch]
Nick Dunne: Thanks, Walt!
[Nick picks up the cat, enters into the house and sets the cat down]
Nick Dunne: Ame?
[getting no answer he enters the living room and sees the table flipped over and the glass surface shattered, outside Walt hears Nick frantically calling out for Amy]
Nick Dunne: Amy!
[after calling the police Detective Rhonda Boney and Officer Jim Gilpin arrive at the house]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hello?
Nick Dunne: Come on in. Hey.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Mr. Dunne.
Nick Dunne: Hi.
Detective Rhonda Boney: I’m Detective Rhonda Boney, this is officer James Gilpin. We understand there are concerns about your wife.
Nick Dunne: I don’t know where my wife is. And I came home to this.
[he shows them the overturned table and shattered glass in the living room]
Nick Dunne: Now, I don’t panic easily, but it’s weird, right?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Mind if we look around?
Nick Dunne: Please.
[Nick escorts Rhonda and Gilpin up the stairs]
Detective Rhonda Boney: How long have you two been here?
Nick Dunne: Two years in September. We used to live in New York.
Officer James Gilpin: City?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I was a writer. We were both writers.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Why did y’all move back here?
Nick Dunne: My mom got sick.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Oh, I’m sorry. How is she?
Nick Dunne: She’s dead.
Detective Rhonda Boney: I’m so sorry.
[Nick shows Rhonda and Gilpin their bedroom]
Detective Rhonda Boney: What do you do now, for work?
Nick Dunne: My sister Margo and I own the bar downtown.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Oh, The Bar. Love the name. Very meta.
Nick Dunne: Thanks.
[Rhonda looks around the room]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Pretty things.
[Rhonda and Gilpin walks out of the room; to the cat, who’s sitting on the bed]
Nick Dunne: Stay.
[Nick closes the door, he points to another room]
Nick Dunne: My office, here.
[Rhonda notices the ironing table out with a dress on it, she walks over to it]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Beautiful dress.
[she notices the iron is hot and unplugs it]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Date night?
Nick Dunne: It’s our anniversary.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Mm.
[Rhonda turns and notices another room]
Nick Dunne: It’s a guest bedroom, there. Cat’s room on the end. I checked up here.
[Rhonda places a yellow post-it on the ironing shelf]
[walking into the kitchen]
Nick Dunne: This is the kitchen, obviously. This is the, uh…
[Nick notices Rhonda and Gilpin looking at the kitchen, Rhonda sees a speck of blood on the oven hood and places a yellow post-it on it, Nick takes them to the next room]
Nick Dunne: This is my wife’s office. Amy’s office.
[Rhonda looks around and notices Amy’s degrees from Harvard and Yale on the wall]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Wow. Impressive gal.
Nick Dunne: Yeah. Should I be concerned?
[Rhonda then sees the poster of “Amazing Amy”, and the book series]
Detective Rhonda Boney: I remember these. I loved these books.
[Rhonda looks down and sees photo of Amy when she was younger with framed picture illustration from the book next to it]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Wait a minute. Your wife is Amazing Amy?
Nick Dunne: Yeah. She is.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Wow.
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated February 24th, 2007]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Amazing-fucking-Amy is getting fucking married. That’s how the night started. With me, regular, flawed, real Amy, jealous, as always, of the golden child. Perfect, brilliant, Amazing Amy, who’s getting fucking married.
[flashback to Nick and Amy are at an Amazing Amy launch party held by her parents Rand and Marybeth]
Amy Dunne: When I was ten, I quit cello. In the next book, Amazing Amy became a prodigy.
[sees poster of teen Amazing Amy playing volleyball]
Nick Dunne: Did you play volleyball?
Amy Dunne: I got cut freshman year. She made varsity.
[seeing another poster of Amazing Amy with a dog]
Nick Dunne: When did you have a dog?
Amy Dunne: She got the dog. Puddles made her more relatable.
Nick Dunne: Wow. I love your parents, but they really can be assholes.
Rand Elliott: Nick!
Nick Dunne: Sir!
Rand Elliott: Hey, thanks for coming, man.
[puts his arm around Nick]
Nick Dunne: No problem.
Rand Elliott: Hey, sweetheart.
[Kisses Amy on the cheek]
Rand Elliott: Big night for your mom. It would mean so much if you would talk to a few reporters, bloggers, give them a little Amy color. People want to hear from you.
Amy Dunne: We can’t stay long.
Rand Elliott: Fantastic. Fifteen minutes, tops.
[Randy turns and walks off]
Amy Dunne: This is why I have my brownstone. My trust fund. I know I can’t complain.
Nick Dunne: Your parents literally plagiarized your childhood.
Amy Dunne: No, they improved upon it, and then peddled it to the masses.
[walking over to Marybeth]
Marybeth Elliott: I thought you were gonna wear white to match the wedding theme.
Amy Dunne: I thought that would be creepy.
Marybeth Elliott: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing…”
Nick Dunne: Hold up! I know how this ends. Don’t…don’t tell me.
Marybeth Elliott: You’re very cute, Nick. Amy, you know what would make dad’s night.
Amy Dunne: Oh, I’m on it.
[Marybeth walks away]
Amy Dunne: I love having strangers pick at my scabs.
[Nick kisses her]
[Amy is sat at a table with reporters and bloggers]
Earnest Girl: I’m curious whether It’s difficult for you to see Amazing Amy heading down the aisle.
Fashionista: And this big party celebrating this fictional wedding.
Nervous Intern: Because it’s my understanding you are not married.
Above-It-All Journalist: Is that correct?
Amy Dunne: Correct. Amazing Amy has always been one step ahead of me.
[Nick steps in pretending to be a reporter]
Nick Dunne: Excuse me. I’m sorry, I just have a few questions.
[he sits next to Amy who pretends to be surprised]
Amy Dunne: It’s you.
Nick Dunne: I’m here in a strictly journalistic capacity.
[Nick takes out a pen and pad]
Nick Dunne: Now, you had the distinct pleasure of dating Nick Dunne for how long?
Amy Dunne: Two magical years.
Nick Dunne: Two magical years. In the course of that time, you’ve had the opportunity to perform such gracious gestures as not correcting Nick when he pronounced “quinoa” as “kwin-o-a.”
Amy Dunne: An understandable mistake.
Nick Dunne: He also thought it was a fish.
Amy Dunne: He thinks Velveeta is a cheese.
Nick Dunne: You also manage to appear shocked and delighted when Nick’s elderly mother breaks into an impromptu rendition of New York, New York, every time she sees you.
[Amy croons]
Amy Dunne: These bag of bone shoes
Nick Dunne: That’s just frightening.
Nick Dunne: You also bought Nick his very first pair of scissors.
Amy Dunne: And matching stapler.
Nick Dunne: Amy Elliott, you are more than amazing. You are brilliant, yet entirely un-snobby. You challenge me. You surprise me. And, fun fact for the readers, you have a world-class vagina.
[Amy and the other reporters sat around the table laugh]
Nick Dunne: Now, my colleagues tell me that you are not yet married. Is that correct?
Amy Dunne: I’m not.
Nick Dunne: Isn’t it time we fixed that?
[he opens his pad to reveal a ring between the pages]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] And then, the night wasn’t so bad anymore.
[Amy kisses Nick]
[Nick is a the police station having his mouth and skin swabbed for DNA samples]
Detective Rhonda Boney: And it’s done. Crossed off the list. Now, normally, we would not treat this as a missing persons case so quick, but given the scene at your house, and given our spike in violent crime of late, we are gonna take this very, very seriously.
Nick Dunne: Okay. Good.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So we’ve got forensics over at your place. You got somewhere to stay?
Nick Dunne: Uh…yeah, I could stay at my sister’s.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Okay. We’re tracking Amy’s phone, her credit cards. We will organize searches, put up flyers. We’re gonna hold a press conference tomorrow.
Nick Dunne: You’re having a press conference?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Yeah. We wanna get the word out, right?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, it’s just all of a sudden, I feel like I’m on a Law & Order episode.
[he starts singing the theme tune to Law & Order]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Now, uh…time is of the essence in these cases. But, that said, do you want to wait and call a lawyer?
Nick Dunne: Absolutely not. I just wanna help.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Okay. So, you and Amy have been here two years.
You tend bar…
Nick Dunne: I own The Bar. And I teach creative writing at MVCC.
Detective Rhonda Boney: No kids?
Nick Dunne: Not yet.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So, what does Amy do most days? A woman with all those degrees, what does she do?
Nick Dunne: I don’t know. She keeps busy.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Doing what?
Nick Dunne: I mean, she’s a voracious reader. So, she’s always got a book in her hand.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, days can get long. I mean I know a few housewives, that evening glass of wine starts coming at noon. Or prescription pills.
Officer James Gilpin: Just last week, we had a soccer mom. Nice lady. Got her teeth kicked in over some Oxycontin.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Ever since that mall went bust, half the town is out of work. We cannot keep up with the drug violence.
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not it.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Has Amy got friends we can talk to?
Nick Dunne: Um…no, not really.
Detective Rhonda Boney: No friends? This whole town?
