W interview
Pike is interviewed for W and discusses being a Bond girl, learning to box, and moving to L.A. On her Gone Girl role:
I do remember saying to David [Fincher], ‘I know you know I have this character in me; you zeroed in on me for good reason.’ With David Fincher, it’s like being X-rayed—he sees things that you may not want anyone to see. Now I have to prove him right—I have to show the world that I’m as dark as he thinks I am.”
Jack Reacher
In this thriller directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Pike plays Helen, a young defence lawyer, who teams up with Reacher (Tom Cruise), a homicide investigator, to bring down a military sniper who shoots five random victims. Co-starring Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo and Jai Kourtney. About Cruise:
I suspect there are a lot of co-stars who wouldn’t have been so supportive, but he was great. Except I bet you won’t believe me, will you?
Solo born
Pike gives birth to her first child, a boy named Solo. The father of her child is Robie Uniacke, but says they are in no hurry to be married.
Johnny English Reborn
Pike plays MI7 behavioral psychologist Kate Sumner in the spy comedy directed by Oliver Parker. Sumner accesses suppressed memories of a mission that English botched in Mozambique and revives him with a kiss after he is drugged. Co-starring Rowan Atkinson and Gillian Anderson.
I thought, well, I’ve spent eight years dismantling the Bond Girl image, so do I want to go back and tread that sort of territory again? And also if it’s going to be a big piss-take, maybe that’s not a very cool thing to do – I basically owe a whole career to a James Bond film. But I read the script, and it made me laugh, in spite of myself.
Burning Palms
Pike appears as Dedra Davenport in the indie film directed by Christopher Landon. She is disturbed by an unhealthy relationship between her fiance and his daughter. Co-stars Shannen Doherty and Dylan McDermott.
Barney’s Version
Pike plays Miriam Grant-Panofsky in Richard J. Lewis’s adaptation of Mordechai Richler’s comedy-drama novel. She is forced to deal with a her husband’s infidelity and a marriage breakdown, and ultimately his descent into dementia. Paul Giamatti, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Lefevre, Scott Speedman, and Dustin Hoffman co-star.
It’s a crazy look at one man’s life well lived, through three marriages, two children, the death of a father, a murder mystery, craziness, fast-living women … and a look at an endearing antihero.
Made In Dagenham
Pike appears in the historical drama directed by Nigel Cole. Her character, Lisa, joins the 1968 walkout by sewing machinists at the Ford Dagenham plant over equal pay. Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, and Geraldine James co-star.
It was quite a small thing, as opposed to a nationwide movement. This small group wanted to change things but didn’t really want to see fame and attention from it. I saw one of the women being interviewed and she said that people kept coming up to them at the time saying: “Well done!” But they felt really embarrassed. So, I don’t know… But I like how it started off as a very simple grievance – a desire to be classified as skilled workers as opposed to unskilled.
An Education
Pike plays the character Helen in Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir. Helen and her group of friends encourage a relationship between a 16-year-old schoolgirl and a con-man twice her age. Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard co-star.
I think my character really engaged people. They realized that I could be funny. People are so keen to pigeonhole you in this industry that to bust out of that is always good.
Surrogates
Pike plays the character Maggie Greer in Jonathan Mostow’s adaptation of the sci fi-action comics by Top Shelf Productions. In a futuristic world where humans live their lives through surrogates, Maggie and her husband, FBI agent Tom Greer, interact virtually. Tom investigates the death of two surrogates and uncovers a government plot, eventually freeing humans from the surrogate world. Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Boris Kodjoe, Ving Rhames and James Cromwell co-star.
It’s a very real story about a man, Greer, having an existential crisis about what it means to be human.
Fugitive Pieces
Pike plays Alex in Jeremy Podeswa’s adaptation of the Anne Michaels historical drama. Her marriage to a survivor of World War II, who was orphaned during the Holocaust, breaks down as her husband is absorbed in his reflections on his past life. Co-starring Stephen Dillane, Rade Šerbedžija, Ayelet Zurer, Robbie Kay, Ed Stoppard, and Rachelle Lefèvre.
