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Gone Girl: 5 Differences Between the Book And Movie And How It Affected the Story — Spoilers!

Ben Affleck
When his wife goes missing, Nick (Ben Affleck) is forced to defend himself against the evidence, which all points to him.

Warning: Major spoilers on the Gone Girl film adaptation and book ahead! Stop reading if you haven’t seen or read it yet. 

Boy meets girl, girl is a secret sociopath, girl fakes her own death, and frames it on her unappreciative, cheating husband. It’s a story that captivated readers across the globe when Gillian Flynn‘s suspense novel Gone Girl hit the shelves in 2012. On Friday, Oct. 3, the highly-anticipated film adaptation reached the big screens. 

The screenplay for David Fincher‘s film was also penned by Flynn and remained mostly loyal to the bestselling novel about Missouri-bred Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his twisted wife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike). But there were a few key plot points that differed, ultimately affecting the spooky drama’s storyline. 

Us Weekly compiled a list of the biggest differences between the film and the book:

Related: PHOTOS: Most romantic movies of all time

1. No trip to Hannibal

While participating in his annual anniversary scavenger hunt, the novel version of Nick is led to the historic town of Hannibal, Missouri, which places him at the scene where a key piece of evidence is found. In the film, the clue was left out as was his trip to Hannibal. While there were plenty of signs framing Nick for the disappearance of his wife, this added trip could have offered a much-needed change of scenery from the decaying town of Carthage. 

Gone Girl
Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck played married couple Amy and Nick in the film adaptation of Gone Girl.

2. No fear of blood

In Flynn’s novel, mastermind Amy pretends for months to have a fear of blood, so that when the time comes for her to get a pregnancy test, the only option is using her pregnant neighbor’s urine to fake the test. The faux blood phobia also came in handy for when the police found the wiped up  crime scene. The reasoning was that Amy couldn’t have done it herself if she was afraid of blood. It wasn’t the most crucial plot point, but Amy’s genius did lie in her attention to details so it wouldn’t have hurt. 

Related: PHOTOS: Stars covered in blood

3. Nick’s drunken confession

After making a series of mistakes in the beginning of the novel, Nick is able to sway the public opinion back in his favor when he records a drunken video confessional, praising his missing wife. The video also serves as a key to changing Amy’s mind about coming back to Nick. Without the clip in the film, the switch in Amy’s decision seemed more abrupt. 

Gone Girl
Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) held a vigil for his missing wife in Gone Girl.

4. Desi’s murder scene

The film took a gruesome turn toward the end when Fincher opted to show the violently bloody scene in which Amy murders Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris) while he’s having sex with her. In the novel, the scene is described after the fact, but in the movie, it is shown in its horrific entirety. It added an extreme element, which showed the audience just how unhinged Amy had become. 

Related: PHOTOS: TV's most shocking deaths

5. The Ending

Though the characters ended up in the same predicaments they were left with in Flynn’s novel, Nick and Amy wrapped up their on-screen twisted love story on a special segment of the Ellen Abbott Show. Amy decided to announce her pregnancy on the show, which added a sensationalized dramatic flourish to wrap up the disturbing tale. 

Tell Us: Did you prefer the book or the movie?

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