Nick Dunne: She was very close with my mom, before she passed away. And you know, we have a pretty serious homeless problem in our neighborhood. I think maybe you guys should check that out.
Officer James Gilpin: We’ll look into that.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So you got to the bar around 11:00 today. Where were you before that? Just to cross that out.
Nick Dunne: Well, I was home. I left at 9:30, I got a cup of coffee, a newspaper. I went to Sawyer Beach and read the news.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Did you visit with anyone there?
Nick Dunne: Well, I mean I kind of go to Sawyer Beach for the solitude.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So, your wife has no friends here. Is she kind of standoffish? Ivy League? Rubs people the wrong way?
Nick Dunne: She’s from New York. She’s complicated. She’s got very high standards.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Type A? Well that can make you crazy if you’re not like that. You seem pretty laid-back. Type B. Speaking of which, Amy’s blood type?
Nick Dunne: God, I don’t know. I’d have to look it up at the house.
Detective Rhonda Boney: You don’t know if she has friends, you don’t know what she does all day and you don’t know your wife’s blood type.
Officer James Gilpin: Sure y’all are married?
Nick Dunne: I…I…maybe it’s type O.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Where are her folks? New York?
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Can they get here in time for this press conference tomorrow?
Nick Dunne: Tomorrow? I have no idea. I haven’t talked to them.
Detective Rhonda Boney: You haven’t called your wife’s parents yet?
Nick Dunne: I mean you can’t get a signal in this building. I’ve been in here talking to you.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well call them, please, Nick. Now.
Nick Dunne: Fine.
[Nick walks out of the room]
Officer James Gilpin: Should I know my wife’s blood type?
Detective Rhonda Boney: No.
[Nick’s on the phone to Marybeth]
Nick Dunne: I apologize, Marybeth. I didn’t know what was going on. You know, now I’m at the station and the cops are at the house, and it’s serious and I’m calling you.
[Rhonda starts walking towards Nick]
Nick Dunne: There’s a lot of things that are being juggled right now. I’m standing right next to Detective Rhonda Boney, who’s the lead investigator on this and she’s…
[to Rhonda]
Nick Dunne: My mother-in-law would like to speak with you.
[Rhonda takes the phone from Nick]
Detective Rhonda Boney: This is Detective Boney.
[just then Nick hears his father, Bill in the next room talking to a police officer]
Bill Dunne: I wanna go home. I don’t know why I have to be here. I don’t wanna be here. I wanna go home.
[Nick goes over to Bill]
Nick Dunne: Dad?
[to the female officer]
Nick Dunne: What…? This is my father. What’s going on?
Female Officer: Really? You’re Nick Dunne? We’ve been trying to get a hold of you all afternoon.
Nick Dunne: I’ve been right there. My wife is missing.
Bill Dunne: Bitch.
Nick Dunne: Don’t.
Female Officer: Your father wandered out of Comfort Hill after lunch. We found him walking route 79, disoriented. We’ve been trying to call you for the last three and a half…
Nick Dunne: I don’t get a cell signal in this building. I’ve been sitting twenty feet away from you with two other police officers!
[Rhonda stands by the doorway and listens]
Female Officer: Sir, please don’t take that tone with me.
Bill Dunne: Stupid, dumb, ugly bitch.
Nick Dunne: Dad, stop.
Detective Rhonda Boney: You wanna drive him home?
Nick Dunne: I think that’d be wise. Thanks.
[as Nick drives Bill back to Comfort Hill, he makes a call which goes straight to voice mail]
Nick Dunne: Fuck.
[Nick pulls up at Comfort Hill and tries to help Bill]
Bill Dunne: Get your fucking hands off me.
[to one of the Comfort Hill employee’s who’s coming over to get Bill]
Nick Dunne: Thanks.
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated July 5th, 2009]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Everyone told us and told us and told us – marriage is hard work. And compromise and more work. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter.” Well, it’s not true. Not for me and Nick.
[we see Nick taking Amy to the library into a quiet area]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] With us, two years. It’s just good.
[Nick takes out a book from the shelf]
Nick Dunne: Austen. Mm. You were an alienated teen and only Elizabeth Bennet understood you.
[he pulls out an envelope from inside the book]
Nick Dunne: Look at that. My God.
[Amy laughs]
Nick Dunne: You…you naughty minx.
Amy Dunne: Well, technically, we are supposed to fuck at the next stop.
Nick Dunne: Yeah, in keeping with tradition.
Amy Dunne: But I might be willing to bend the rules this once.
Nick Dunne: God bless Jane Austen.
[they star having sex]
[later Nick and Amy are at a Chinese restaurant]
Nick Dunne: I’m enthusiastic. Look at that. It’s confirmed by the…
[a waiter interrupts them brining Nick a box]
Nick Dunne: Thank you.
Amy Dunne: Year two, cotton.
[Nick opens the box to find an expensive looking sheet]
Amy Dunne: We had that joke that our sex was too good for ordinary. So, these are two thousand thread-count…
[Nick takes out the exact same sheet from his backpack and show it to Amy]
Amy Dunne: We’re so cute. I wanna punch us in the face.
Nick Dunne: That’s pretty great.
[Nick gives her the sheets]
Nick Dunne: I mean, that is pretty great.
[Nick is at Margo’s place making up the couch to sleep for the night]
Margo Dunne: Did they ask if you wanted a lawyer?
Nick Dunne: I don’t need a lawyer. Here, I’ll do this.
Margo Dunne: Well, did they ask personal stuff about Amy?
Nick Dunne: You know, they asked like why didn’t she have any friends?
Margo Dunne: What did you say?
Nick Dunne: I said she was complicated.
Margo Dunne: Nick! Everyone knows “complicated” is code for “bitch.”
[Nick’s phone buzzes, he looks at it and puts it back in his pocket]
Margo Dunne: God. I feel sick.
[Margo hands Nick a drink]
Nick Dunne: Thanks.
Margo Dunne: It’s so bizarre. It seems like the kind of thing that would happen to Amy. She always attracts…
Nick Dunne: Drama? You can say it. It’s just me and you.
Margo Dunne: Just because I don’t like to be around Amy doesn’t mean I don’t care about her. Anyway, whoever took her is bound to bring her back.
[Rhonda and Gilpin pull up at Nick and Amy’s house, a pregnant woman walks over to them]
Noelle Hawthorne: Detective? Excuse me. I’m Noelle Hawthorne. I’m Amy’s best friend.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, great. Where do you live, Noelle?
Noelle Hawthorne: Five doors down, 1032.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Wonderful. I would love to talk to you. Can I come by in half an hour?
Noelle Hawthorne: Y’all know anything yet?
Detective Rhonda Boney: I’m sorry. I got guys on the clock in here. But you give me thirty minutes.
Noelle Hawthorne: But that’s usually bath time.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, we’ll talk in between shampoos.
[Rhonda and Gilpin walk into the house; to one of the forensics guys]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Alright. So, what do you got?
Donnelly: Well, it was definitely blood spatter you saw in the kitchen. Normally, kitchen, knives, food prep, not that weird. But that is awfully high, so I’m gonna order a luminol sweep.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, okay.
[looking at the information he’s just received on his phone]
Officer James Gilpin: Mm. Interesting.
Detective Rhonda Boney: What’s that?
Officer James Gilpin: House is rented in her name. Car’s in her name. Credit cards, utilities, phone bill, all in her name. Even his bar’s in her name.
Detective Rhonda Boney: I don’t know that that’s so surprising.
Officer James Gilpin: No, but it is humiliating.
[they go over to a police officer in Amy’s walk-in closet]
Detective Rhonda Boney: What you got?
Officer: It’s with her unmentionables.
[Rhonda walks over to the drawers and talks out an envelope]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, we have our first clue.
[she holds up the envelop which has “Clue One” written on it]
[July 6th, One Day Gone – Nick is asleep on the couch when Margo wakes him by pressing a coke can to his forehead and shaking an aspirin bottle]
Nick Dunne: I have to take a shower.
Margo Dunne: No, don’t. You’ve been up all night. You wanna look like you’ve been up all night. Hey, be careful today, okay?
Nick Dunne: That’s a weird thing to say.
Margo Dunne: Well, when you’re upset, you bottle up. You can seem angry, like…
Nick Dunne: Please don’t say like Dad.
Margo Dunne: Or else you swing into your mama’s boy charm offensive and that can feel glib, so…
Nick Dunne: Perfect. I’ll balance on the exact fucking edge of your emotional razor.
Margo Dunne: Okay. Just be…
Nick Dunne: Myself?
[Nick and Margo enter the police station]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Your in-laws made it.
[Nick walks over to Rand and Marybeth]
Nick Dunne: Hi, Rand.
Rand Elliott: Hey, man.
[to Margo]
Detective Rhonda Boney: I’m Detective Boney.
Margo Dunne: I’m the twin. Margo.
[Rand embraces Nick]
Marybeth Elliott: We played tennis yesterday, Nick! I just can’t get over it.
Nick Dunne: Look, Marybeth, I am really sorry.
Marybeth Elliott: I knew you never should have moved back here.
Nick Dunne: We didn’t have a lot of choice.
