The Girl on the Train
The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson's life post-divorce. Every day, she takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house. The house she lived in with her husband, who still lives there, with his new wife and child. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple who live a few houses down -- Megan and Scott Hipwell. She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, about how they are a perfect happy family. And then one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with a horrible hangover, various wounds and bruises, and no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened. Then come the TV reports: Megan Hipwell is missing. Rachel becomes invested in the case and trying to find out what happened to Megan, where she is, and what exactly she herself was up to that same night Megan went missing.
Director: Tate Taylor
Writer: Erin Cressida Wilson (screenplay by), Paula Hawkins (based on the novel by)
Production: Universal Pictures
Year: 2016
MetaScore: 48/100
ImdbRating: 6.5
BoxOffice: $75,311,445
Released: 07 Oct 2016
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations.
Movie Video Clips
00:40
Tom got fired because he couldn't keep...
00:44
I sit in a different car and I can look...
03:10
I'm pregnant
00:36
I need to remember
00:54
He posted another picture of the baby
00:56
My husband
00:51
Jesus Christ
01:54
I can't help it
01:24
A teacher once told me I was a mistress...
00:56
Make me wanna get pregnant
00:41
Lying is like taking a trip
Movie Quotes
- Thank you for watching the movie with me today, wherever you may be. I look forward to telling you a little bit more about the production and some of the daily ins and outs. My husband used to te
- So we shot down the fairway on an e-car, mimicking the movement of a train. And then in post-production, with our wonderful special effects department, we added... Like right there, this is reall
- I'm not the girl I used to be. I think people can see it on my face.
- I made the decision to shoot this scene at night because I was having trouble finding a way to capture the faces of Luke Evans and Haley Bennett who play Scott and Megan. So, instead of trying t
- There's the wonderful Luke Evans.
- This is Grand Central Station. We spent two grueling days shooting in the working train station. But it's such a beautiful place. I imagine she's a painter.
- Emily and I thought it would be fun that our Rachel gets her shoes shined at the train station, which would, hopefully, further make the audience member think that she is actually going to work e
- I wonder what they say to each other before they go to sleep.
- My dear friend from Mississippi, Coyt Bailey, shot all these aerials. The train is a big, big part of the movie and a character, so we wanted to get some aerials showing the route of Rachel.
- The truth is, I don't know her name.
- I don't know if she paints or whether he has a good laugh. I just know they know love. Sometimes I catch myself trying to remember the last time I had meaningful contact with another person.
- I used to live two doors down, number 13 Beckett Road. It was my first home. We bought it together. It was ours. This wonderful set was designed and built by Kevin Thompson, our production desig
- Yeah. No. Come. It's all yours.
- Okay. - Your baby's so cute. - Thank you. All these interior train shots were also shot in Yonkers. We had an actual Metro-North train car wrapped in green screen, and our team did a wonderful
- I wanted this to be the first time you gather that she had a little bit of a drinking problem. Emily did such a fantastic job, like right there. Just showing the despair and the loneliness. And,
- that there's something else in her life she's missing, which is a baby.
- A teacher once told me I was a mistress of self-reinvention.
- I wasn't really sure what it meant at the time. I chose to shoot the Pilates studio just as you see the other women are looking at Megan. And I just wanted to create this fish out of water, this
- lover, waitress, gallery director. Ann Roth did our costume designs, and one of the first things we built her character around was that snakeskin jacket you had just seen her touching. We want
- In fact, the only time I feel like myself is when I'm running.
- Maybe since I was about 17. With Mac. Mac? Who's Mac? My brother's best friend. My brother who died.
- I tend to smile when I'm nervous. Sometimes I laugh. In the novel,
- the character of Kamal Abdic was Eastern European. It just seemed moving the movie to New York that it would make more sense if, perhaps, if he was foreign, if he was of Latin descent. And Édgar
- Everyone thought we were dead. And if you were to run away today, right now, where would you go?
- The character of Dr. Abdic's office is quite large. I was really cautious about having therapy scenes feel like the typical therapy scene in a movie where they're in a closed proximity and they'
- When I finish work every night, I run home and I get in the shower, and I wash the smell of that baby off of me as fast as I can.
- When you woke up this morning, I went and I brought you back to bed with me. That is one of the two twin girls of my DP, Charlotte Bruus, who did just an amazing job. And we used her two twin gi
- I swear, I sometimes feel like my heart is gonna explode. I mean, look at her. Look at her!
- You're not sleeping! Hello? You're not sleeping.
- Hello? And of course, that's the beautiful Rebecca Ferguson. She is just a hilarious, fun person to have on set and to work with, and quite talented.
