Why Rosamund Pike Went to Tom Cruise for Advice After Throwing up Three Times Before Filming ‘Gone Girl’

Gone Girl was a career-changing film for actor Rosamund Pike. She received almost unanimous praise for her portrayal as Amy Dunn, which eventually earned her an Oscar nomination. But preparing for the David Fincher film was unlike anything she’d experienced in prior films. And after unforeseen circumstances left her ill, she turned to an old co-star in Tom Cruise for help.

Why Rosamund Pike cried when she was offered the role in ‘Gone Girl’

One of Rosamund Pike’s first on-screen roles was as a Bond girl at age 21. The actor found herself tangling with another Bond girl in Halle Berry in Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day. Despite the movie bringing the actor some recognition, however, it also came with a downside.

“It cemented a sort of patrician, frigid, English, standoffish cold image,” Pike once told Variety. “People think I lie about my age. I never had a chance to do those young roles.”

Afterward, Pike would continue working more supporting roles before Fincher offered her a chance to be in Gone Girl. Apart from Pike’s natural skills as an actor, Fincher felt Pike’s own personal experiences made her perfect for Amy. He thought that Pike would be able to capture Amy’s feelings of being an only child since Pike also had no siblings. A dinner that Fincher had with Pike only cemented what he originally suspected.

“The role is really difficult, and Rosamund was born to play it,” Fincher said.

This put Pike through a whirlwind of emotions that soon brought her to tears.

“I was unbelievably excited and unbelievably scared,” Pike said about the experience. “You suddenly feel so small. I thought, ‘I’m embarking on this thing I’ve always wanted.’ I’m going to cry now.”

Why Rosamund Pike looked for Tom Cruise’s advice for ‘Gone Girl’ after getting sick

Things went a bit south for Pike a day before filming. She was racked with nerves, and the night before production began she somehow fell ill with a 103-degree fever.

“I threw up three times,” Pike revealed. “My body was going through a lot of changes.”

If Pike was shooting her prior movies, she would’ve had more time to adapt and recover for production.

“I’ve usually had the luxury of coming on a couple weeks into it,” Pike said.

But being the star of Gone Girl, she had to be on set on day one. This led to Pike reaching out to her Jack Reacher partner for help.

“I thought, ‘I’ve got to reach out to somebody who has been in this position,’” she continued.

She sent Tom Cruise an e-mail, and Cruise immediately wrote Pike back. He told Pike about his own experiences preparing for his 1981 film Taps.

“’Trust yourself,’” Cruise told her. “’You’re in the hands of a great director. You’re ready.’”

But that did little to ease Pike’s worries.

“There were frequent times when I’d just go home and say, ‘I’m going to give up,’” Pike confided.

Rosamund Pike explaiend why she became pregnant after playing Amy Dunn: ‘I brought a lot of unpleasantness into the world, playing Amy’

Fortunately for Pike’s concerns, many would go on to praise her performance as Amy Dunn. But playing such a complex character left a mark on the Doom star. So much so it influenced decisions she made in her personal life.

“I finished playing Amy and thought, ‘I have to create a human being, after that person.’ I think it really did. I didn’t know where to go from there, professionally. I brought a lot of unpleasantness into the world, playing Amy,” Pike once told Collider. “She’s not a relaxing person to play. There’s nothing authentic about her. I suppose there is when she’s vitriolic and true. In her dealings with other people, she’s relentlessly never herself.”

This led to a revelation about Pike herself.

“So, I think I needed to be relentlessly authentic and myself for a while, and bring an innocent human being into the world,” she said.