Rand Elliott: We are all worried. We are all scared. But we are all here now. And we will find Amy, together.
[he pulls in Marybeth into the hug with Nick]
[Nick, and Amy’s parents walk over to the press conference area]
Nick Dunne: Should I just go first, and then you guys can say something?
[Rand nods his head and Nick addresses the press]
Nick Dunne: As you know, my wife, Amy Elliott Dunne disappeared from our home on the morning of July 5th under suspicious circumstances.
Press Reporter: Louder!
[Nick speaks a little louder]
Nick Dunne: If anyone out there, uh…has any information, please come forward. Thank you.
[Gilpin looks confused at Nick’s abrupt ending, Rand then addresses the press]
Rand Elliott: I’m Rand Elliott. My wife, Marybeth Elliott.
[quietly to Margo]
Nick Dunne: Should I have said my name?
[Margo shakes her head]
Rand Elliott: Amy is our only child. She’s bright, she’s beautiful, she’s kind. She really is Amazing Amy. And, you know, there are millions of people out there who grew up with her and care about her. We care about her, we love her and we just want her back.
[Marybeth then addresses the press]
Marybeth Elliott: Amy is a decorated scholar. She forged a successful career in journalism. She returned here to her husband’s hometown and she made a life in her adopted home. Now, Amy needs your help. We’re establishing a volunteer headquarters at the Drury Lodge. We have a hotline, 1-855-4-Amy-tips. And our website is www.FindAmazingAmy.com.
Press Reporter #1: Mr. Dunne!
Press Reporter #2: Mr. Elliott!
Press Reporter #3: Mr. Dunne, any signs of foul play?
Press Reporter #4: Mr. Elliott, when was the last time you spoke to your daughter?
[Nick poses next to Amy’s photo as the press takes photos]
Press Reporter #5: Smile.
[Nick, unwisely, smiles as the press take their photos, then Amy’s parents pose next to Amy’s photo looking devastated]
Detective Rhonda Boney: That’s all for now. Thank you.
[Nick and Amy’s parents are sat in a conference room with Rhonda and Gilpin]
Rand Elliott: Amy is the kind of girl who attracts admirers. Right, Nick?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, definitely.
Rand Elliott: And we’ve had instances where things got…
Marybeth Elliott: Scary. Do you know about Desi Collings?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I know all about Desi Collings.
Marybeth Elliott: He was obsessed. He attempted suicide after Amy broke up with him sophomore year.
[she gives Rhonda an old prom photo of Amy and Desi together]
Marybeth Elliott: We had to file a restraining order.
Detective Rhonda Boney: This would be high school? Twenty years ago?
Marybeth Elliott: But he recently moved to St. Louis. That’s just two hours away.
Nick Dunne: To be fair, he is from St. Louis.
Rand Elliott: We also have Tommy O’Hara. This is only eight years ago, in New York. She broke up with him, he got very physical. She filed charges.
Detective Rhonda Boney: What was the charge? Sexual assault, threat, battery, what?
Rand Elliott: I only know it was bad.
Nick Dunne: I didn’t know this.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Okay. Thank you. Uh…anything more recent?
Nick Dunne: Not that I know of.
[as they leave the conference room]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hey, Nick? You got a minute?
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
[Rhonda walks into her and Gilpin’s office with Nick following behind her]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Imagine our confusion. A missing persons case and in your wife’s dressing room, we find an envelope marked “clue.”
Nick Dunne: That’s for our anniversary. My wife does these treasure hunts.
Detective Rhonda Boney: I’m hoping you can tell me what this means.
Nick Dunne: You want to solve Amy’s treasure hunt?
Detective Rhonda Boney: It’ll help me track Amy’s movements before she disappeared.
Nick Dunne: Of course, okay.
[Nick reads Amy’s clue]
Nick Dunne: “Although this spot couldn’t be tighter, it’s a cozy room for my favorite writer.”
[Nick thinks for a moment]
Nick Dunne: I know this one!
Amy Dunne: [voice over] “Although this spot couldn’t be any tighter, it’s a cozy room for my favorite writer. After-school meeting? Don’t mind if I do. Maybe I’ll teach you a thing or two.”
[Nick takes Rhonda and Gilpin to his office at the college and they find another envelope with “Clue Two” written on it on Nick’s computer]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, well. What does it say?
Nick Dunne: Clue two. “Hey, handsome man, let’s go undercover. You’ll be the spy, and I’ll be his lover. Let’s head on over to the little brown house. We’ll play hot, doting husband, sweet, loving spouse.”
[Rhonda looks around finds a woman’s red lacy thong]
Detective Rhonda Boney: These yours?
Nick Dunne: No. You read the first clue.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Randy Professor, naughty student. I blush.
[Rhonda puts the thong into an evidence bag]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Me and my ex just swapped cards. Where’s this little brown house?
Nick Dunne: I have no idea.
[Rhonda takes the envelope from Nick]
[Nick pulls up outside his father’s house, he enters and the alarm starts beeping, Nick tries to put in the code but the alarm goes off, at the same time the phone rings]
Nick Dunne: Hello? Nicholas Dunne. Under my father’s name, William Dunne.
[he spots an envelope with “Clue Three” written on it on the kitchen table and takes it]
Nick Dunne: My wife’s first pet? Is this necessary? Can you just turn the… Yeah, I know. It’s, um… it’s…it’s, uh…uh…it’s Puddles, right? Or it’s Poodles?
[just then he notices Rhonda entering the house, she speaks into her radio]
Detective Rhonda Boney: We’re good.
[the alarm is turned off]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hello, stranger. Fancy meeting you here. It’s your dad’s house, right?
Nick Dunne: Are you following me?
Detective Rhonda Boney: What you doing?
Nick Dunne: Like you said, it’s my dad’s house. I come by once a week, make sure the place hasn’t burned down. But it looks okay. I’ll walk you out.
[they walk out of the house]
Detective Rhonda Boney: You know, I thought maybe this was the little brown house. From the clue.
Nick Dunne: Nope. Still blue.
[Nick walks over to his car, gets in and drives off]
[Nick pulls up at Margo’s and reads Amy’s third clue]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Picture me, I’m a girl who’s very, very bad. I need to be punished, and by punished, I mean had. It’s where you keep goodies for anniversary five.
[Nick reads out the last line]
Nick Dunne: So open the door, and look alive.
[he hits his steering wheel in anger]
Nick Dunne: Bitch!
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated July 18th, 2010]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Want to test your marriage for weak spots? Add one recession. Subtract two jobs. It’s surprisingly effective.
[flashback to Amy and Nick one night in their apartment]
Promise me we’ll never be like them.
Nick Dunne: Like who?
Amy Dunne: All those awful couples we know. Those wives who treat their men like dancing monkeys, to be trained and paraded.
Nick Dunne: Husbands who treat their wives like the highway patrol, to be out-foxed and avoided. I think I’m gonna be laid off.
Amy Dunne: We’re in a recession. If it happens, we’ll deal with it. I’ll probably be next. We have each other. Everything else is background noise.
Nick Dunne: You are exceptional.
Amy Dunne: My turn. My parents’ publisher dropped them and they’re in debt up to their ears.
Nick Dunne: That’s terrible.
Amy Dunne: And they need to borrow from my trust fund.
Nick Dunne: How much?
Amy Dunne: Almost a million.
Nick Dunne: That’s almost all of it.
Amy Dunne: This is where you say, “Everything else is background noise.”
Nick Dunne: Amy, if you’re laid off and I’m laid off…
Amy Dunne: I said I’d do it.
Nick Dunne: Without talking to me?
Amy Dunne: Well, it’s…
Nick Dunne: Your call.
Amy Dunne: …their money, technically.
Nick Dunne: You know what? You’re right. Everything else is just background noise.
[they kiss and Amy lies beside him]
[Amy walks into their apartment and sees Nick sitting on the couch playing a video game]
Amy Dunne: More games?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I just wanted to shoot some folks.
[Amy holds up a new laptop box]
Amy Dunne: What’s the laptop for?
Nick Dunne: Laptopping.
[Amy starts clearing the table]
Nick Dunne: Oh, I see. You can give your parents eight hundred and seventy-nine thousand dollars without talking to me, but God forbid I buy a video game without getting your permission.
Amy Dunne: You are spending a lot.
Nick Dunne: You don’t trust me, you don’t trust my judgment. You certainly don’t trust my intention.
Amy Dunne: What are you talking about?
Nick Dunne: Well that’s the basic tenet of a prenup, isn’t it?
Amy Dunne: Why are you throwing that in my face again?
Nick Dunne: Because it’s easy to throw.
Amy Dunne: Nick, I don’t get it. I don’t get why you’re daring me to be someone I don’t wanna be. The nagging shrew. The controlling bitch. I’m not that person. I’m your wife.
Nick Dunne: I’m sorry. I just don’t know how to do this, I’ve never not had a job. I flipped burgers, I painted houses. I don’t…
Amy Dunne: You’ll get another job.
[just then the phone rings and Nick answers]
Nick Dunne: Hi, Go. What? Hold on. What?
Amy Dunne: [voice over] And suddenly…
Nick Dunne: Slow down, what is it?