- It was kind of tricky, because in the novel, these two characters look alike. That when you are bringing that story trait to film, you have to be very careful so they don't look too much alike.
- That's great. The thing is, it starts tomorrow. I'm out all day tomorrow. That is so uncool. I hate to leave you like this without childcare, but you don't have a job.
- Okay, that sounded wrong. I know that you're busy volunteering. It's not the volunteering. It's all the shopping, it's spending hours in the farmers' market, it's finding the right foods for her,
- I said earlier about Haley playing the little girl, and this is kind of that character. There's no job more important than raising a child.
- It's kind of the dressed down and plaid, I mean, she's still beautiful, but...
- And then, Rebecca and I talked about having a version of house clothes that you kinda... An outfit you feel like she just wakes up and puts on every single morning. And, of course, this is the fi
- Again, Rachel, the character, is standing in front of a golf course fairway, that just, again, shows how wonderfully our team filled in the background with what appears to be the Hudson River. T
- - You have to talk to her. - I know. It's getting crazy. I will. I know, I know, I know. Okay. It's gonna be fine.
- Isn't it always fine? Don't I always make everything fine? Stop!
- Who gives a shit? It's your birthday. Are you sure you don't want me to take you out tonight? - No, I like it at home. - Call Megan. Ask her to come back. And there it is, the famous corkscrew.
- Again, this is onstage in Yonkers. And that is a real shot of the Hudson River Line.
- This montage, of course, obviously shows the three degrees of the differences in these women's lives. The woman who appears to have everything.
- The woman who only has alcohol and memories.
- And then, of course, the character of Anna, who perhaps chose a life that she is bored in,
- and can't seem to quite get rid of the ex-wife, Rachel.
- There was very few opportunities to link these women together within the montages or even scenes, because they just aren't together, ever. So, I had to really take advantage of these moments.
- Hey, Tom. It's me. I just wanted to wish Momma a happy birthday. - Happy birthday, Mom... - Rachel!
- Laura Prepon, who's a wonderful actress and a real joy to have around. - Cathy, come on! - Relax! I just need some to go to sleep, that's all. I just need a little bit to go to sleep. What brou
- He posted another picture of the baby. This is onstage, but we saw a location, this town of Croton, that we weren't able to shoot in because of the size. But we liked the people's apartments so
- Rachel, you have to stop calling them, okay?
- I really appreciate this room. I do. I thought that I would just be here for a couple of weeks or months. Emily and I came up with a way to keep track of her levels of intoxication. And we had f
- There are very few moments of Rachel and Tom, other than memories described in the novel. So I decided to write and shoot this scene, to have just a glimpse at happier times when there was compas
- Again, amazing work there, of putting reflection in windows that don't even exist.
- That's Darren. The red-headed man. He was a tricky character to handle. In the novel, he had a bit of a different role. And there was debate as to whether to keep him in or out of the movie, and
- In the novel, you don't know who it was. As written, like Rachel, you can't recall or you can't see who it was that she was kissing, and that proved to be very difficult in the film version.
- Until I finally realized it doesn't matter if we know that it's Abdic, because we don't know the nature of his relationship. And Rachel doesn't know who he is.
- So it was very freeing to getting to abandon the obscured face, which proved very hard to pull off, and, ultimately, didn't matter.
- I decided on this location and the Dancing Maidens fountain because you didn't really know where she went each day. In the novel, you realize that she went to museums and such. I really wanted t
- I know what they say. You shouldn't check his e-mail. I was stupid. This is one of my favorite locations. The Oyster Bar. We are the first movie ever to film there. And Emily is talking to Cleta
- Emily just really knocked this out of the park. This is a level four of our drunk scale. I could never find the words to describe how I felt... You can see her puffed cheeks. That's prosthetic.
- It was like something had been taken from me again. If I could... If I could, I'd just go to her house... Very emotionally draining for Emily right here. We did this about five times. And I'd j
- We had a great time working together. We had such a great collaboration. I thought I was finished with that scene, and then I had the idea for her to smear the lipstick, and I asked her if she ha
- You're listening to my composer, Danny Elfman. This is one of... It's his work, and this is just outstanding and daring, and this is one of my favorite pieces. This is a theme that will come ba
- That's actually a practical location. The Ardsley-on-Hudson station.
- This was a tricky sequence as well. Because we're covering a lot of activity at dusk throughout the movie. So, Charlotte did a wonderful job with the lighting and picking our times of day to film
- So we had to plan accordingly.
- We decided to go forward with this. Complete with vomit on the floor, dried blood. I spent the past hour driving around looking for you.
