Tyler Perry Had No Clue Who David Fincher Was When He Signed On For ‘Gone Girl’

Warner Bros. took advantage of NBC’s massive Emmys audience last night to unleash the newest TV trailer for the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Gone Girl, which stars Ben Affleck as public enemy No. 1 when his wife (the swoon-inducing Rosamund Pike) goes missing. The spot doesn’t reveal anything new that the last full trailer hadn’t already shown us, as Affleck is guilty until proven innocent, Pike was increasingly terrified of her seemingly abusive husband, Neil Patrick Harris is the creepiest of creeps, the lady detective isn’t taking any of Batman’s crap, and Tyler Perry’s there because, hey, he already ruined Alex Cross, so how much damage could he possibly do in a small role in Gone Girl?

Interestingly enough, Perry told New York Magazine that he probably would have never even ended up in Gone Girl if he’d been aware of two pesky minor details – that it’s a really popular book that millions of people have read, and it is directed by David Fincher, who won approximately 21 directing awards for The Social Network alone, while being nominated for a Best Directing Oscar twice in his illustrious career. But in Perry’s defense, it’s not like Fincher has ever directed himself in a fat suit, so these guys aren’t even on the same level.

When he agreed to play Gone Girl’s charismatic defense attorney,Perry wasn’t familiar with the film’s inspiration or its A-list director (whose films include The Social Network and Fight Club). “I probably would have walked away from it. If I had known who David Fincher was, and his body of work, or if I’d known the book was so popular, I would have said, No,” he admits. “And my agent knew that! He didn’t tell me until after I signed on!” (Via Yahoo!)

Wait, you’re trying to tell me that Perry (seen above in July at a Women’s Empowerment Expo, where he hopefully extolled the virtues of Single Moms Club) is out of touch with popular culture and unwilling to work with a guy like Fincher because he was responsible for darker pictures like Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac, among others? Why, I never. Hopefully, Perry has learned his lesson and will make wiser decisions about which roles he takes in movies that he’s not directing, perhaps by stepping outside of his large home and asking any person who David Fincher is. Or maybe this will cause him to simply stick to more wholesome projects, like those that tell women they’ll get HIV if they “cheat” on their husbands.

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