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I knew everything was about to get worse.
Nick Dunne: Okay, tell me what’s wrong.
[July 7th, Two Days Gone; Nick enters the volunteer center where it’s busy full of people, Nick greets some people but finds Amy’s parents and some of his neighbors giving him a funny look]
Margo Dunne: You look like hammered shit.
Nick Dunne: Thank you.
[Nick walks over to Rhonda; referring to Desi Collings]
Nick Dunne: You ever see that guy in the glasses before?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Don’t worry, we videotape everybody that comes in and out of these things. I mean, you tend to get a lot of…
Nick Dunne: Do-gooders?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Freaks. Hey, I meant to ask you. Noelle Hawthorne? She lives on your street. Amy’s best friend.
Nick Dunne: I’ve never heard the name Noelle Hawthorne.
Detective Rhonda Boney: She and her husband have triplets.
Nick Dunne: Oh. Yeah, we might say hi to them on the street. But best friend? No. Excuse me, one sec.
[Nick goes over to a homeless guy to give him a bag of food to go]
Detective Rhonda Boney: He acted like Noelle was a complete stranger.
Officer James Gilpin: Of course he did.
[they look over at Nick who’s putting bagels into the homeless guy’s food bag]
Nick Dunne: Look, these two are yours.
Officer James Gilpin: Oh, look. He’s being a good guy so everybody can see him being a good guy.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Oh, you really don’t like him, do you?
Officer James Gilpin: What’s to like?
[Nick notices Desi leaving the volunteer center and goes to follow him down the hallway but he’s interrupted by his phone buzzing, he answers it when a woman approaches him]
Shawna Kelly: Nick? I just wanted to introduce myself. My name’s Shawna Kelly. I am so sorry for your troubles.
Nick Dunne: Thank you. That’s kind.
Shawna Kelly: Are you remembering to eat?
Nick Dunne: Well, a lot of cold cuts.
Shawna Kelly: I’m gonna fix you up my world-famous chicken frito pie.
Nick Dunne: Well, that’s very kind and very unnecessary.
Shawna Kelly: You have to keep your strength.
[she pats his arm in comfort]
Shawna Kelly: Would you…
[she stands next to him and hold up her phone to take a photo]
Shawna Kelly: Say, “Chicken Frito Pie!”
[Nick smiles and she takes the photo]
Nick Dunne: Um…you know what? Would you delete that picture for me?
Shawna Kelly: No, it’s a nice photo.
Nick Dunne: I know it is. But just do me a favor, will you? Would you go ahead and please delete that picture? You just press…
[he leans in to hit delete on her phone, but Shawna pulls back her hand]
Shawna Kelly: What is wrong with you?
Nick Dunne: Could you please not share that with anyone?
Shawna Kelly: I will share it with whomever I please.
[she walks past him down the hallway]
[Nick walks back into the volunteer center]
Margo Dunne: Dude.
Nick Dunne: Yeah?
Margo Dunne: Marybeth is pissed.
Nick Dunne: Why?
[Nick finds Marybeth walking along the beach]
Nick Dunne: Marybeth?
Marybeth Elliott: It’s like you’re the goddamn Homecoming King.
Nick Dunne: It was important to my mother that I be polite, I be considerate, I be a gentleman.
Marybeth Elliott: Well it looked like you were having fun.
Nick Dunne: I am in a nightmare! All I’m trying to do is be nice to the people who are volunteering to help find Amy.
Marybeth Elliott: You’re right. And I’m sorry.
[looking around her]
Marybeth Elliott: My God, this place literally smells like feces.
[at Nick and Amy’s house]
Detective Rhonda Boney: In your searches, did you find any golf clubs, real fancy?
Officer: No.
Detective Rhonda Boney: How about a brand new Stratocaster?
Officer: No, nothing like that.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, alright.
[she goes to Amy’s walk-in closet]
Detective Rhonda Boney: How big’s that TV? It’s not 65-inch.
Officer: No, it’s nowhere near that.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Okay. Kibble?
Officer: Excuse me?
Detective Rhonda Boney: He asked me to feed his cat.
Officer: Oh, I saw some in the pantry.
[the doorbell rings and Noelle calls out]
Noelle Hawthorne: Detective Boney, Officer Gilpin? Noelle Hawthorne! I know y’all are in there!
[she rings the doorbell several time again, Rhonda speaks into her radio]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Would you please escort Miss Hawthorne and her children back out to the street?
Noelle Hawthorne: Detective Boney!
[an officer comes up behind her to escort her away]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Just remind her it is a possible crime scene.
[we see a search for Amy being conducted around the town]
[Margo is watching the news on TV in her living room]
Ellen Abbott: Look at that pie-eating grin, from a guy whose wife is missing.
[Abbot points to Nick’s photo where he’s grinning standing next to Amy’s photo, just then Nick enters the house and Margo stops the program]
Margo Dunne: How are you doing?
Nick Dunne: Terrific.
Margo Dunne: How’s Marybeth?
Nick Dunne: She’s a wreck.
Margo Dunne: And you?
Nick Dunne: Awesome.
Margo Dunne: Hey, have you told me everything?
Nick Dunne: Of course.
Margo Dunne: Everything?
Nick Dunne: Why would you even ask me that?
Margo Dunne: Ever since you walked into the bar that morning Amy went missing, you seem like…off.
Nick Dunne: I am off. Everybody’s examining me and projecting their shit on me. All I want is to come over here, have a beer with you and not be judged. Can we do that?
Margo Dunne: Of course.
Margo Dunne: You know what I keep thinking?
Nick Dunne: Wish mom were here?
Margo Dunne: Yeah. Like I’m twelve. Like mom would fix it.
[she looks at Nick for a moment]
Margo Dunne: I’m gonna go Benadryl myself to sleep.
[Margo rises from the couch and walks towards her room]
Margo Dunne: Love you.
Nick Dunne: Love you.
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated September 23, 2010]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] So here’s a strange new sentence: I am a Missourian.
[Nick and Amy are getting ready to drive away from their apartment in New York, Amy says goodbye to her parents]
Amy Dunne: Bye, dad.
[as Nick is saying goodbye to Rand and Marybeth Amy walks over to their car]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] No money, no jobs, no prospects. And then we heard from Go. Mama Maureen, stage four breast cancer. So we moved to Missouri. I don’t mind. I just wish he’d asked.
[Amy waves goodbye to her parents as they drive off]
[they pull up outside their new home, Nick gets out to greet his mother and Margo who are waiting outside the house with a “Welcome Mat”]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Nick is happy to be home. But I don’t know if he’s happy I’m with him.
[Amy looks around their new home as Nick unpacks boxes with his mother and Margo]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I feel like something he loaded by mistake. Something to be jettisoned if necessary. Something disposable. I feel like I could disappear.
[still sat on Margo’s couch, Nick’s gets a text message, “I’m outside”, Nick opens the front door but sees one, then goes to the back door to find a young woman, Andie Fitzgerald]
Andie Fitzgerald: Oh, my God!
[she flings her arms around him and kisses him]
Andie Fitzgerald: I saw you on TV.
Nick Dunne: Okay. Ssh-ssh.
Andie Fitzgerald: It’s so crazy.
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I know.
Andie Fitzgerald: She just vanished?
Nick Dunne: She’s just gone.
Andie Fitzgerald: I’ve been so worried about you.
Nick Dunne: Where have you been? I called you a hundred times. You gotta pick up your phone!
Andie Fitzgerald: Rehearsals.
Nick Dunne: What?
Andie Fitzgerald: Godspell.
[Nick looks down the hallway]
Nick Dunne: My sister’s asleep in the other room.
Andie Fitzgerald: I needed to see you.
Nick Dunne: I know, it’s just a bad idea.
Andie Fitzgerald: Can you at least tell me you love me?
Nick Dunne: I do love you, but we have to be really careful right now.
[Nick closes the back door]
Andie Fitzgerald: I’ve been so scared.
Nick Dunne: Between rehearsals.
Andie Fitzgerald: You told me I needed to have my own life.
Nick Dunne: I know.
[Andie starts kissing Nick]
Nick Dunne: We need to stop.
[she continues to kissing him]
Andie Fitzgerald: I need you. Touch me.
[Nick pulls back]
Nick Dunne: Stop it.
Nick Dunne: Come here.
[he takes Andie to the couch]
Nick Dunne: Sit down.
[Andie sits]
Nick Dunne: Okay. Did you, by any chance, tell anybody anything about us? Even in texting, or on Facebook.
Andie Fitzgerald: Facebook? I use the disposable phone. You buy my presents in cash. I’m not stupid, Nick.
Nick Dunne: I know, sweetie. Did you leave a pair of red panties in my office?
Andie Fitzgerald: I don’t know. Maybe. They better be mine.
Nick Dunne: Sweetheart, think.
Andie Fitzgerald: I don’t know. I’d have to check my red panty inventory.
Nick Dunne: Andie, I need you to take this seriously, okay? This is the last time we’re gonna see each other, until…
Andie Fitzgerald: Until when?
Nick Dunne: Until it’s safe.
Andie Fitzgerald: You were going to get a divorce.
