Big news for David Fincher's upcoming thriller adaptation of the Gillian Flynn-penned novel Gone Girl: According to Indiewire, Fincher has selected Ben Affleck for the lead role of Nick, a 34-year-old magazine journalist whose wife inexplicably disappears on their fifth anniversary. Throw in Reese Witherspoon as one of the movie's producers, and you've got a pretty big blockbuster affair on your hands.
In the novel, all evidence points to Affleck's character as the culprit behind the crime, and it's worth noting that the role requires an actor capable of not giving away whether or not the character is guilty or innocent during the bulk of the movie. Affleck—who can play morally ambiguous well (see: State of Play)—seems like a great choice for it. Even if he did direct a little movie based on a hugely popular crime thriller, Gone Baby Gone (which you should also see).
With this role, it looks like Affleck's filming schedule for the next year is going to be packed, directing Live by Night for a 2014 release around the same time he'll be acting in Gone Girl. If that doesn't serve as a testament to how much Affleck wanted to join the film and work with Fincher, not much will. Meanwhile, the widely-acclaimed book Fincher's film is based on continues to sit on the Amazon.com charts, where it's probably about to climb a few spots today.
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[via Indiewire]