- You scared the shit out of Anna. Do you know that? She thought you were gonna... She wanted to call the police. So just...
- Leave us alone. You can ruin your own life if you want to, but you're not gonna destroy ours. I'm not gonna protect you anymore.
- Rachel? Open the door. Cathy, I just need a sec. Are you okay? Rachel, open the door. I have a stomach flu. - Okay? I just... - You don't have a flu. What the fuck, Rachel? I'm not stupid! -
- The day of shooting this was the day I learned that Emily was pregnant. She had been keeping a secret from me when she explained that we could not show her stomach.
- I said, "Why not?" She goes, "'Cause I'm pregnant."
- Anyone counting days 1 to 90, who would like to share a day count? - Hey, I'm Jason. I'm an alcoholic. - Welcome, Jason. I've got 22 days back.
- I didn't let Emily rehearse this scene. I wanted to bring her in into a room full of strangers to really see how that would feel for this monologue, and it was quite effective. She said it was v
- Because I woke up covered in blood.
- And I had bruises all over my arm...
- It's usually from when I've fallen and someone's helped me up.
- My husband... He used to tell me what I'd done the night before.
- And I learned when you wake up like that, you just say you're sorry.
- You just say you're sorry for what you did, and you're sorry for who you are, and you're never gonna do it again. But you do. You do it again.
- - Okay. Thank you, Rachel. - Thank you, Rachel.
- In the novel, Rachel recollected a lot about what she did wrong. And... But you didn't see many of the instances. So I created the character of Martha, played by Lisa Kudrow. I took it from a lin
- The classics. Do you wanna try one, anybody? Those go outside. I don't want the eggs with the dessert. It doesn't fucking matter where they go, okay? So do you wanna put them here? Do you want
- And I'm from the south, so somehow deviled eggs make it into every one of my movies. First time they've ever hit a wall. I'm fine, Tom! Stop it. This is in Midtown, New York. Of course, exterior
- - Rachel. There you are. - Cathy, I'm sorry. I need to get my shit together.
- You must be Ms. Watson. I'm Detective Riley. This is Detective Gaskill. We need to ask you a few questions. What's this about? Wonderful Allison Janney.
- In the novel, the female was the sidekick. And I thought in the movie, it'd be great to make the chief detective a female since this is a story of females and how they view each other, and treat
- And then I decided that it was a bad idea. Around what time did you reach that conclusion? I was back here by 11:00. Yeah. Yeah. On your way back here, did you stop anywhere?
- And what time did you take the train there? 6:00. So, what'd you do during those hours in Ardsley, if you weren't seeing your ex-husband?
- Do you remember seeing this woman? She worked for your ex-husband. She's gone missing. What do you mean she's missing? Her husband said she never came back home the same night you got off the tra
- I was just... - Do you know Megan Hipwell? - No! - Did you see her? - No, I don't think so. Is that because you were inebriated?
- Just to clarify, you said you were at work Friday? Are you referring to your job in public relations? Right. It's my understanding you were fired from that job over a year ago because of your d
- If you're able to remember anything else, give us a call.
- Did you really get fired? Look, I didn't want you to worry that I couldn't pay the rent. If you don't have a job, then what do you do every day?
- I ride the train. You what? I ride the train to New York and back.
- That's what your alimony's paying for? Tickets to nowhere? That's really fucking weird, Rachel. Okay, okay.
- I got on the train, and then I got off the train. I don't know. It's very unclear. You don't remember anything, do you?
- I read about this man in Long Island who blacked out. He left a bar, drove to the house that he'd grown up in, stabbed its occupants to death. He woke up the next morning oblivious to what he di
- It's one of those scenes in a movie where you're so glad you're working with such pros. That a woman you don't know, but somehow recognize is cheating on her husband? Allison's... Listen to her.
- You know, I lie all the time.
- I lie to Scott. Of course, Megan the seductress. I mean, I know that's not the point of therapy,
- but I have to keep things vague. Jumble up all the men, the exes, the lovers.
- It doesn't matter who they are. It matters how they make me feel.
- Erin, who adopted this for screen, just did such a wonderful job with the dialogue in these therapy sessions. Except you. But you're just pretending.
- You're just pretending to touch yourself.
- That line right there came during rehearsal between Édgar and Haley and myself in my apartment in New York. I just was really trying to find a way to make him more engaged in her overt sexuality
- And that came out during rehearsal. It was really fun. "You're just pretending to touch yourself."
- So, when I came home last night, Scott was on my laptop, wondering why... Scott's behavior is not normal.
- It's a form of emotional abuse.
- Are you ever afraid of Scott?
- It's not abuse. And now Haley is the little girl again. She did such a wonderful job going between the three Megans.