Nick Dunne: Never say that out loud again.
Andie Fitzgerald: Okay. I’m sorry.
[Andie starts kissing Nick]
Andie Fitzgerald: I don’t wanna fight. I just wanna be with you.
Nick Dunne: Andie, please…
[she pushes him back on the couch as she continues to kiss him]
Andie Fitzgerald: That’s all I want.
Nick Dunne: I can’t.
[she starts taking her top off]
Andie Fitzgerald: It’s our last time together. Let’s make the most of it.
[they start making out]
Nick Dunne: Real quick, but then you have to go.
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated October 2, 2011]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] My husband has come undone. We moved to Missouri to save Maureen, but as it turns out, we couldn’t.
[Amy looks over to Nick who’s talking to the people that turned up at his mother’s funeral]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] We took a hit on the brownstone and I used the last of my trust fund to buy him a bar. So far it’s just costing money.
[we see Nick having sex with Amy against their bedroom wall]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Nick uses me for sex when he wants. Otherwise, I don’t exist.
[after he’s done, Nick turns and walks over to the bathroom]
Nick Dunne: We should go to outback tonight.
Amy Dunne: That’d be nice.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Last night, I went from desperate to pathetic. I became someone I don’t even like. The kind of woman I used to mock.
[Amy goes over to Nick who’s washing his hands in the bathroom]
Amy Dunne: You’re out so much.
Nick Dunne: I know.
Amy Dunne: Stay home.
Nick Dunne: I can’t, I’m already late.
Amy Dunne: Well, then can I come?
Nick Dunne: You would hate it. It’s a bunch of my dorky high school friends.
Amy Dunne: Do our code. No bullshit.
Nick Dunne: I thought we weren’t gonna be that couple.
[he puts two fingers on his chin and then kisses her]
Nick Dunne: Okay, bye.
[he walks away]
[as Nick is about to head downstairs to leave the house]
Amy Dunne: Hey, I’ve been thinking.
Nick Dunne: Yeah?
Amy Dunne: Something positive. Maybe it’s time.
Nick Dunne: Now is literally the worst time.
Amy Dunne: Well, it’d be a new start for us. And for me, I would have a real purpose here.
Nick Dunne: A child is not a hobby.
Amy Dunne: Not a hobby. An inspiration.
Nick Dunne: We could have had this fight four hours ago. I’m late.
[Nick starts walking downstairs and Amy follows him]
Amy Dunne: I didn’t know it was gonna be a fight.
Nick Dunne: You really wanna be the couple that has a baby to save their marriage?
Amy Dunne: Save?
Nick Dunne: Reboot, retool, rekindle, whatever!
Amy Dunne: And you’re gonna walk out the door now?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, I am!
Amy Dunne: You’re a fucking coward.
[as Nick heads to the front door she gets in front of him]
Amy Dunne: You know it can’t go on like this.
Nick Dunne: Oh, really?
Amy Dunne: I won’t.
Nick Dunne: You won’t? You won’t? Why, it’s not good enough for you?
Amy Dunne: It’s not even close!
Nick Dunne: You stupid bitch!
[suddenly Nick shoves her against the staircase, Amy hits her head on the post and falls, Nick stands over her with his fists clenched]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] What scared me wasn’t that he’d pushed me. What scared me was how much he wanted to hurt me more. What scared me was that What scared me wasn’t that he’d pushed me. What scared me was how much he wanted to hurt me more. What scared me was that I’d finally realized: I am frightened of my own husband.
[as tears fall down Amy’s eye, Nick crouches down beside her and touches her face tenderly]
[Rhonda and Gilpin pull up outside an empty mall parking lot at night]
Officer James Gilpin: You want me to call for backup?
Detective Rhonda Boney: No, I’ll protect you.
[they get out of the car and head inside the abandoned building where they find homeless people and drug addicts]
Officer James Gilpin: Jesus. They ought to burn this place down.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Seems like folks are trying.
Officer James Gilpin: You really think this is anything?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Cross it off the list.
[they pass teenagers smoking and drinking as they head over to a man]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Jason.
Jason: What’s up, Rhonda?
[Rhonda takes out a photo of Amy]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Have you seen this girl around here?
Jason: Why do you ask?
Detective Rhonda Boney: She was reported missing.
[Jason looks at Amy’s photo]
Jason: Yeah. I remember her.
Officer James Gilpin: What did she want? Weed, pills?
Jason: She wanted a gun. I told her it’s not my thing. I felt bad though. She seemed really desperate. She said it needed to be small so she could keep it close.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Are you sure this is her?
Jason: You don’t forget a girl like that in here. She was all in pink. It was Valentine’s day.
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated February 14, 2012]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] For Valentine’s day, I thought I’d buy a gun. That is how crazy I’ve become.
[we see Amy having a bath when she notices Nick walking passed the door]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Nick wants me gone but he won’t ask for a divorce. In his mind, I’m the owner of his bar, his only line of credit, the bitch with the pre-nup.
[as Amy is lying in bed, Nick enters the room and walks into the bathroom]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I could go home to my parents but I’d have to tell them the truth. And I don’t even know if I believe the truth. Can I really think Nick would hurt me? I’m being paranoid. Crazy.
[she looks over to see Nick by the bathroom doorway brushing his teeth]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] It’s just…I’d sleep better with a gun.
[July 8th, Third Day Gone – Nick wakes to find Andie next to him asleep]
Nick Dunne: Oh, shit. Wake up, baby. Wake up. My sister’s gonna come out here. You gotta go.
[they start getting dressed]
Nick Dunne: Sorry to rush you.
Andie Fitzgerald: It’s okay.
Nick Dunne: Here. Let me help you.
[he helps Andie put her dress on over her head]
Nick Dunne: Okay. Just get that.
[as he zips up the front of her dress]
Nick Dunne: Here we go.
[he gets her shoes]
Andie Fitzgerald: Alright.
Nick Dunne: Here you go.
[he walks Andie over to the back door]
Andie Fitzgerald: Promise me we’ll talk every day.
Nick Dunne: Okay, we will. I promise.
Andie Fitzgerald: Every day, Nick, or I’ll go crazy.
[Nick opens the back door then kisses her]
Nick Dunne: Don’t go crazy.
Andie Fitzgerald: Okay.
[they kiss one last time and Andie leaves]
[after Andie leaves]
Margo Dunne: You fucking idiot. You fucking asshole! You fucking lied to my fucking face!
Nick Dunne: I’m sorry.
Margo Dunne: How old is she?
Nick Dunne: She’s in her early twenty’s.
Margo Dunne: How long?
Nick Dunne: A year and a half.
Margo Dunne: You lied to me for over a year?
Nick Dunne: Go, if I told you, you would have made me stop.
Margo Dunne: It’s so fucking small. You’re a liar and a cheat! You’re just like dad! How did you even meet her?
Nick Dunne: She’s one of my students.
Margo Dunne: I thought writers hated clichés.
Nick Dunne: Well, I’m not a writer.
Margo Dunne: Oh, boo-hoo, I got laid off. I guess I’ll fuck a teenager.
Nick Dunne: Look, it wasn’t like that, okay? You have no idea how shitty it was with Amy, how fucking terrible she made me feel. Flyover boy. I would get knots in my stomach just coming home, knowing she would be sitting there dissatisfied, before I even walked in the fucking door.
Margo Dunne: This is so bad. If anybody finds out, you’re totally fucked.
Nick Dunne: Boney found a pair of panties in my office where occasionally Andie, and I…I don’t know what the fuck it means.
Margo Dunne: Are they super-twat’s?
Nick Dunne: Her name is Andie. She’s not entirely sure.
Margo Dunne: So we are dealing with a twenty year-old who isn’t sure where she leaves her undies?
Nick Dunne: If they’re not Andie’s, that means that they’re Amy’s, and she left them there for me to find.
Margo Dunne: Nick, I was scared for you before, and now, I’m fucking petrified. We’re having a vigil tonight for your missing wife and this morning, you’re kissing your college girlfriend goodbye! Can you imagine? Have you watched television lately? Cable news is all over your shit.
[she turns on the TV to continue the news report she was watching the night before]
Ellen Abbott: I mean, what is wrong with this barkeep? His wife’s nowhere to be found and here’s Nick Dunne for you, flirting. Cute pic, huh?
[they show the photo Shawna Kelley had taken with Nick]
Margo Dunne: Who is that?
Nick Dunne: Some fucking tragedy groupie.
Margo Dunne: Who the fuck is that?
Nick Dunne: I don’t know. She was trying to give me a casserole.
[Margo and Nick continue watching the news report]
Ellen Abbott: On the show today we have defense attorney, Tanner Bolt, patron Saint to wife-killers everywhere.
[Tanner laughs]
Ellen Abbott: Tanner Bolt, would you actually consider defending Nick Dunne?
Tanner Bolt: Well, let me just say, as always, Ellen, thank you for such a warm welcome. But of course I’d defend Nick Dunne. Listen, just because this guy isn’t walking around weeping, that doesn’t mean that he’s not hurting.
Ellen Abbott: Tanner, the hallmark of a sociopath is a lack of empathy.
