Actor and perpetual nice guy Ben Affleck is reportedly in line to play lead character Nick, whose wife Amy goes missing on their fifth anniversary, in Gone Girl -  the David Fincher-directed adaptation of Gillian Flynn's hugely successful 2012 thriller in which suspense is created in Nick being is suspected for his wife's murder and disappearance.

Ben Affleck
Could Ben Affleck Take The Role Of Nick?

The Hollywood Reporter reckons Affleck's got the gig, with Flynn writing the screenplay and Reese Witherspoon and Leslie Dixon producing. It had been originally rumoured that Reece Witherspoon might play Amy as well as produce the movie, but apparently she won't be in front of the camera this time. It is not yet known whether Fincher's adaptation of Gone Girl will follow the choppy backwards-forwards narrative style of the novel, where the plotline is interspersed with extracts from Amy's diary but if his 2011 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo remake is anything to go by, it will be a quality piece of faithful filmmaking indeed.

David Fincher
David Fincher Will Direct Gone Girl Which Is Currently In The Pipeline.

Affleck won an Academy Award for his directing of historical thriller Argo and has an upcoming appearance in Runner, Runner, a poker crime thriller, alongside Justin Timberlake. According to the Daily Mail, Fincher and Affleck have been spotted out to lunch, fuelling rumours that the 40 year-old will be offered the part. Reports say that Fincher has been working on Gone Girl since January 2013, with a reported seven figure deal agreed for the film rights to the critically-lauded book.  If the rumours are true and Affleck will indeed be working with Fincher then the film will have very strong foundations and look set to be as successful as last summer's novel.

Ben Affleck's new movie Runner, Runner will be released in the UK on 27th September 2013.