- Is it normal I think about you all the time?
- "Almost exactly a week ago, "Megan Hipwell walked out of number 15 Beckett Road and disappeared. "No one has seen her since. "Neither her phone nor her bank cards have been used since Friday." T
- So I incorporated it into the film. It just shows such great loneliness and isolation. And I just had the idea that Rachel went there to look at it each day.
- But then I realized, if Megan worked in a gallery, how interesting would it be that that painting was also a fixture in Megan's life.
- You Megan's friend? Yes. Rachel. Come in.
- The Whitney was gracious enough to let us duplicate the painting for the film.
- Tooker is the artist. Sorry, it's a mess. I've been hunting for her social, her birth certificate. The cops need a lot.
- Have we met somewhere before? I don't think so. And you know Megan from... From the gallery. You're an artist?
- I think this scene shows some of Emily's greatest work in the film.
- One of the few times she's actually sober. And look how differently she's carrying herself, and how frightened she is without her companion. Which is usually vodka.
- With who? She was up there on your porch. I saw her from the train, because I commute to Manhattan every day and I go straight past here.
- I'm sorry. I know this is a terrible thing to hear. Luke was the perfect man to cast for this role. There's danger, there's sexuality and such pain.
- You get that he knew what he got when he married Megan, but like all of us, you think you can change people when you cannot. You can just see this realization.
- This shot represents... In the novel, Rachel talks about Scott in a very sexual way. Fuck. I just wanted to remind everybody that she's obsessed with these people.
- And of course, that ventures into sexual fantasy. Okay, sure.
- It could... I don't know. Maybe it's a good thing. Could mean she's all right. Rachel takes that beer and it gets a big laugh with the audience, and there was some fear that it was a bad laugh.
- Well, I used to live nearby, and she and I... We took... We took... We took Pilates together. I think I should go. I feel like I've taken up too much of your time. So sorry to have had to tell yo
- Do you think you'd recognize him again if you saw him?
- I don't know. There's a guy. A therapist.
- Is that who you saw? I don't know. I really can't tell. She spends a lot of fucking time with her shrink.
- That's him. I remember. That's him. I remember. That's him.
- This is one of my favorite shots in the film. Charlotte did such a great job capturing her face half-lit. I'm sorry. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
- Snakeskin jacket. Again, representing the seductress, and Megan at her most manipulative
- and sexual, but if you realize, the lowest points of her life.
- That shot came to me as we were about to move locations. I realized I wanted to have him jump up out of the chair, so we had to run everybody back into the set for that shot, 'cause I knew it wo
- All right, Megan. I decided to shoot the scene of Megan in the cabin. And ultimately what horrible, horrific things happened there just 'cause I really thought her character needed it for us to
- Or yet, we now really understand her.
- I don't give a fuck! I don't give a fuck about your fucking practice!
- Dr. Kamal Abdic has been brought in for questioning... In the screenplay, there was a lot of texting and news reporters, and reading of magazine articles in Rachel's head.
- And I just did not want that in the film, so I made the decision that since so much is playing out in Rachel's head, that I would have her read the news reports and hear her voice reading news ar
- I think that technology can be very intrusive in storytelling, so I really wanted to lighten it as much as possible. There wasn't enough evidence. And because I'm the one that got him arrested,
- You sure as fuck better be. I don't understand. The police think I did it. Yeah, but he's the one... His accent work is fantastic.
- He was going for the outskirts of Boston.
- Abdic told them I'm abusive. When she walked out, I didn't go after her. I never called to check on her.
- I went to a sports bar for fuck's sake. Got drunk. No. We just need to find more evidence on Abdic. I've spent the whole day going through her stuff. There's no e-mails, there's nothing. You ca
- And now we're approaching Justin Theroux's first day.
- Rachel, no. Ann, get in the house.
- Your wife hit me on Friday night. - No. What are you talking about? - Yes. Yes, you did. Yes, you did! And then she... She got in your car. No. She said you yelled at her that night. No. That is
- My wife is scared of you. Of what?
- I don't even know if that's a joke or not. Justin did such a great job. You have no idea he is completely lying to her. Everything out of his mouth is bullshit, but you believe every bit to be tr
- Why are you at Scott Hipwell's house? Because I'm helping... I'm helping him. - How? - To try and find Megan. You don't even know Megan!
- Rach, I don't think you're helping anybody.
- So you're here because you want to uncover lost memories? - Is that correct? - You have an accent. Pardon? No. Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to have an accent. Well, you have an accent.
