Cape Girardeau driving tour highlights local spots in movie ‘Gone Girl’
Nick and Amy Dunne are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. But, she disappears. Did she run away? Was she kidnapped? Worse?
Is Nick guilty of anything? We’ll find out when the movie “Gone Girl” hits American theaters the weekend of Oct. 3rd.
What does the movie have to do with Cape Girardeau? The Cape was transformed into North Carthage, Missouri, as the movie was filmed here.
The movie stars Ben Affleck as Nick, Rosamund Pike as Amy. The movie features Tyler Perry (of the “Madea” movies), Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”), Casey Wilson (“Happy Endings”) and Sela Ward (“Sisters”).
Pike and Perry stayed at the same hotel as us (though, obviously, at different times).
“Gone Girl” was directed by David Fincher, who has helmed movies such as “Se7en,” “Fight Club” and “Zodiac.” The movie is based on the book of the same title by Gillian Flynn, who also wrote the movie script.
Cape Girardeau was picked over other communities to serve as the backdrop for filming, which happened in 2013. The Cape, just like any other city involved in the making of a film or television series, wanted to capitalize on its involvement.
Thus, the “Gone Girl Driving Tour” was launched. Our friends at the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau created the driving tour, which takes about an hour or so to complete. It consists of film locations and other places, such as dining establishments used by the cast and crew. Lisa and I were the guinea pigs for the tour, as the CVB had just received studio approval for the tour.
Fincher and Affleck enjoyed eating at Muy Bueno, a Mexican restaurant. While we dined there for lunch, the owner showed us the chair that Affleck sat on most of the time he visited.
Fincher loved the food and service so much that he sent an autographed copy of the movie poster to the restaurant. It hangs neatly framed near the cash register.
Other restaurants frequented by cast and crew included Bistro Saffron and Celebrations.
Nick and Amy rented a McMansion in North Carthage. The house used for the film is on the tour.
Nick’s twin sister lived in the town. Her house is also on the tour. We received some looks from the people inside when we stopped to look and photograph from the street.
A scene in the movie (trailers anyway) takes place at the town square. Nick talks to the public standing on a gazebo. That gazebo is located at the Old Courthouse park near downtown Cape.
The old federal courthouse downtown is used as a police station in the film.
Other sites used for filming were a local miniature golf course and a Drury Lodge Hotel just off Interstate 55.
One of our favorite spots featured in the movie is Andy’s Custard drive-in. It has an old-fashioned look and appeal. In order to get an authentic feel for the movie, we, of course, had to try the goodies – a banana-strawberry sundae for Lisa and a strawberry shake (with real strawberries) for me.
One neat addition to the city is The Bar. In the movie, it’s Nick’s business. The building used as The Bar still has the signage.
As with movies, equipment and trucks need to be kept somewhere during downtime. A local manufacturing parking lot was used as a meeting place for the crew.
Several antique stores were used by the crew for prop buying, etc.
Overall, the driving tour was fun. We had a great time driving around town and checking out the sites. I recommend checking out the movie and then the tour (when in Cape Girardeau).
