I’d read that you looked at To Die For and Basic Instinct before filming Gone Girl. But ignoring those, ignoring roles that might have helped illuminate a character like Amy, was there a stage or film performance that you hold up as the model of perfection for an actress?

Faye Dunaway in Network, I think, is a brilliant, brilliant performance. What she gets to express and the way being a woman in that environment is expressed, the way she is with men, she surprises you; she confounds you in a way that I aim to do with Amy, I suppose. But I remember seeing Helena Bonham Carter in Wings of the Dove. I don’t know why that sprung into my head just then, maybe because I’m thinking about Fincher, and thinking about seeing Wings of the Dove to Fight Club, and knowing that you can just excel when someone gives you the chance, in all kinds of different ways. I’m constantly seeing female performances that inspire me. Just looking at people and wondering, “How do you do that?” I see Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle and I just think, “How does someone at 21 or 22 have that depth and soul and freedom?” It’s amazing to me.

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