Reese Witherspoon has explained why David Fincher rejected her for a key role in Gone Girl. The acclaimed 2014 thriller is based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, who also adapted the film for the screen. The film did well in theaters, making over $370 million worldwide.

Ben Affleck plays the lead role of Nick Dunne, a man who finds himself in a tough situation when he becomes the main suspect in his wife’s disappearance. Playing opposite Affleck is Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne. The cast also includes Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, and Patrick Fugit.

In an interview on the Las Culturalistas podcast (via Entertainment Weekly), Witherspoon addressed why she was not cast in Gone Girl. Despite author and screenwriter Flynn being interested in Witherspoon taking on the role, Fincher felt like the actor was not the right fit. In his words, Witherspoon was “totally wrong for this part.”

This humbled Witherspoon, but also left her more able to embrace her behind-the-scenes role as a producer. She was happy with the final Gone Girl outcome, noting the fantastic roles for both Pike and Fincher. Check out the full quote from Witherspoon below:

“David sat me down — and this is not on David — but David’s like, ‘You’re totally wrong for this part, and I’m not putting you in it.’

I had all these conversations with the writer Gillian Flynn, and she was like, ‘No, I’d really like you to do it.’ But he was like, ‘You’re wrong.’

That was, first of all, an ego check for me. It was like, ‘No, you’re not right for everything.’ And he was right. He was totally right.

Fincher just killed it, and Rosamund Pike is so diabolical and Ben Affleck is sort of the rube on the other side of it.

Producing also means get out of the way when you’re supposed to. Do your job to promote, continue to pull people together, continue to build creative groups so that the ultimate result is the best work that it could possibly be. So that was a lesson to me.

What This Meant For Gone Girl

As Witherspoon references, she still stayed on the Gone Girl project as a producer. Gone Girl was only the fourth feature film that Witherspoon had ever produced, and the first in which she was not a star. As such, this made Witherspoon learn the ways of an effective producer, and “get out of the way” when appropriate.

This producing experience ultimately led to the further diversification of Witherspoon’s work. She is now regularly a producer and executive producer. While these are mainly projects that she is involved in on an acting level as well, her work on Gone Girl still enabled her with some critical skills that would serve her moving forward.

Casting Pike in the Amy role also allowed the film to spotlight an actor that was not at nearly the same A-list caliber at the time. Pike ended up nominated for an Oscar for the role, and has gone on to receive opportunities for similarly juicy parts.

Our Take On The Gone Girl Casting

I’m glad that Witherspoon has come around to appreciating how the Gone Girl casting played out. What we got as an audience was a revelatory and memorable performance from Pike, who made the movie what it is. It is not just hard to imagine Witherspoon in that role now, it is hard to imagine anyone other than Pike.

Luckily, Witherspoon has still gotten her fair share of interesting roles in the decade after Gone Girl. Her work has included shows like Little Fires Everywhere and Big Little Lies, the latter of which returns to the air next year for season 3. Fincher made the right call here, and it ended up working out for all involved.