Ben Affleck may play the husband in 'Gone Girl'

I love good casting. After reading Gillian Flynn's bestseller and page-turner Gone Girl, I know that Ben Affleck would be great in the part as the husband, a role THR reported today the actor is seriously considering. The question now is who will play the second lead, the wife. Reese

Witherspoon is producing the adaptation, and sadly she's not playing the lead, which is too bad, because she's perfect for the role. Maybe after her run-in with the law earlier this year, the part of a good girl who has a dark side felt too close to home.

But back to Affleck. Without giving too much away, he plays a man whose wife goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. He's a guy with some flaws (he may be seeing someone on the side), and the suspicions of the police quickly turn to him. But as he tries to solve the puzzle of his missing wife, some details turn up that start to put her under suspicion. Both characters have to play good and bad, which requires some excellent acting chops--and casting.

Affleck generally plays the good guy. Even when he's a criminal, like in The Town, he's a likeable character. Apparently, the stars in the running to play the wife include Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, and Natalie Portman--who have also generally played good-natured heroines, Theron and her Monster and Young Adult roles excepting. If the casting director were to choose two stars equally known for playing nice characters, it would play nicely off the dilemma in the thriller itself--if both stars are usually good, the audience may wonder,  which one is actually bad?

David Fincher has signed on to direct the adaptation, which Flynn herself adapted. Affleck would appear in Gone Girl before he directs his next feature, Live By Night, so it seems like the 20th Century Fox production may be planned for a 2014 release.