INT. LAKEHOUSE LIVING ROOM - SUNSET

The remains of a light dinner are nearby. Wine is chilling.

ON TV: SHARON: -I’m Sharon Schieber.

Amy’s eyes are glued to the TV. We see a montage of The Nick and Amy story: Amazing Amy, their wedding photo, Andie.

We can hear key words: “The girl everyone wanted to be,” “the marriage everyone admired,” “shocking debts,” “a surprise
pregnancy,” “and a very young, very pretty secret.”

Desi is glaring at Amy’s un-dyed hair, her comfy cotton sundress. Amy doesn’t notice. She’s rapt.

ON TV: SHARON (CONT’D): Now, exclusively, a husband breaks his silence not just on his wife’s disappearance but on his
infidelity—and all those shocking rumors.

Cut to interview: NICK and SHARON sitting together.

AMY: I bought that tie.

On TV: SHARON: Nick Dunne, you might be the most hated man in America right now.

NICK: I think you’re probably right, Sharon. And I probably deserve it.

SHARON: Did you kill your wife, Nick?
NICK: I did not kill my wife, Sharon. I am not a murderer.

SHARON: But you were unfaithful.

NICK: I was. I am not proud of my actions.

SHARON: You allowed Amy’s parents, Amy’s friends, the people of your hometown, to believe that you were a loving husband who was desperate to find his missing wife.

NICK: I am desperate to find my missing wife.

SHARON: I just wonder how you can ask us to believe you, now that we kno...you’re a liar?

NICK: I did not come forward about my affair because I knew it would make me look very, very bad. I don’t care anymore about how I look. That’s done. I care about finding my wife.

SHARON: I’m just trying to get clear-

NICK: Let me say this: I am not a killer. But I’m far from being a good guy. I was a bad husband to a wonderful wife. I broke the vow I made to her.

SHARON: What does that mean to you, Nick?

NICK: It means I was basically a con artist.

(MORE)

NICK (CONT’D): I met Amy Elliott seven years ago and I was transfixed. Amy does that. I was an average guy from an average place with mediocre aspirations, and I met this woman who dazzled me. And I wanted her to love me. I pretended to be better
than I was. I made a pledge to her, when we married, to be that man.
INSERT: A perfect wedding portrait of NICK and AMY.

NICK (CONT’D): The man who tries harder. The man who thinks and acts and feels with as much passion as she does. The man who makes her happy. And I failed her. Instead of doing what was right, I did what was easy.

AMY is RAPT: These words RESONATE.

SHARON: You talk like a man who believes he can still make amends to his wife. Who believes his wife is still alive.

NICK: She is alive.

SHARON: OK, then. What would you like to say to your wife tonight?

NICK turns straight to the camera.

NICK: Amy, I love you. You are the best person I have ever known. I have taken myself to the woodshed over the way I treated you. Come home and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I will be the man I promised you I’d be. Please come home.

He puts his finger briefly in the cleft of his chin. His
watch is on camera. Amy smiles. DESI is watching Amy