- Where are you from? I'm American citizen. But I guess you're not here to talk about me. - Unless you are. - No. Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation. The blackouts. You're experiencing
- Édgar and Emily and I spent quite a bit of time rehearsing this scene, and it changed quite a bit.
- It just doesn't feel like me, or like something that I would do. And the end result, I think, is beautiful. But it's like it's so far removed that I have a...
- I just don't feel bad enough. You wanna take personal responsibility for what you've done...
- I wanted her to go from coming there with a motive of investigating him and then see how quickly he can turn it into a therapy session she was not intending on having.
- Because you clearly drink. You've been drinking today, haven't you?
- I like to draw. Art, I guess. Good. We can try to regain some of your memories by drawing them. I've tried it. It doesn't work. And have you ever tracked all the way back to when you started dri
- It was with Tom. When I couldn't get pregnant. Who's Tom? He's my ex-husband. You wanna talk about that? I really wanted a baby.
- We tried everything and nothing worked.
- It just broke my heart and...
- So I got really sad. And then...
- And then the booze just broke us.
- I used to watch this perfect couple.
- Another one of Danny's themes creeping in the background. Just beautiful. Danny Elfman, our composer.
- And it sparked something in me. This cut right there is one of my favorite. My editor, Mike McCusker, and Andrew Buckland. It's a seemingly harsh cut to that profile, but it, in a way, shows who
- That's my dog, Earl, and my partner John.
- And July 6th. You get the point. She sometimes texts him dozens of times a day. But these are all from an unknown number. This scene did not come into the movie until about midway through. I rea
- a potential duplicitous nature of Anna. But these are texts, they're not threats.
- I wanted everybody to be a suspect, and I needed more. And it also served Allison's character, Detective Riley. It leaves you wondering what she's up to. If she's creating all of this on her own,
- You sure your husband doesn't wanna stay in touch with his ex-wife? What? No. She's harassing us. Is that what he calls it?
- Reporters are in my yard. They're everywhere. I didn't know where else to go. Come in.
- The detective just told me something I've wanted to hear for a long time.
- This scene used to be about three times as long. And more and more my editors and I realized, we just needed to get to the crux of it, which was, he's in pain and she's pregnant. But she fought m
- Did Megan ever say anything about me to you?
- She loved you in ways that people only dream of being loved.
- This is one of my favorite shots and scenes in the movie. In the book, Scott and Rachel have sex on this evening. It just didn't translate. It did not serve any of their characters in a good way
- This is a Frank Lloyd Wright home, outside of New York City. It's beautiful.
- I wanted Abdic to be really into architecture and art and furniture.
- And then I'll be gone. I swear. It was a big day for Haley Bennett. Two of her toughest scenes we filmed back-to-back. This was the end of the day, that day. Her confession.
- I was 17. I had her by myself.
- She had dark eyes and blonde hair.
- I expected it to be hard, but it wasn't.
- It was easy. Because I loved her. I loved her.
- We called her Elizabeth. Libby.
- The flashback you're about to see right now, we shot the very morning of this night shoot.
- He'd gone off and left. The roof was leaking.
- This is actually a garage in a real neighborhood in someone's backyard. And we turned it into a hunting cabin. We made sure the tub water was hot for Haley, but it was 40 degrees outside. We ha
- I let her go. I let her go. I let her go.
- I couldn't look. I didn't wanna see it. I didn't wanna see her like that.
- I wrapped her in a blanket and I buried her.
- But in reality, shooting that scene the morning of this day, putting her through that,
- allowed her to do this amazing work that evening. And he never came back.
- So one day, when I was drunk, I decided to go there.
- Of course, this is a level four of intoxication for Emily's character.
- And I think one of Danny Elfman's most successful pieces in the film.
- That was one of six babies we had that day.
- I'm very much against fake babies or plastic dolls. I will not do it.
- So we bring in the troops. I know this sounds insane. But I just wanted to hold her.
- And besides the symbolic fountain in Central Park, this is really the only time we have the three women linked together. Megan, Rachel and Anna.
- Rachel! What are you doing? Rachel.
- I made the decision to lay the baby in the grass, and it was met with some objection at first from both Emily and Rebecca Ferguson. Being mothers themselves, they just couldn't imagine doing that
- Another one of my favorite shots in the film. I just wanted to hold her. Emily was a real trouper. She went off with the second unit and ran through the marshes.
- I wanted to reveal Megan's body and murder in a subtle way.
- I just thought it would be more horrific
- and more tragic to just see how she was left
- than a big discovery. And here is what I was describing about Emily reading out loud, in voiceover, the news reports. I wanted it to be chaotic.
- "Sources say the partially decomposed body found "is missing Ardsley woman, Megan Hipwell. "Death a result of blunt force trauma. "Megan Hipwell's investigation now being called a homicide."