Tanner Bolt: But the truth is, you’d have to be a sociopath to behave normally in this situation. Because it’s the most abnormal situation in the world…
Ellen Abbott: Excuse me. Excuse me. Tanner. Tanner, are you trying to tell me that this photo is remotely in the realm of acceptable behavior?
Nick Dunne: I’m so sick of being picked apart by women.
Margo Dunne: You need to hire Tanner Bolt.
[Margo stars to walks off]
Ellen Abbott: A picture is worth a thousand words, Tanner Bolt. You ever heard that phrase?
Nick Dunne: I don’t deserve this.
[to Abbot]
Tanner Bolt: Innocent until proven guilty.
Margo Dunne: That’s exactly what you deserve. Go home, Nick.
[at the police station as they watch Ellen Abbot’s news show on Nick]
Officer James Gilpin: I can’t believe we haven’t arrested this guy.
Detective Rhonda Boney: We’re not gonna arrest anybody just cause some blond dunce says so.
Officer James Gilpin: Why are you going so easy on him? You got a crush?
Detective Rhonda Boney: One: I am conducting an investigation, not a witch-hunt. And, two: don’t talk to me that way, ever.
Officer James Gilpin: She was trying to buy a gun.
Detective Rhonda Boney: We don’t know who or what was scaring her, Gil. Give me the update.
Officer James Gilpin: No drug angles panned out yet, so cross that off the list. I talked to the nurses who care for Nick’s father. The guy’s a bastard, but he’s weak as a kitten, so cross that off the list.
[Donnelly enters their office]
Officer James Gilpin: Hey.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hey.
Donnelly: So, luminol lit up the kitchen like the 4th of July.
[he shows them the photos]
Officer James Gilpin: Whoa.
Donnelly: Yeah.
Donnelly: The blood is profuse. It is Amy’s, type B, and we should have DNA soon.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Thoughts on a weapon?
Donnelly: Trajectory indicates blunt force. Maybe a club, a two-by-four.
[Gilpin shows him the photo of where the blood was cleaned up in the kitchen]
Donnelly: Yeah. She fell there, but I doubt she got back up.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Amy’s medical records come in?
Officer James Gilpin: No, we’ll have them later tonight.
[to Donnelly]
Officer James Gilpin: My wife says he’s a killer.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, if Tiffany says.
[Nick closes up the bar and heads over to Amy’s vigil, after greeting Margo Nick joins Amy’s parents on the podium goes to the mike]
Nick Dunne: Thank you, folks. Thank you for being here tonight. It just means the world to our family, and to Amy. As you all know, my wife, Amy Elliott Dunne, disappeared three days ago. And I want to implore anyone who has any information at all, please come forward. Help us.
[in the crowd]
Friend 1: So hot.
Friend 2: No way. He’s so creepy.
Nick Dunne: I wanna say something, because I think some of you might be wondering and are too polite to ask. I had nothing to do with the disappearance of my wife. I’m cooperating with the police. I haven’t hired a lawyer, I have nothing to hide. Amy is my soul mate. She’s brilliant. She’s charming, and wise. I love you, Amy.
[Nick notices Andie in the crowd and she mouths]
Andie Fitzgerald: Asshole.
Nick Dunne: I love my wife, so much. And I may not behave for the cameras the way they want me to. Uh, and…and if they wanna punish me for that, that’s okay. But I just wanna ask you in the media, please, harass me, but don’t harass the people of this town.
[the crowd claps]
Nick Dunne: If you need to mock somebody, mock me.
[Noelle shouts as she cuts through the crowd]
Noelle Hawthorne: Nick!
Nick Dunne: But please don’t turn this investigation into a circus.
Noelle Hawthorne: Where’s your wife, Nick?
Nick Dunne: Let the police do their jobs.
Noelle Hawthorne: What did you do to your pregnant wife?
Nick Dunne: Let’s find…
Noelle Hawthorne: Did you tell them that, Nick? Did you tell them Amy was six weeks pregnant?
Nick Dunne: Thank you for your support tonight. Let’s find Amy.
[to Amy’s parents as he walks away from the mike]
Nick Dunne: Go ahead, if you guys wanna say something.
[suddenly the crowd and reporters start to shout questions at Nick as he walks away]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Gil, go, go.
[Nick runs away from the reporters as they follow him and gets into the police car escorted by Gilpin]
[as they pulls over at Nick’s house which is surrounded by reporters]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Guys, come on. You know better. Get off the grass, get down to the curb. Hey, Gil.
Officer James Gilpin: On it.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Alright.
[to the reporters]
Officer James Gilpin: Alright, y’all heard her. No pictures.
[Rhonda enters the house]
Nick Dunne: Hello? Hello?
[he then sees Rhonda entering the kitchen]
Nick Dunne: Fuck. You scared me. Want a drink?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Did you know she was pregnant?
Nick Dunne: I told you, Noelle Hawthorne is fucking crazy. She doesn’t even know Amy.
Detective Rhonda Boney: They look like pretty good friends to me.
[she drops photos of Amy with Noelle on the kitchen counter]
Nick Dunne: Look, I don’t know. But it certainly doesn’t prove that she’s pregnant.
Detective Rhonda Boney: We have her medical records coming.
Nick Dunne: Good.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So, let’s talk while we wait, okay? Let’s start over here. The scene of the crime. You see, we’ve seen dozens of home invasions.
Officer James Gilpin: Dozens and dozens.
Detective Rhonda Boney: This area right here, it looked wrong from the second we saw it. The whole thing looked staged. I mean, watch this.
[she stomps her feet and the picture frames on the mantelpiece fall]
Detective Rhonda Boney: And yet, they remained upright throughout this life-and-death struggle?
Nick Dunne: I don’t know. What do you want me to say?
Officer James Gilpin: Did you do any housekeeping the day your wife went missing?
Nick Dunne: No.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Okay, because our guys did a luminol test. And I’m sorry to tell you, but that kitchen lit up. Amy lost a lot of blood in there, Nick. A lot.
Nick Dunne: Oh, my God.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Yeah, and then somebody mopped it up.
Nick Dunne: Wait a second. Why would they mop up the blood if they’re trying to stage a crime scene?
Detective Rhonda Boney: No blood and no body suggests kidnapping. It tells us look at people outside the house.
Officer James Gilpin: Like these homeless you keep mentioning. A pool of blood and no body suggests homicide. It tells us to look at people inside the house. Which is what we’re doing here, Nick.
Nick Dunne: I see.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So, how was your marriage, Nick? Because right now, all we got is Noelle.
Officer James Gilpin: She says, not good.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hey, Gil, what do you and your wife argue about? What pisses you off?
Officer James Gilpin: Oh, money, lack thereof.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Me and my ex, it’s the same. I mention that because we got a look at your finances, Nick.
[she places a file in front of Nick]
Detective Rhonda Boney: One hundred and seventeen thousand dollars in credit debt.
Nick Dunne: What?
Detective Rhonda Boney: I pulled up some of the merchandise, there are these fun little splurges.
[looking through the file]
Nick Dunne: I didn’t buy any of this stuff. I don’t even golf!
Detective Rhonda Boney: I do! You bought great clubs.
Officer James Gilpin: I like the robot dog.
Nick Dunne: This is identity theft! This is a felony! We need to find out who did this!
Detective Rhonda Boney: Alright. Well let’s talk about life insurance. Because in April you bumped up Amy’s life insurance to one point two million
Nick Dunne: Yes, I did. That was her idea. She wanted me to.
Detective Rhonda Boney: You filed the paperwork.
Nick Dunne: Because she told me to!
Officer James Gilpin: Woh.
[Rhonda’s phone rings]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Hold on a sec.
[answering her phone]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Yeah? Okay. For sure? Alright.
[Rhonda ends the call then looks at Nick]
Detective Rhonda Boney: She was pregnant.
[suddenly Nick throws his glass of drink to the ground smashing it]
Nick Dunne: This is insane.
Detective Rhonda Boney: So, my question becomes…
Nick Dunne: I don’t want to talk to you again, ever, without a lawyer.
[Margo enters Nick’s bedroom as he’s on the phone to Rand]
Nick Dunne: I know you’re upset. I had no idea she was pregnant. I was sh… Listen, I thought so too, but evidently that wasn’t…you want to know the truth? The truth is, Amy didn’t want kids. Well, I’m as surprised as…
[Rand hangs up the phone]
Margo Dunne: You told me you didn’t want kids.
Nick Dunne: I was trying to put a good face on.
Margo Dunne: Then, suddenly, you’ve got a pregnant wife. That’s a problem for you. Especially when you factor in the secret teenage girlfriend.
Nick Dunne: Oh, stop watching Ellen Abbott!
Margo Dunne: You have to fucking talk to me!
Nick Dunne: I didn’t tell you that she didn’t want kids because she didn’t want me to. Okay? Because it would have just been another reason for you to hate her. And we had enough of those already! So it was easier to just…
Margo Dunne: Lie to me? Right?
Nick Dunne: Look I wanted kids! When we first moved here, I went to a fertility clinic!
Margo Dunne: It didn’t work?
Nick Dunne: I did my part!
