Behind the Scenes: The Final Shot in "Gone Baby Gone"

Double the Affleck, double the fun

One of the cooler perks of my job is the ability to see free movies. I saw Gone Baby Gone on Saturday night.

Before anything else, I would like to present to you my interpretation of the final shot (this won’t really spoil anything as I don’t describe anything IN the shot at all).

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Ben Affleck: Aaaaand…action!

Voice in Ben Affleck’s head: Hmm…dude. I’m hungry. I could really go for a sandwich. That would be completely delicious right now.

Ben Affleck: That’s an awesome idea.

*Ben Affleck wanders off to craft service and prepares himself a nice pastrami sandwich. He sits down and is about to take a bite*

Voice in Ben Affleck’s head: Oh, crap. We forgot to say “cut.” That shot is still rolling!

Ben Affleck: Damnit!

*runs back to set and mercifully stops the shot*

First AD: Um, Ben…should we cut that down in post?

Ben Affleck: What?

Voice in Ben Affleck’s Head: Pastraaaaaaami.

Ben Affleck: No. Just stick it in. It’s a good shot. Quality. Money. Print it.

*runs back to sandwich*

Voice in Ben Affleck’s Head: MMM…delicious. Go Sox!

~*~

Despite my teasing above, I liked the movie a lot more than I expected to. I don’t think he fell victim to the “actor as first-time director” pitfalls of being overly self-indulgent with his filmmaking. Actually, come to think of it, I really, really liked it.

C'mon...it's got Ed Harris!

It was thoughtful, morally complex, darkly funny and genuinely disturbing and shocking. I thought Affleck told a compelling story and got great performances from his cast. My only complaint was that that the movie pulled a minor “Lord of the Rings” by very obviously ending three times. I know that a lot of movies have twists and layers and whatnot…but this didn’t feel as…seamless, I suppose…as I thought it should. It was a little too obviously “Part One, Part Two, Part Three” for me. Also, despite the fact that I mocked the last shot mercifully, I thought it was a powerful and poignant one (it just lasted a little TOO long, in my humble opinion).

I highly recommend that everyone check it out. If you have an Affleck bias (totally understandable given the last three years or so of his career) I suggest you get over it. Because this film is definitely worth seeing, and I really look forward to his next directorial effort.