- This reminds me of when I used to watch you getting dressed before going back to her.
- I actually miss being the other woman.
- Did you enjoy cheating on Rachel? Seriously? Can we not fixate on her?
- I saw her again today. Where? This afternoon, when the police brought Scott back home. She was across the street.
- And when she saw me, she got aggressive. Aggressive how? What if Rachel killed Megan? Rachel did not kill Megan. Then why is she creeping around Scott's house? - She's dangerous and you know it.
- What are you doing here? How did you get in?
- Come here. Have a beer with me. I'm not drinking right now.
- Detective Riley came to see me last night. And turns out, I'm not the father. Neither is the shrink.
- Did my wife confide in you about a third man?
- Look, I don't know what this is about. Come on.
- Luke's one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet, so it was quite impressive to see him go to this place. Admit it. It's definitely not in his nature. Admit that you never even fucking met my wi
- The detective said you didn't even know Megan. She used other words, too. Alcoholic. Maybe even mentally unstable. I am sorry. I was honestly just trying to help you. You're Tom's crazy ex. Whe
- How are they going? You know, the sessions.
- I wanted to know about Abdic and I went to him to help you.
- You're just a sad liar with no life. You're all liars. Please!
- We had to actually go back and shoot that entire scene due to a technical problem on the first day that we shot it. And they brought it back wonderfully. Name? Rachel Watson. Pete, I got this.
- I chose to shoot this next scene in a women's bathroom just to, A, avoid a typical interrogation scene in a police holding area.
- And I wanted Detective Riley to back her into a corner where no one could hear what was going on,
- what she was going to try to pull from her. But that's what you wanted, isn't it? You got him to stay overnight at your apartment, right? No, you need the context. I know the context. But what I
- You were seen in the area that night. There are several hours that you say you can't account for. It was Scott. Scott Hipwell killed his wife. No, he didn't.
- Surveillance footage from a sports bar accounts for Mr. Hipwell's whereabouts that night.
- I don't know. Did you murder Megan Hipwell?
- I need to see you. Can you please come over?
- I can still see her dark eyes. I can smell her skin. I can feel how cold she was. This was originally a big, long scene, and it just wasn't working.
- So I shortened it and made it on the back of Megan's head.
- As scripted, they were having coffee in the kitchen, and it just seemed like too much.
- The golf course. They're looking over a golf course right now. It's just so fun, the movie magic, what people can do.
- This was a fun scene to shoot.
- I didn't know if I was gonna keep it in the movie, her confronting the red-headed man, like she did in the book. But the very first time I showed an audience, it was one of their favorite parts o
- I think it's because they liked how aggressive Rachel's being about discovering the truth. I saw you that night in the tunnel. I saw you there and... - All right. - I know I saw you there. Lady,
- But what did you see? What happened that night? What did you see? All right. You... You busted your ass. You fell. I felt sorry for you. I tried to help you up. You told me to fuck off, so I fuc
- What did you see that night? What happened that night?
- I don't know. I'm assuming it's the worst.
- Come here for one second. Just one second. Say "Fuck you, Anna Boyd." - Fuck you, Anna Boyd! - Fuck you, Anna Boyd! I wonder if she knows that I fucked Tom on the...
- When I saw that woman kissing someone else, betraying her husband, I felt pure rage. If I could, I'd go to her house, I'd find her sitting there and...
- Smash her head all over the floor!
- I wanted to keep it ambiguous or vague as to what Rachel was doing at this moment. You'll notice that she doesn't even have her purse with her. I wanted you to wonder if she was going to take her
- or if perhaps she was going to go to Detective Riley. I wanted to keep that question up in the air, leading up to the moment where, just in the nick of time, she finds out the truth about her li
- So this is how I wanted to show the gas lighting that had been going on her entire life. But Tom said I should just leave it alone.
- I'm so sorry. For what? For the barbecue, and I just need you to know that I don't remember anything, and I just completely blacked out. Everyone had a little too much to drink, so it's okay.
- Tom said that I smashed your plate. I don't... Tom was fired because of how I behaved.
- You felt sick and you took a nap in our guest bedroom. Do you wanna lie down? - Come with me. - Okay.
- Excuse us. Rachel, are you feeling better? You guys can stay the night if you want. No. That's fine. - Thanks. - Okay. I think I'd remember if you caused a scene. I'm so sorry.
- And then Tom took you home. I'm sorry, Tom. Stop fucking saying that! I know you're sorry! Sorry. What's your fucking problem? You can't even focus on me. Can't even fucking stand up! What is
- No. No. Yeah. Tom got fired because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants. You did nothing wrong. Nothing.