Margo Dunne: Masturbate.
Nick Dunne: When it came time for Amy to do her thing, all of a sudden it was like, “Well, I don’t know. You know what? Maybe, no, thanks.”
Margo Dunne: Now, who would believe you?
Nick Dunne: Alright.
[Nick walks out of the room, goes to the next room and comes out holding a piece of paper]
Nick Dunne: This is a letter from the clinic notifying me that they’re gonna destroy my sample unless I contact them. So, I gave it to Amy. The next day, I saw it in the trash.
Margo Dunne: But you were already with Andie by then, right?
Nick Dunne: I wanted a baby with Amy. A year ago, Amy being pregnant would have been the best thing ever!
[he throws the shoebox in his hand across the room in anger]
[Margo picks the shoebox up and picks up a note]
Margo Dunne: “When your poor Amy has a cold, this dessert just…” This is the clue you couldn’t solve?
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
[she picks up from the box letter]
Margo Dunne: A letter from Desi? That creepy boyfriend of Amy’s?
Nick Dunne: Yeah, it was the fucking rich guy who would do anything for her. It just kept hanging over my head, it was disgusting.
[picking up another piece of paper from the box]
Margo Dunne: Your prenup? Nick, why have you kept this stuff? It’s like a little box of hate.
Nick Dunne: I don’t know, Go! Maybe I hate her!
Margo Dunne: I love you no matter what. But you need to tell me.
Nick Dunne: Tell you what? What are you asking me?
[Margo, drops the box, turns and stars walking away]
Nick Dunne: Are you asking me if I killed my wife? Go?
[Margo stars going down the stairs]
Nick Dunne: Is that what you’re asking me? If I murdered my wife?
Margo Dunne: I would never ask you that!
[Margo leaves]
[Rhonda and Gilpin are at Bill Dunn’s house]
Detective Rhonda Boney: Why was he here that night? His wife is missing, why come here?
Officer James Gilpin: Who cares? Rhonda, we got this. Let’s make the arrest.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Do you know how hard it is to make a murder case without a body?
Officer James Gilpin: No.
Detective Rhonda Boney: Well, it’s incredibly hard. So, I want one last thing.
Officer James Gilpin: What’s that?
Detective Rhonda Boney: I want a body.
[back at his house Nick tries to decipher Amy’s the third clue]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Picture me. I’m a girl who’s very, very bad.
[to Rhonda as they walk down to the basement at Bill Dunn’s house]
Officer James Gilpin: Be careful.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I need to be punished, and by “punished,” I mean “had.”
[Nick gets frustrated as he tries to figure out the clue]
Nick Dunne: Fuck.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] It’s where you keep goodies for anniversary five. So, open the door…
[to himself as writes down the words]
Nick Dunne: Punish. Wood. Beach.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] …and look alive.
Nick Dunne: Punish. Wood.
[Nick realizes something and rushes out of the house; in the basement Rhonda and Gilpin find in the furnace Amy’s diary burnt slightly]
[we see Amy writing in her diary dated July 3, 2012]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I will practice believing my husband loves me and will love this baby. That this child might really save our marriage. But I could be wrong. Because sometimes, the way he looks at me? I think, man of my dreams, father of my child. This man of mine may kill me. He may truly kill me.
[to Rhonda as they look at Amy’s burn diary]
Officer James Gilpin: WTF?
[at the same time Nick figures out the clue and goes to the woodshed outside Margo’s home, where he’s shocked to find a large pile of brand new items stored]
[July 5th, The Morning Of – we see Amy is alive and driving off in a car with her arm bandaged]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] I am so much happier now that I’m dead. Technically, missing. Soon to be presumed dead. Gone.
[she throws one of her pens out the window]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] And my lazy, lying, cheating, oblivious husband will go to prison for my murder. Nick Dunne took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money. He took and took from me until I no longer existed.
[she throws another pen out the window]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] That’s murder. Let the punishment fit the crime. To fake a convincing murder, you have to have discipline. You befriend a local idiot.
[in flashback we see Amy befriending Noelle]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Harvest the details of her humdrum life and cram her with stories about your husband’s violent temper.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Secretly create some money troubles. Credit cards, perhaps online gambling. With the help of the unwitting bump up your life insurance. Purchase getaway car. Craigslist. Generic. Cheap. Pay cash. You need to package yourself so that people will truly mourn your loss, and America loves pregnant women. As if it’s so hard to spread your legs. You know what’s hard? Faking a pregnancy. First, drain your toilet. Invite pregnant idiot into your home and ply her with lemonade. Steal pregnant idiot’s urine. Voilà. A pregnancy is now part of your legal medical record.
[we see in flashback the morning she decides to go missing watching as Nick leaves the house]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Happy anniversary. Wait for your clueless husband to start his day. Off he goes. And the clock is ticking.
we see how she staged the crime scene in her living room
Meticulously stage your crime scene with just enough mistakes to raise the specter of doubt.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] You need to bleed. A lot. A lot, a lot.
[we see Amy draining blood from the vein in her arm]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] A head wound kind of bleed. A crime scene kind of bleed.
[we see as she then throws her blood all over the kitchen floor and cleans it up]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] You need to clean poorly, like he would. Clean and bleed. Bleed and clean. And leave a little something behind.
[she places the handle of the cleaning brush in the fireplace and set it on fire]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] A fire in July? And because you’re you, you don’t stop there. You need a diary. Minimum three hundred entries on the Nick and Amy story.
[we see Amy writing her diary on different days]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Start with the fairy tale early days, those are true, and they’re crucial. You want Nick and Amy to be likable. After that, you invent. The spending, the abuse, the fear, the threat of violence. And Nick thought he was the writer.
[we see Amy placing her diary in Bill Dunn’s basement furnace]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Burn it just the right amount. Make sure the cops will find it.
[we see Amy placing the clues]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] Finally, honor tradition with a very special treasure hunt.
[July 5th, Two Hours Gone – we see Amy driving in the car she’d bought]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] And if I get everything right, the world will hate Nick for killing his beautiful, pregnant wife. And after all the outrage, when I’m ready, I’ll go out on the water with a handful of pills and a pocket full of stones. And when they find my body, they’ll know Nick Dunne dumped his beloved like garbage. And she floated down past all the other abused, unwanted, inconvenient women. Then, Nick will die, too. Nick and Amy will be gone.
[we see Amy cutting and dyeing hair at a gas station bathroom]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] But, then, we never really existed. Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be. Cool girl. Men always use that as their defining compliment. She’s a cool girl. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She only smiles in a chagrined, loving manner and then presents her mouth for fucking. She likes what he likes. So evidently, he’s a vinyl hipster who loves fetish manga. If he likes girls gone wild, she’s a mall babe who talks football and endures buffalo wings at Hooters.
[we see Amy going shopping for supplies at a grocery store]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] When I met Nick Dunne, I knew he wanted cool girl. And for him, I’ll admit, I was willing to try. I wax-stripped my pussy raw. I drank canned beer watching Adam Sandler movies. I ate cold pizza and remained a size two. I blew him semi-regularly. I lived in the moment. I was fucking game. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy some of it. Nick teased out of me things I didn’t know existed. A lightness, a humor, an ease. But I made him smarter, sharper. I inspired him to rise to my level. I forged the man of my dreams.
[July 5th, 10 Hours Gone – we see Amy renting a cabin at resort]
Amy Dunne: [voice over] We were happy pretending to be other people. We were the happiest couple we knew. And what’s the point of being together if you’re not the happiest? But Nick got lazy. He became someone I did not agree to marry. He actually expected me to love him unconditionally. Then he dragged me, penniless, to the navel of this great country and found himself a newer, younger, bouncier cool girl. You think I’d let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn’t get to win.
Amy Dunne: [voice over] My cute, charming, salt-of-the-earth, Missouri guy. He needed to learn, grown-ups work for things. Grown-ups pay. Grown-ups suffer consequences.
[as she’s cleaning her teeth in the bathroom, she takes out a tool box from under the sink, she picks up the hammer and hits herself in the face with it]
[Nick stands by Margo’s back door as she opens it]
Nick Dunne: Wait. I need twenty seconds where you don’t judge me, interrupt me or get angry.
Margo Dunne: Okay.
[Nick takes Margo to her woodshed]
Margo Dunne: Is that…is that all the stuff from the credit cards?
Nick Dunne: Where do you store goodies for anniversary five? Wood. Woodshed.
Margo Dunne: Yeah, my woodshed. Oh, that fucking bitch. I thought…
Nick Dunne: It’s alright. I would have, too.
[referring to the white box]
Margo Dunne: What’s that present?
Nick Dunne: I don’t know. Let’s find out.
[Nick and Margo take the white box to her house open it to find Punch and Judy puppets, Margo reads the note on the box]
Margo Dunne: “Dear husband, I know you think you’re moving through this world unseen. Don’t believe that for a second. I know where you’ve been, and I know where you’re going. For this anniversary I’ve arranged a trip. Follow the river, up, up, up. Sit back and relax, because you are done.”
[to Nick]
Margo Dunne: What’s “up, up river”?
Nick Dunne: “Up the river.” Prison.
Margo Dunne: Fucking crazy bitch.
