All Good Things: Ryan Gosling Thriller Based on a True Crime

All Good Things, a 2010 thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst and directed by Andrew Jarecki, takes its story from a chilling real-life case. The screenplay by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling drew inspiration from the crimes tied to real estate heir Robert Durst, and the film tracks a marriage that unravels into suspicion and disappearance.

Set in 1970s New York, Gosling’s character David Marks courts and marries Katie McCarthy, a working-class woman played by Dunst. As David’s violent temper and controlling behavior escalate, Katie attempts to leave but finds herself financially trapped; after she begins searching the family’s finances for leverage, she disappears and the case grows cold until a district attorney reopens it 15 years later following a book with a similar murder.

The fictional story closely mirrors the fate of Kathleen McCormack, who vanished in 1982. She and Robert Durst had married in 1973 after a whirlwind romance, and friends later described the marriage as tense and controlling.

United States, New York

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