- I wanted this to be a moment where Rachel's looking directly at us, but yet it's to feel like she's looking directly at herself, and that her brain is finally going to unlock the mystery that was
- We all felt so bad for you. He's such a bad guy. God. Are you okay?
- In the novel and in the original script, she unlocked this and successfully got through, and read a bunch of emails of Tom's that didn't implement him in any way. And as I said earlier, I wanted
- So, this is a practical location. Everything shot in the kitchen was in the actual house that we used for Tom and Anna's. And the upstairs, the bedroom, and all that, we built in on a stage, and
- This again, it shows you how I wanted to hear characters read their texts instead of seeing them on the screen.
- What are you doing up? Picking up after Evie.
- No new messages. No saved messages. To hear your current voicemail greeting, please press two.
- Hi, it's Megan. Leave a message.
- I set up this shot as a wink and a nod to all those fun, traditional thriller scenes of, "He's coming after you." It was a lot of fun.
- You okay? I thought I heard something. You should wake me up if you heard something. I just...
- This was our last shot at the tunnel. It was, again, freezing,
- and we were very happy to be getting out of this location. But it really served its purpose as the scene of the crime.
- Again, this is the dusk I told you about earlier, that we had to maintain a believable way of the sun slowly and slowly going down. What the hell are you doing? Come here.
- This side channel right here is what really got me excited about this location,
- because she had to have, in a way, in our story,
- not be in broad daylight of commuters. She had to be kind of discarded so that she could believe that this wasn't seen by anyone else. So that little side channel really helped with that in our s
- Hey, get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here! You're okay. You just need some help. - Don't touch me. - You just need to get a little help up. Just fuck off. Fuck off!
- We had about eight minutes to shoot this entire scene outside in the backyard because of the sun.
- And of course, keep in mind that's a golf course back there. We had a particularly packed day, so we just put the camera on Charlotte's shoulder, and we went for it, and it turned out great.
- I just need to talk to you. I don't wanna hear anything you have to say. Where's Tom?
- He's lying to you. He always does. He's a good liar. I know he's a good liar. We went behind your back for months. He's just done it to you. I know he's cheating. I know.
- - Anna, he killed Megan. - No, we don't... We don't know that. - He's dangerous. - We don't know anything. - Anna, you need to leave. You need to leave. - No. No. - You need to take Evie and yo
- - Anna, don't. - Come in the house, honey. Please. That's either Selma or Ellen. One of our twins. I saw you, you murderer! You fucking murderer! You killed her! You fucking killed her! I know
- This was a particularly challenging scene to block and to shoot and to write. We rehearsed this more than any scene in the movie. For obvious reasons, but also to really discover and find
- the motivations for each character. And especially what Rachel had come to realize about her life with Tom.
- It's all about Evie. That's right. It was all about you, wasn't it? Tom, give her to me. It's all right. It was all about you, wasn't it? Tom, give her to me. Please. - Please give her to me.
- to watch her child so unhappy and to be in this scene.
- All those things that you said I did...
- Those terrible things, I didn't do any of them.
- You just watched me suffer. You made me feel so worthless.
- You made me think that everything was my fault.
- You know, I saw Martha on the train. Drink it!
- I saw Martha on the train, and she told me that you were fired because you were fucking everyone in the office!
- Emily did such great work in that moment. I think we had to throw water in her face about six times to get the take right.
- Rachel's down there. Wait here.
- This goes to my point about the little side channel obscuring what happened because there's just no way Megan wouldn't have seen it if it had been at the end of the tunnel.
- Gonna get in the car? What's going on? Don't worry about it. Come on.
- Okay, I'm here. So what is it?
- I just wanna go to the woods.
- It was important for me to make it be Megan's idea to go to the spot where they used to make love.
- I wanted it to be apparent that nothing that's about to happen was pre-meditated in any way.
- It's just where bad choices can lead you sometimes.
- You thought I should know? There's a chance it could be yours. Then get an abortion.
- Or if it's Scott's, do whatever you want, but if it's not, then get rid of it.
- You can be as involved as you want.
- You're a shitty nanny. What makes you think you're gonna be a good mother?
- Why did you bring me there in the first place? Because I thought it would be fun to have you both around.
- This was a very hard day. We had one day to shoot everything you're about to see. Very detailed, and we were racing to keep the sun where we needed it.
- I took care of your kid to be near you!
- You fucked Anna 'cause you couldn't fuck Rachel anymore, and you fucked me 'cause you couldn't fuck Anna. Take us all away and you're just a pathetic, impotent man.
