Tourism official warns of 'Gone Girl's' darker atmosphere

The director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau is putting out word to moviegoers to lower their expectations about how the movie "Gone Girl" might portray the city.

The movie, based on the novel by Missouri native Gillian Flynn, takes place in a fictional Missouri town called North Carthage. The town in the book is portrayed as a friendly, but tattered place, a small city in a dire economic state with a vacant shopping mall taken over by squatters as well as overgrown lawns and subdivisions with rows of empty houses.

Cape Girardeau was what Flynn had in mind when she created the fictional city on the Mississippi River, "Gone Girl" director David Fincher has said.

Cape Girardeau was abuzz last fall when an army of moviemakers, including stars Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris and Rosamund Pike, descended on the city. Movie staffers consistently commented on how much they found the city welcoming.

But Chuck Martin, CVB director, noted in an email to the Southeast Missourian if moviegoers are hoping to see the beauty of the city in the film, they may come away disappointed.

"Cape Girardeau is a vibrant regional hub that continues to excel and lead the way in providing the entire area with excellent shopping, medical, educational, entertainment and recreational services," Martin wrote in an email, responding to questions about the city's plans for a communitywide party. "North Carthage is a fictional community. So if North Carthage looks a bit rough around the edges, remember that Cape Girardeau is not North Carthage! Producer Cean Chaffin even mentioned that the fictional North Carthage is not nearly as nice as the 'real' Cape Girardeau!"

Martin also mentioned the movie is a dark psychological thriller and has an "R" rating, containing bloody violence, strong sexual content or nudity and language.