Nick Dunne: That’s what this is. She’s framing me for her murder.
Margo Dunne: You married a complete psychopath.
Nick Dunne: The morning of our anniversary I was gonna ask her for a divorce. I just couldn’t do it, I couldn’t fake it for another year, another day.
Margo Dunne: And what happened?
Nick Dunne: Before I could say anything, she said, “I need you to go somewhere and really think about our marriage.” She knew I would go to Sawyer Beach.
Margo Dunne: So you’d have no alibi.
Nick Dunne: She stage-managed me. She knew exactly what I would do, and I fucking did it. I went to the beach, I thought about our marriage. I came back and decided I wanted a divorce.
Margo Dunne: And by the time you got home…
Nick Dunne: She was gone. Oh, you fuck!
Margo Dunne: She’s good.
Nick Dunne: Part of me was relieved when I thought she was gone.
[looking into the box]
Nick Dunne: So, Punch and Judy puppets.
[Nick picks up Punch and Margo pick up Judy]
Margo Dunne: Remember, he beats Judy to death and kills that baby.
Nick Dunne: So I’m Punch. Okay. We already knew that, Amy, what’s your point?
Margo Dunne: Does Missouri have the death penalty?
[July 6th, One Day Gone – Amy is in her cabin marking the day on the calendar that she will kill herself, as she leaves she meets her neighbor, Greta]
Greta: Hey, neighbor. It’s been weeks since I had anyone decent next door.
Amy Dunne: Well, I don’t know how decent I feel.
Greta: Well as long as you don’t own a python and blast death metal at 4 am, we’re gonna be best friends.
Amy Dunne: Alright. Nice meeting you.
[Amy turns to leave]
Greta: I’m Greta.
Amy Dunne: I’m Nancy.
Greta: Are you going to the marina? I could use some creamer.
Amy Dunne: Oh, I’m sorry. I can’t. I’ve got work to do.
Greta: Alright. See you around!
Amy Dunne: You will.
[Amy leaves]
[July 7th, Two Days Gone – Amy goes to the local library computer and checks the news about her missing, she sees the footage of Nick being photographed next to her photo]
Amy Dunne: Come on. Show me that darling Nicky smile.
[as she sees Nick smile]
Amy Dunne: You asshole.
[July 8th, Three Days Gone – Amy is sat by the pool when Greta joins her to sunbathe]
Greta: It’s hot again today. So, where are you from? Let me guess. Nebraska.
Jeff: New Orleans.
[they are interrupted by another neighbor, Jeff]
Jeff: You know, I am an expert oiler.
Greta: Oh, I just bet you are.
Jeff: Lotions and balms. Ointment. I would hate for y’all to get tan lines.
Greta: So sweet.
Jeff: Okay. You know where I’ll be.
[Greta notices the bruise on Amy’s face]
Greta: I see, uh, we have the same taste in men.
Amy Dunne: I clipped it on a bathroom cabinet.
Greta: Least you could do is not keep his secrets for him. Let me guess. He’s trying to watch the big game and you just won’t shut up. No, you don’t seem like much of a talker. I got it. You caught your boy rubbing up on some hot little skank and he apologized to you by busting you a good one.
Amy Dunne: Worse.
Greta: Worse?
Amy Dunne: I went to the bar where he works to surprise him. And out he comes with this girl who had no business being in a bar.
[in flashback we see Amy going to Nick’s bar when she sees him walking out with Andie]
Amy Dunne: On the very first night that we met we walked by a bakery that was having their sugar delivered. And it was in the air, everywhere. A sugar storm. And before he kissed me, he leaned in…and did this.
[we see Nick wiping Andie’s lip just as he had done Amy’s before kissing her]
Amy Dunne: And guess what.
Greta: What?
Amy Dunne: He did the exact same thing with her.
Greta: That is the most disgusting thing I ever heard.
Amy Dunne: Thank you.
[as Nick arrives at New York’s airport he sees the TV displaying news of Amy missing on Sharon Schieber network news show]
Nick Dunne: Well, we’ve gone mainstream.
[July 9th, Four Days Gone – Nick meets with Tanner Bolt]
Nick Dunne: Mr. Bolt. Tanner Bolt?
Tanner Bolt: Nick Dunne.
[he shakes Nick’s hand]
Tanner Bolt: I have been sitting by the phone, my friend.
[later after Nick has explained his situation Tanner laughs]
Tanner Bolt: I’m sorry.
Nick Dunne: Do you not believe me?
Tanner Bolt: No, I believe you. It’s just the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, I love it. But, for you, it…it sucks. But you…you gotta have a grudging respect for your wife at this point, right?
Nick Dunne: Are you laughing me out of the building?
Tanner Bolt: No. Are you kidding me? I’m in. I’m way in. You came to the right guy, this is what I do, Nick. This is why I have a hundred thousand dollar retainer. I win the unwinnable cases.
Nick Dunne: A hundred thousand dollars?
Tanner Bolt: We’ll figure something out. I’ll give you a special “My wife is skilled in the art of vengeance” rate.
Nick Dunne: Okay.
Nick Dunne: So, what’s the plan?
Tanner Bolt: Well, right now, it’s a “he said, she said.”
Nick Dunne: She’s telling a better story.
Tanner Bolt: No, Nick. She is telling the perfect story. So, we need to start today to prepare your defense, should we need it. And if we decide to go with your version of…
Nick Dunne: The truth.
Tanner Bolt: Then we’ll need to realign the public’s perception of Amy. Make them stop seeing her as America’s sweetheart and see her for what she is, which a mind-fucker of the first degree. Now, that is a huge realignment. We’ll need other voices besides yours. There has to be someone out there that she’s screwed with in the past.
Nick Dunne: There’s a New York guy. Uh…O’Hara, Tommy O’Hara. Eight years ago she pressed charges against him.
Tanner Bolt: That should be easy to find.
Nick Dunne: Um…ex-classmate, Desi Collings. She said that he stalked her. He’s in St. Louis.
[Tanner shows him Tommy’s contact details on his phone]
Tanner Bolt: You go talk to Tommy, and I’ll draw up the contract.
[Nick takes down the details into his phone]
Tanner Bolt: I told you, you came to the right guy.
[Tanner walks off]
Nick Dunne: Apparently.
[Nick meets Tommy in a bar]
Nick Dunne: Tommy?
Tommy O’Hara: Yeah.
Nick Dunne: Thanks for seeing me.
[they shake hands]
Tommy O’Hara: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you’re gonna want a drink.
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
[Nick goes to get himself a drink]
Nick Dunne: So, yeah, she said you got physical with her.
Tommy O’Hara: No, dude, she said I raped her. First degree, felony rape.
Nick Dunne: Did you do it?
Tommy O’Hara: Did you do it?
[looking at Tommy knowingly]
Nick Dunne: Yeah.
Tommy O’Hara: I was looking at thirty years to life.
Nick Dunne: Did you get a trial?
Tommy O’Hara: Fuck, no. Do I look like I would do well in the yard? I pled down, man. Sexual assault one, no jail time.
Nick Dunne: That’s something.
Tommy O’Hara: Oh, yeah. I’ve been unemployed for the last eight years because I have to write “sexual offender” on every job application. I’m on a neighborhood watch list, because I have to register as a predator. I haven’t had a date in almost a decade, because if a girl Googles me…
Nick Dunne: Alright, just…could you walk me through what happened?
Tommy O’Hara: I meet Amy at this party, you know? We click. She’s perfect.
[Tommy shows Nick a photo of himself and Amy]
Tommy O’Hara: She’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s well-read, she’s got an ass like a twenty year-old stripper. I think, “What’s the catch?” A few months, it hits me. This is not going to be easy. Okay, girls like a fixer-upper, but Amy? She annexed me, she made me her business. It was just too much. She went out and bought me ties. And we must have gone twenty rounds over that. Ties. I mean, everything. The whole thing just became…
Nick Dunne: So you broke up with her.
Tommy O’Hara: No, no, no. I just…I just backed away. You know? Gave her some space. No big deal, right? So I thought. Then one night, Amy comes over to my place with a bottle of bourbon and a bootleg of this band I love. And within two minutes she’s got my pants around my ankles, and she is kneeling down, and…I’m sorry. I know it’s your wife.
Nick Dunne: You had sex?
Tommy O’Hara: Yeah, consensual. It was rough, but she was screaming for it. Next morning, there’s two cops at my door. Amy has wounds that are consistent with rape. Ligature marks on her wrist, and my semen. It looks like I’ve tied Amy to my bed, and raped her. Me! And then, guess what they find. Headboards of my bed, one on each side.
Nick Dunne: The ties you wouldn’t wear.
Tommy O’Hara: You do know your wife.
Nick Dunne: Did you ever see her again?
Tommy O’Hara: Yeah. On TV, last week, with you. I thought, “There’s Amy. She’s graduated from being raped to being murdered.”
Officer Jim Gilpin: You ever hear the expression, “The simplest answer is often the correct one?”
Detective Rhonda Boney: Actually, I’ve never found that to be true.
Amy Dunne: When two people love each other and can’t make that work, that’s the real tragedy.