It’s not an explosive tragedy, but I think they both know that something doesn’t work how they wanted it to.
Tabloid rumors untrue
Pike says rumors regarding her wedding to Wright being called off are untrue:
I still have no idea why Joe called off the wedding. He was never clear about it. Part of what makes it so confusing. Our Save the Date cards had been sent out; Save the Date cards which had a 1950s-style picture of the two of us in LA, taken by a friend at Christmas, done like an old-fashioned postcard with slightly unreal colours – we’d both designed it and the design was to make people laugh! Which it did! – but no invitations. My mother had to write to everyone to say that the wedding was no longer going to take place.
She says that reports she had sent wedding invitations featuring them in a hot tub are inaccurate, as are reports Wright was seen in a lapdancing club around the time the engagement was called off.
Break off engagement
Pike and Wright break off their engagement. They have purchased a house together in Spitalfields and sent out save-the-date cards.
Pike, Wright engaged
Pike and Wright announce their engagement at a private supper in Venice with Keira Knightley and James MacAvoy after he proposed at Lake Como.
I have asked Roz to be my wife and she, thank God, said yes
Gaslight
Pike appears as Bella Manningham in the stage play of the Victorian thriller directed by Peter Gill. Bella is tormented by a mentally unstable husband who attempts to convince her that she is insane. Co-starring Patrick Hamilton.
Fracture
Pike plays Nikki Gardner in the Gregory Hoblit-directed crime thriller. Gardner begins a relationship with a future employee at her law firm, but he is dragged back into his career as a district attorney after a failed attempt to try a man for murder. Co-starring Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, and David Strathairn.
It was the film rather than the part in this case. I said after Pride and Prejudice that I’d like to do a thriller because it was the kind of thing that I haven’t done and then this came along. I’d seen Primal Fear, which was Gregory Hoblit’s most famous film, and I was so disconcerted by that film that I thought, ‘My goodness, this is something that he’s going to do really really well.’ Aand I just wanted to be part of it.
Summer and Smoke
Pike plays Alma Winemiller in the adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play. In 1916 in the Deep South, Alma falls in love with the son of her neighbour. Co-starring Chris Carmack.
All five of the central characters have been catastrophically let down by their parents, and are looking for ways to patch up that void. Lacking in the most part a language of love, they seek to replace this with sex. All, that is, apart from my character, Alma. All her life she has been desperately in love with the son of the local doctor, and she believes that she craves his mind, unable to acknowledge that what she is really feeling is lust.
Doom
Pike plays the character Dr. Samantha Grimm in the sci fi-horror movie directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and based on the id Software video game. Grimm creates a superhuman warrior to battle zombie creatures from Mars. Co-starring Karl Urban and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
It was great because I’d also come off a film that was all female–Pride & Prejudice. The chance is be holed up with a bunch of marines was quite attractive.
Pride And Prejudice
Pike plays Jane Bennet in Joe Wright’s adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. In 18th century England, Jane and her sister Elizabeth are romanced by the gentlemen Mr. Darcy and Bingley. Co-starring Kiera Knightly, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, and Tom Hollander.
It’s a great romantic story with very, very real people in it and it’s open to so many interpretations, like any great bit of literature.
The Libertine
Pike plays Elizabeth Barry in Laurence Dunmore and Stephen Jeffreys’ adaptation of Jeffreys’ play. The decadent Earl of Rochester takes Elizabeth, a struggling actress, as his mistress and later his wife.
Promised Land
Pike plays the character Rose in Amos Gitai’s crime drama. She offers hope to a group of foreign prostitutes smuggled into Israel. Gitai:
Other films I’ve done, like Kadosh and Kippur, are all dealing with homogeneous Israeli microcosms, but with a critical attitude to religion or military activity. And now, with this group of films, starting with Promised Land and Free Zone, I’m more into the marriage of opposites, of difference, of the fragmentation of the coherence.