- You're not gonna get rid of me. You're gonna pay for this child for the rest of your life.
- The idea for this last resting place came from Mother Nature herself. I was scouting woods, and I saw this tree and immediately thought, "We're gonna shoot here, and this is where I want Megan's
- this is the exact spot where they made love.
- they keep coming back to you. Thinking that somehow if they're good... You're not doing this again.
- ...you'll love them. This is what you do. You're not doing this to me.
- You brought this on yourself, Rachel.
- If you'd just stayed away that one night...
- You brought this on Megan. In a way, you killed her.
- And you did this to me in our marriage.
- Right at this shot, I wanted to plant the seed of not knowing if Anna was in on it or not, or if she's just protecting Evie, their child, from this murderer.
- Our team did a great job with this prosthetic.
- Although it was quite cold this day, and after numerous takes, Justin was laying in the same spot, covered in fake blood which became very, very, very cold. So we kept having to run out blankets
- This was Rebecca's first take for that shot. I didn't intend to keep rolling and she didn't know I was going to, but her work was just fantastic.
- It often is, when you just keep going and no one's expecting it.
- I wanted that last bit of closure for Scott and Rachel. Just a little understanding between them.
- I had no choice. He was... He would have killed me.
- This was the last scenes we shot in the film. Of course, we replaced Rachel with Megan's character in that one shot.
- Rachel was right about Megan.
- We had intended this to all be done in voiceover. But ultimately decided it would be more effective to see them talking to Riley. And it really did a lot for Detective Riley's character to real
- In the novel, Rachel visited both Megan's grave and the body of little Libby, the baby Megan had lost.
- But since I had had Megan and her boyfriend, Mac, bury her deep in the woods, it just wouldn't have worked. So we opted just to have Megan's grave.
- Bound forever by the story we share.
- And of course, now the fountain has another meaning. It first represented pain and betrayal and now, understanding and resolution.
- Today, I sit in a different car and I look ahead. Anything is possible, because I am not the girl I used to be.
- Another beautiful aerial from my pilot Coyt Bailey.
- And the train heads north, along the Hudson River. Appreciate you watching this with me. Hope that was some little fun tidbits of information. And thank you so much.
Movie Cast
Rachel - Emily Blunt
Megan - Haley Bennett
Anna - Rebecca Ferguson
Tom - Justin Theroux
Scott - Luke Evans
Dr. Kamal Abdic - Edgar Ramírez
Cathy - Laura Prepon
Detective Riley - Allison Janney
Man in the Suit - Darren Goldstein
Martha - Lisa Kudrow
Oyster Bar Woman (as Cleta E. Ellington) - Cleta Elaine Ellington
Doctor - Lana Young
Woman with Child - Rachel Christopher
Pool Player - Fernando Medina
Officer Pete - Gregory Morley
Detective Gaskill - Mac Tavares
Jason - John Norris
Meeting Member - Nathan Shapiro
Central Park Drummer Boy - Tamiel Paynes
Mac - Peter Mayer-Klepchick
Field Reporter - Frank Anello
Core Commuter - Sergei Ashurov
Parochial School Kid - Mia Bottino
Businessman Gallery - Marko Caka
Bus Rider - Kody Christiansen
Smoking Teen #1 - Brian Esposito
Commuter - Paul Galbraith
David - Ross Gibby
Parochial School Kid - Leilah Marie Giddens
Smoking Teen #2 - Conor Hovis
Grand Central Commuter - Samantha Lee Johnson
Parochial School Kid - Hannah Kurczeski
Grand Central Commuter - Faith Logan
Businesswoman - Doris McCarthy
Passenger - Kevin D. McGee
Parochial School Kid - Jalina Mercado
Jungle Gym Boy - Craig Moruzzi
Parochial School Kid - Kristina Nichole
Social Worker - Alice Niedermair
Train Passenger - Phil Oddo
Officer Matlin - Johnny Otto
Conductor - Mauricio Ovalle
Grand Central Traveler - Tod Rainey
Bald man staring at Rachel - Eugene Resler
Train Commuter - Sidney Pierre Robert
Commuter - Mike Scerbo
Grand Central Commuter / Oyster Bar Patron - Michael Schwendemann
Grand Central Commuter - Eddie Sellner
Uniformed NYPD Officer - Guy Sparks
Neighbor - Ian Michael Stone
Parochial Student - Athena Stuebe
MTA Worker - Joseph Anthony Sudol
Woman at party - Lynne Valley
Parochial Student - Jesse VanDerveer
Uniformed NYPD Police Officer - Tim Wiencis
Student on Bus - Danielle M. Williamson
NY Commuter - Alex Xenos